House of Four Ecologies
The House of Four Ecologies is a 1,600 square-foot residence located in the 10 mile expanse of The Sea Ranch community in Sonoma County, CA, conceived of, developed, and designed by a small group of long-time friends who wished to share the residence and its access to the sublime coastal environment. The group is led by James Leng, the architect of record for the residence and a founding partner of the San Francisco-based architecture office Figure. Joining him is his life partner Natasha Sadikin, who is a development director at Frolic Community, along with Juney Lee, a professor of architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, and Hoang Nguyen, an associate principal at Grimshaw. The unique environmental conditions of the parcel greatly shaped the organization, siting, and design of the house, producing an architectural aspiration that respects The Sea Ranch’s lineage of environmental stewardship by building lightly on the landscape.
At the heart of the home’s organizational principle is the idea that it will be a shared sanctuary between the four friends and their families. Brought together by studying architecture, parallel careers in the built environment, as well as a profound connection with nature through their own interests— landscape photography, exotic plant collecting, backcountry camping, and ultramarathoning— the collective nature of the house necessitated a layout that allows for socializing, but also solitude for individual reflection and creative craft. Hence, the single-family house is reimagined as an interconnected cluster of four volumes, each holding space for privacy as well as gathering.
The design approach draws upon The Sea Ranch’s founding principle of deep reverence for the land, best described by landscape architect and Sea Ranch master planner Lawrence Halprin’s sectional sketch that depicts a series of ecologies traveling Eastward from the Pacific Ocean: from the headlands to the meadow, to the woodland ridge and finally down to the Gualala River. The house is sited immediately east of Highway 1, surrounded by landscape features from all directions: from a framed ocean view to the Southwest, to a panoramic meadow to the North and East. Immediately on the site is an immersive micro-ecology adjacent to a riparian corridor, adorned with a family of firs, with wild coastal grasses and coffeeberry bushes that dapple the landscape.
Even though a single house cannot physically span across all of these environments, one of the foundational values of the design was to produce a multitude of visual and spatial orientations to take in this transformational landscape. A grove of three windblown Douglas firs dominate the center of the site; and the architecture dances lightly in-between these existing residents. As a contextually responsive strategy, the house becomes atomized into four simple sheds.
These four volumes weave between the trees, paying deference to them in a delicate choreography that also takes advantage of their presence to protect from wind and frame view corridors to scenery afar. The first volume, the living room, tucks behind a fir tree, minimizing its presence from the street and neighbors’ views, and directs the view westward to the ocean. The second volume emerges from the other side of the fir, featuring a sheltered courtyard screened from neighbors to the East, buffering the wind and encapsulating a small piece of the coastal groundscape for intimate viewing. The third volume contains a generous space centered around a large dining table flanked by the kitchen, opening to an outdoor deck to the West. The volume rotates towards a narrow view corridor between firs, looking to a woodland grove beyond.
Finally the fourth volume, housing the primary bedroom suite, turns yet again to face the open meadow to the North. By positioning the house around the existing firs, the mass of the house can only be partially glimpsed as it appears and disappears in-between trees. Navigating the house is like ambling through the landscape. As one moves between programs and activities throughout the day, one also encounters in motion the changes in the environment as well as the passage of light. Every space has a unique interior quality and exterior orientation, designed to create delight and discovery whether it is experienced as a large group or as an individual. Says Leng, “One might imagine enjoying the morning light on the ocean in the living room, basking in the warm noon sun in the sheltered courtyard, sharing a meal in the dining room tucked between trees, and adjourning to the ensuite under the soft dusk glow of the meadow to end the day”. With the completion of the house, Leng will be launching a new personal design practice called Glacial Erratic to expand on the design ethos explored through the project.
In addition to adhering to The Sea Ranch’s spirit of communing with nature, the home is an experiment in co-ownership, and a prototype for flexible home design that supports multi-family use and a sound financial investment. In the end, the home is not owned solely by the original four - additional shares were sold, resulting in an ownership group of six who will be able to use the house on a rotating basis. Even the newer owners are expanding this vision of collective sharing: one of them will be using their allotted time to sponsor an artist residency. Notes Sadikin: “While one of The Sea Ranch’s original ambitions was to be a place of radical experimentation, in some ways it has become another luxury vacation home destination. With labor force housing sorely lacking in the area (and housing crisis in greater California), we’re interested in the potential for ideas around co-ownership and cohousing becoming a logical next experiment. Density, housing equity, and environmental stewardship don’t have to be mutually exclusive.”
Room-by-Room Interior Description
Flexible use is a core principle of the organization of the house. Other than the kitchen and dining room, all other volumes can function either as a bedroom or communal space. The Living Room of Volume 1, dubbed the “Ocean Room”, is the first common space one encounters when they enter the house. It is a room surrounded by built-in banquette seating on three sides, creating a cozy wrap- around gathering space. Towards the South, the Pacific Ocean is framed by a large feature window of filmic proportions, along with a fire stove nestled in the corner. Another window to the West and a skylight bring in ample daylight from multiple orientations - connecting the room to the changing of the light throughout the day. One might sit by the window in the morning sun, gazing at the sliver of Pacific blue, or gather with friends and family around the fire, or a movie screening, projected onto the tall Eastern wall. Finally, the custom built-in seating modules can be reconfigured into a queen size bed should the need arise; the living room easily becomes a third bedroom, which is indicative of the flexible nature of the home.
The second volume, dubbed the “Garden Room”, is a room within a room, featuring an intimate walled garden with a courtyard deck and planted landscape. The flexibility of this volume is most directly manifested through a series of operable doors. When the interior sliding doors are closed, the space becomes a bedroom and a corridor beyond. When open, the space unifies into a larger multi-use space, one might imagine turning this space into a painting or pottery studio. Furthermore, when the exterior sliding door opens, the space scales up yet again to combine with the courtyard. On a warm summer's evening, one might imagine that festivities seamlessly spill out onto the courtyard.
Immediately linking off of the courtyard, one reaches the heart of the house, the kitchen and dining space housed in volume 3. Of all the individual volumes, this space is the largest because it remains undivided. Upon entering one sees a framed landscape of the riparian grove, nestled between a narrow view corridor between fir trees. Foregrounding this view is an outdoor deck with a concealed hot-tub, a prime space for lounging and barbequing. As the centerpiece of the room, a generous table facilitates communal gathering, whether it is prepping food or a formal family meal, or day time work and conferencing. On the opposite side of the room, a tall wall of cabinetry provides ample storage, and conceal the fridge and stacked washer-dryer units. The kitchen is a simple bar along the East wall, with a large horizontal awning window over the sink. Furthermore, a tall casement window and a skylight in combination with the other openings bring in cross ventilation and four orientations of daylight.
The fourth and final volume of the home is an en-suite studio space. Right off of the kitchen and dining space and a back entry door, the space opens up to the expansive view of the meadow through a panoramic window. This room is spacious enough to accommodate a bed, sitting area, and a long work table along the window wall. One might imagine a writer turning this volume into the space for a working retreat. Book-ending the volume is a luxurious primary bath featuring a freestanding bath tub positioned in front of a large square window, paired with a tall clerestory window washing gentle light down onto the shower alcove. A serene private space to commune with the landscape at the end of one’s day.
