Sea Ranch Residence / Turnbull Griffin Haesloop

Architects: Turnbull Griffin Haesloop / Eric Haesloop, FAIA and Mary Griffin, FAIA
Location: The Sea Ranch, CA, USA
Year completed: 2007
Structural Engineer: Jon Brody, Jon Brody Consulting Engineers
General Contractor: Don Matheny, Don Matheny Construction
Photographs: David Wakely

Located at the Sea Ranch on an infill lot, we designed this 1,030 square foot house and 550 square foot guest house to create a threshold in the larger landscape, moving from the contained space of the hedge row to the open space of the meadow. We looked to some of the earlier agricultural forms along the north coast and paired the barn shape of the main house with the agricultural shed shape of the guest house to form a compound that creates a woodland garden on the entry side of the house.

site plan

From the garden, the entry of the main house opens through a bar of support spaces and steps up into a narrow section of the open space, covered by the broad barn roof shape that is sloping up. This large volume is carved away to shape an exterior octagonal deck that draws the open meadow into the center of the house. Grass planted header steps spill down from the deck out into the meadow. A continuous band of windows and doors follows the cutout to capture the distant diagonal views of the coastline. The simple form of the barn is made spatially more complex by eroding the form.

The owner requested refined detailing that would still feel comfortable within the context of the Sea Ranch. We layered the materials to reveal the steel and framing of the wood window wall. The white painted walls form the major walls and by reserving the exposed wood and steel construction for the shaped walls and bays we could use the detailing to further reinforce the overall site and spatial experience of moving from hedgerow to meadow.