A new home at Sea Ranch, a half-century-old enclave of rugged modernist houses on the Northern California coast, captures the spirit of its surroundings. Lovers of Cor-Ten steel, with its ruddy and almost organic surface, the architects made it the main exterior material, along with board-formed concrete and ipe wood. The Cor-Ten, which quickly turned an autumnal rust in the sea air, and the concrete, with its grain and crannies, mean the house isn’t a pristine box, Ramirez says. Though he may be working remotely, “in the end,” Ramirez says, “Sea Ranch is all about relaxing.”
His Neutra house “was very crisp and clean,” he says. “This house is more distressed, more wabi-sabi.”The spaces flow into each other under an angled ceiling made of richly hued plywood—which, Sheine says, makes the interiors “warm, warm, warm.” In Ramirez’s version, the living room, dining area, and kitchen are closest to the bluff. A few steps lead up to a guest room and study, and a few more lead to the master bedroom. The only enclosed rooms are the bathrooms, which project out in ipe boxes from one side of the house, and Ramirez’s office, tucked away below the master bedroom.
