Sea Ranch Tower

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Dark wood-clad hexagonal tower among redwoods, with its roof deck railing and entry stair

Plywood living room with an orange hanging fireplace, built-in bench seating and forest views

Built-in bench beneath the reopened posts and beams, looking toward the kitchen

View down through the floor void to the living level and stair below

Dining area in the plywood-lined living level

Orange hanging fireplace in the living room

New stair to the kids’ area in the basement

Beveled reading nook off the stair landing

Two children reading on a built-in daybed beneath a forest window

Late light on plywood closets and a wood guardrail in the primary bedroom

Site plan drawing: the hexagonal tower, entry stair and deck among trees on the sloping forest site

Basement floor plan drawing: kids’ space with bunks, daybed and desk, laundry, utility and powder room

First floor plan drawing: kitchen, dining, living and built-in sofa, with deck and hot tub

Second floor plan drawing: sleeping loft, closet and bathroom, open to the living level below

Roof plan drawing: roof deck, cantilevered bar and existing stair

Section drawing through the tower on its slope: utility, kitchen, living, sleeping loft, stair and roof deck

Interior Design
Fix Interiors

Project Team
Dorothy Shepard, Susan Cook, Sebastian Mancera

Photo Credit
Vivian Johnson

SEA RANCH TOWER THE SEA RANCH, CA This full home remodel transformed one of the original demonstration houses at The Sea Ranch. The hexagonal tower with a roof deck was designed in 1966 by Marquis and Stoller as a prototype for compact, modular, environmentally attuned living in a forest overlooking the Pacific. The house was expanded during the 1980s, during which the original vertical spatial features had been closed up.

In reimagining the home for a family of four, we took a purposefully subtractive approach. Walls and portions of floors were selectively removed to reveal the original posts and beams and reopen the spaces. Interior walls were removed at the living level, and new windows were cut into the exterior walls to create a panoramic experience of the surrounding forest. The original sleeping shelf was reintroduced as a room suspended in the hexagonal form. The result is a continuous, vertically interwoven room spanning three levels, which helps keep the close-knit family connected.

The new stair to the kids’ area in the basement occupies a void that was cut from the floor, allowing us to accommodate new functions. We tucked a desk beneath the stair and shaped a beveled reading nook off the landing. Throughout the house, closets disappear into walls, guardrails become bookshelves, and seating doubles as storage. The same plywood was used for the walls and cabinets throughout, creating a seamless connection between furniture and the architecture. The integration of cabinetry with the architecture reduced the number of furniture pieces required in the home and created a material simplicity that mirrored its surroundings.