SFMOMA’s “The Sea Ranch: Architecture, Environment, and Idealism” Exhibit + Unbeaten Path Tours’ On-Site Exploration
Two ways to spotlight the idyllic architectural development on the Sonoma Coast
Along California’s Highway 1, past Bodega Bay and Jenner, 100 miles north of San Francisco, the rugged coastline is at times barely visible. Along the curving road, unpainted wood homes can be spotted through the trees and meadows. This part of the Northern California coast feels both earthy and otherworldly.
It is here that the Sea Ranch concept, a radical architecture experiment, aimed to become a model community with a commitment to “live lightly on the land.” It was conceived in the mid ’60s by developer Al Boeke with a group of architects, graphic designers and landscape architects. SFMOMA‘s exhibition “The Sea Ranch: Architecture, Environment, and Idealism” tells the story of this beacon of modernism using original architectural drawings and sketches, photography, and a full-scale replica of one of the first living spaces built there.
“It has always been important to connect our agenda at SFMOMA to the history of the Bay Area and certain origin stories in Bay Area architecture,” says co-curator Joseph Becker. While the museum was closed for their recent expansion, Becker took the opportunity to do a two-week residency up in Gualala, just north of the Sea Ranch. There he had an opportunity to experience the landscape and learn more about the history of the area by talking with homeowners, original participants, and some of the design committees and review panels.
The exhibition focuses on the first few years of the Sea Ranch, when its idealism was the primary motivating factor in design decisions. For the exhibit, Becker and co-curator Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher wanted to find a way for museum visitors to experience the feeling of the Sea Ranch. This is why they decided to include the full-scale construction of a unit in Condominium 1. The unit, owned by Charles Moore, has been recreated with careful attention to detail. There’s even an Iwan Baan photograph of the Sea Ranch coastline and the Pacific Ocean.
Remarkably, the natural landscaping looks like humans have not touched the meadows and trees. “Halperin had this vision and understanding, which also represent the community, that Sea Ranch wasn’t just about individual home construction it was about living as a community—as a cooperative,” she says. “By not defining your property border you create the blank canvas. It’s the one constant; it is the baseline for the entire environment and space for that architecture to thrive.”
Lindgren feels that Halperin thought far ahead of the curve. Tucked into the hedgerows, the infrastructure is very well hidden. The roads were placed into the natural folds of the topography.
To stay in the Sea Ranch (as the Sea Ranch Lodge is currently closed for the winter), homes can be rented from Sea Ranch Escapes including Moore Condo #9. Rams Head Realty and Sea Ranch Beach Rentals also have homes available for vacation rentals.
“The Sea Ranch: Architecture, Environment, and Idealism” is on view at SFMOMA until 28 April 2019.
COOL HUNTING always gets permission to use the images we publish; however, as an independent publication, we cannot afford to continue fighting unfair claims of copyright infringement, so the images have been removed from this post.
