Citations

This post cites the sources that I used for my previous posts.


McConahey, M. (2014, September 10). The Sea Ranch Coastal Legacy. Retrieved February 20, 2015, from http://www.sonomamag.com/sea-ranch-coastal-legacy/#.VOdg0fnF_Cs

Getty Conservation Institute. (2014, February 29). The Sea Ranch [Video File]. Retrieved February 20, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yao74cZXNLk

DukeLibDigitalColl. (2008, December 10). American Architecture Now: Charles Moore [Video File]. Retrieved February 20, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd5YjS2aI5A.

Zuren, M. [The Cultural Landscape Foundation]. (2011, September 28). Dreams of the Sea Ranch [Video File]. Retrieved February 20, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeT_LOckjHM. 

Brown, P. (2012, September 1). Utopia by the Sea. Retrieved February 20, 2015, from http://www.oceanviewprop.com/utopia_by_the_sea.php

Moore, C., & Allen, G. (1974). The place of houses. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Lyndon, D., Futagawa, Y., & Moore, L. (1975). MLTW: Houses by MLTW, Moore, Lyndon, Turnbull & Whitaker. Tokyo: A.D.A. Edita.

Seven wonders of the Condominium

The wonder of the interior:

The Living Room

A photo of the living room, where you can see the wooden feel of the ceiling, walls, and floor.

The wonder of Google Earth

The area surrounding the Sea Ranch Condominium is mostly open, though there are nearby roads and buildings. It on an ocean cliff, providing an excellent view as well as the ocean scent. Combined with the nature around it lends the overall surroundings to be quite calm and relaxing.

The Wonder of a Website

On a site called oceanviewprop.com, I read an article titled Utopia by the Sea and the one real important thing I learned about the Sea Ranch Condo are that it was built to be part of the land around it instead of standing out, as if it were a part of nature. This differs pretty strongly from most of the architecture I've seen, which usually wants to show off man's prowess in changing the world to their liking. I agree with this author's opinion especially after looking back on the interior and exterior of the place and believe that it is a very interesting and thoughtful style.

The Wonder of a Video

From an excerpt of the documentary film "Dreams of a Sea Ranch" by Zura Muren I observed that the condominium walls and roof were two inches of fur wall on top of the skeleton of wooden pillars holding it up--with heavy building paper and redwood on top of it. But what struck me as the most interesting part was how the idea of clustering houses together worked. Clustering houses together let those who lived in the area be close to each other while leaving a lot of nature in tact, a lot of open space from which you could enjoy the breeze or look over the sea while taking in the refreshing, open atmosphere. The view from the condominium used to be even more amazing than it is now because of that--later on houses stopped being clustered for financial reasons, but I think the original idea was pretty interesting.

The Wonder of an Interview

While not technically an interview, this speech that Donlyn Lyndon gives about the Sea Ranch Condominium is a very good source and is as close as I could find to one. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yao74cZXNLk

That is the link the said speech.

The Wonder of a Magazine or Journal Article

The Sea Ranch Coastal Legacy article by Sonoma had a few insights of its own.

One is the legal battle that happened at the Sea Ranch as people wanted to build more for financial reasons, trying to override the original goal of clustered houses that had lots of open space and emphasizing the natural world around it. I find it interesting and saddening that the war's conclusion meant slowly losing that original vision.

A surprising thing I found was how regulated everything was in order to keep that sense of nature, of being able to take long walks without passing a road every two minutes, without streetlights or the boisterousness of a city or urban area. I knew that the vision for this area was to be that way, but I didn't think it was enforced to the degree that even the type of plants you can have is restricted.

And lastly, I find it amazing that people still go there so often despite the multiple hours every trip takes and the lack of good internet, cellphone service, and other modern luxuries. Despite all of the conveniences people have in their modern homes, they still enjoy the peace and quiet that the Sea Ranch Condominium has and take the time and effort to visit over and over.

The Wonder of a something that features the architect 

An old interview from American Architecture now interviews Charles Moore, one of the architects of this building, about his philosophy on architecture. A few important things that I learned from this included:

Charles Moore is not afraid to try things that don't necessarily fit the mold--in fact, in one situation he was told he just can't do something because it was simply too tacky. 

I also learned that the relationship between costliness and the appearance of costliness, in Moore's opinion, is that a good architect should be able to make a good house whether he has 2 million dollars to spend or twelve.

Finally, he believes that diversity is important, but also shouldn't be something that is just a "one-liner", like a single concept without depth, and that the importance is less on the appearance and more on the feel--that a good building is one that is a nice place to be in and one you enjoy being in.

Requirements

Name: Sea Ranch Condominium

Location: Sea Ranch, California
Architect: The MLTW firm, a cooperation between the architects Charles Moore, William Turnbull, and Donlyn Lyndon.
Construction date: Started in 1964 and ended in 1965.
Purpose: Vacation Home, Housing
Architectural drawing 1: Section
                           
Architectural drawing 2: Lower Plan

Photo 1: Profile

Shows the south facade and the buildings' profile.

Photo 2: From a Distance

The buildings with the surrounding scenery to show your splendid living environment.
Print source 1: The Place of Houses by Charles Willard Moore
Print source 2: Houses by MLTW by Yukio Futagawa
My drawing of the building:

I wanted to capture the sense of this set of buildings being unfinished.