Vision of Sea Ranch crafted by architect Lawrence Halprin

This story originally ran in Sonoma Magazine.

Lawrence Halprin, designer of The Sea Ranch, envisioned a community of rustic homes, set in the land in a way that would protect the views and clustered around open meadows where the natural flora is scrupulously preserved.

He camped at Sea Ranch while working on his plans for 10 miles of coastal meadows and forests, observing wind and weather patterns, soil and vegetation, and the contours of the land. He noted shadows, tidal changes, cormorant nests, kelp beds and seal colonies, all to incorporate development rather than carve it out of the landscape.

Halprin characterized The Sea Ranch challenge as 'a wonderful experiment in ecological planning … a place where nature and human habitation could intersect in the kind of intense symbiosis that would allow people to become part of the ecosystem.'

His unconventional plans, illustrated with freehand drawings, included condominiums — a new housing concept that raised eyebrows at the time. His intent was to leave as small a footprint as possible, protect open spaces for walking and recreation, and to not wall off 'the constant presence of the Pacific views.' Roads had no curbs or sidewalks. He planted more than 100,000 trees.

Halprin, whose other design triumphs include Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, Sproul Plaza in Berkeley, the pedestrian approach to Yosemite Falls and the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C., left The Sea Ranch project in the late 1960s yet maintained a home there, returning often before his death in 2009.