Sea Ranch - Schooner Drive
Transitional Hallway & Landing, San Francisco
Creating a bridge between buildings at The Sea Ranch is an unusual undertaking. Though several residential, elevated walkways and a couple of residential bridges do exist, in general, the design elements of The Sea Ranch favor smaller, separate buildings. However, to make all of these buildings work for the owners and their pets, they really needed a bridge. Early on David Moulton AIA consulted The Sea Ranch Design Review Committee on their receptiveness to this project. Many different ideas were discussed with the Design Committee but ultimately, given the strong need for the bridge, they asked that it be designed in a way that expressed the organic nature of the landscape. There was strong opposition to creating a straight, longitudinal structure. Soon it became apparent that a central tower sporting a small viewing deck and screened window seat provided the owners with key wildlife viewing spots and gave the bridge a central structural point from which the adjacent, angled arms could reach west between the trees to the main house and east between the trees to the new master suite. The result is a precise and carefully designed expression of the landscape: an enclosed bridge elevated above wildlife paths and woven within inches of towering redwood trees.