Built for the Bluff, A Sea Ranch Home is Remade from the Inside Out The house had always been grounded, on an ocean bluff at The Sea Ranch. It sits unencumbered, adjacent to one of the most dramatic stretches of the Sonoma coast with protected commons meadow to the east, uninterrupted Pacific views to the west, and a bluff trail running alongside. What it lacked was the feeling of home, one that could hold up its own against the natural landscape. The owners are entrepreneurs with deep involvement across tech, real estate, and development and they know how things are built. The Sea Ranch house had been in their lives for years, a second residence and a place for family to gather. Built for a different time, it felt more compromising than comfortable. Sitting in a closed off nook, the kitchen fit one cook at a time and turned its back on the rest of the house. The entry was dim and compressed, divided by a structural column that presented itself at exactly the wrong moment. The primary suite was small relative to the view outside it. A large rear bedroom sat behind a lowered ceiling with a bathroom that had never been added. The house was certainly worth the trouble of doing it right. What followed was not one project but four, each with its own design challenge, each addressed over a period of time. Where the House Meets the Ocean The most complex piece of the project, in both structural and spatial terms, was the kitchen expansion. The existing room was a single-person galley squeezed in as an afterthought with no meaningful connection to the dining room, the living space, or the deck outside. To make it useful for a family that cooks and gathers, it needed to grow outward into an existing patio and flow into the rooms around it. A big challenge was the roofline. Several planes at different pitches and angles converged directly where additional volume was needed. A new form had to join that geometry without reading as a correction. The solution found the simplest possible connection between the existing angles, a roofline that from outside the structure, appears entirely original. From the bluff trail where the addition is visible, there is no discernible seam. Inside, the kitchen is now open to the living and dining rooms without interruption. A large sliding glass door connects the space onto the rear deck. The deck itself was expanded and oriented so that the body of the house shields it from the coastal wind which is a common consideration that determines whether outdoor space at The Sea Ranch actually gets used. The result is a room that works for large family gatherings where no one feels cutoff, and one that makes the boundary between being inside and outside easy to ignore. Welcoming Light A structural column stood at the convergence of eight distinct roof planes in the entry. It was load-bearing, but it was also the reason the entry had always felt like a hallway rather than a welcoming arrival. With the structural engineer, a custom steel connector was designed to receive beams from six separate directions, redistributing the load through a single new continuous beam. The column was surgically removed. Three triangular skylights were then cut into the roof above, their shapes drawn from the existing geometry of the planes around them. The entry is now bright and open. The skylights feel native to the structure because they follow the logic already present in the roof. Two Suites, Two Views At opposite ends of the house, the two bedroom suites were each reconfigured, and each found a different way to introduce more of the landscape into the room. An addition to the primary suite extended the structure outward to create a wraparound plan with a loop from the bedroom through bath and closet that had not been possible before. The expansion opened a slot view from the tub and shower toward the ocean. The view is precise and private. The ocean view is present and deliberate. The rear bedroom absorbed an adjacent storage room to transform it into a full second suite with a vaulted ceiling, a large bathroom with a tub, a shower, and a sauna. A private fenced garden courtyard sits just beyond the glass bringing the outdoors inside. The tub was placed so that, looking past the courtyard and through the bedroom beyond, the ocean is visible at the far end. It is a long view and it makes the room feel larger and more settled than its footprint would suggest. Glass on Four Sides, Fire at the Center The main living and gathering room had always been caught between two competing facts: glass on four sides meant exceptional views but at The Sea Ranch, it also meant a cold room. A 360-degree cylindrical fireplace was added at the center on a raised stone base, providing radiant heat in every direction and giving the room a focal point around which a group naturally orients itself, whether that means two people at the end of the day or the whole family after dinner. Owners Who Picked Up the Tools The owner was not a passive client. they came with construction knowledge, specific ideas, and the desire to be an active part of the process, a dynamic that other architects may had found difficult, which Klopf Architecture accepted as an asset. They took it upon themselves to complete some of the work during construction, including the installation of a new radiant heating system beneath the floors. The radiant system added to the older and less-desirable forced-air setup. At The Sea Ranch, that change matters as the house sits close enough to the ocean and moving air competes with the sound of it, where radiant heat does not. Solar panels were added to the roof as part of the new system. Insulation was upgraded throughout the walls, roof, and crawl space. The house that had always had the right setting now holds warmth the way a house on the bluff should. They were also deeply involved in the design and selections throughout, and the finished house reflects both of them in ways that are specific rather than generic. The process took longer and moved through more iterations than a more arms-length relationship might have allowed. The result is more defined and personal because of it. The Landscape Holds Priority Every exterior decision was shaped by The Sea Ranch Design Standards, which require that buildings defer to the landscape around them rather than compete with it. Because this house sits on the bluff and is visible from the public trail, the additions faced a close review. Existing materials were matched. Geometries were resolved. The additions had to become indistinguishable from the original building. From the trail, the house reads exactly as it always has — low, cedar-clad, secondary to the meadow and the water. The setting holds priority. Inside, the house has been remade. Klopf Architecture Project Team: Geoff Campen and Trenton Jewett
Contractor: Shawn Bettega Construction
Photography: ©2025 Mariko Reed
Year Completed: 2023
Location: The Sea Ranch, CA

Transitional kitchen photo in San Diego

High vaulted ceilings with exposed beams bring a warm, open feel to the room. Planked wood ceiling softens the space, while the stacked stone fireplace draws your eye all the way up, visually connecting the entire room. The seating layout is generous and inviting—coordinated but never too matchy—layered with a mix of textures and materials in the tables and accents.

A contemporary residence where modern lines are balanced by warmth and material richness. Natural textures and a layered palette create interiors that feel refined yet comfortably lived in.

Inspiration for a contemporary medium tone wood floor kitchen remodel in Toronto with a double-bowl sink, flat-panel cabinets, white cabinets, white backsplash, an island and white countertops

We honored the building’s history where possible, keeping original bones and character wherever possible, then layered in the clients’ distinct creative identity. On the main floor, we designed spaces that shift seamlessly from workday to reception-ready. Lighting was planned with intention, to preserve the original plaster ceilings and spotlight rotating installations without sacrificing ambient warmth. Custom built-ins maximize functionality while maintaining a distinctly un-officey feel. Upstairs, the artist apartment is a thoughtful retreat: adaptable, light-filled, and comfortable, with just enough quirk to spark inspiration. Even the basement—home to a full photography studio and workroom—balances technical needs with aesthetic ease. Throughout, we used color, texture, and collected pieces to ensure each room feels curated, not staged. Personal, not polished.

Example of a transitional dining room design in Los Angeles

Some projects arrive with pages of references, mood boards, and carefully curated inspiration folders. This wasn't one of them. The clients — a young, dynamic couple with a growing family — handed over their trust and asked for the best work possible. It's the kind of brief that raises the stakes and frees the thinking at the same time. The design is organised around the views to the west — ocean, city, and the long light of the evening sky — with the upper floor pulled into an L-shape that bridges across two lower volumes below. That move creates something most homes don't have: a generous covered entry and breezeway at ground level, a moment of arrival that feels architectural rather than incidental. Above it, the upper floor cantilevers out and frames the western outlook from the principal living spaces. Wellness was woven into the brief from the start. A hot yoga studio opens directly onto a large patio with a pool and hot tub, creating a private outdoor sanctuary that functions as a genuine extension of that space. At the rear of the property, a separate crossfit gym gives the clients a serious training facility without compromising the living areas of the home. The result is a home that reflects what's possible when a client extends full trust and a designer meets it. Of all the projects in this portfolio, this is one that stands out — not just for what it contains, but for how completely it came together.

Kitchen - mid-century modern kitchen idea in Seattle

Bathroom - transitional porcelain tile, gray floor and single-sink bathroom idea in Boston with shaker cabinets, dark wood cabinets, white walls, an undermount sink and a built-in vanity

We honored the building’s history where possible, keeping original bones and character wherever possible, then layered in the clients’ distinct creative identity. On the main floor, we designed spaces that shift seamlessly from workday to reception-ready. Lighting was planned with intention, to preserve the original plaster ceilings and spotlight rotating installations without sacrificing ambient warmth. Custom built-ins maximize functionality while maintaining a distinctly un-officey feel. Upstairs, the artist apartment is a thoughtful retreat: adaptable, light-filled, and comfortable, with just enough quirk to spark inspiration. Even the basement—home to a full photography studio and workroom—balances technical needs with aesthetic ease. Throughout, we used color, texture, and collected pieces to ensure each room feels curated, not staged. Personal, not polished.

We honored the building’s history where possible, keeping original bones and character wherever possible, then layered in the clients’ distinct creative identity. On the main floor, we designed spaces that shift seamlessly from workday to reception-ready. Lighting was planned with intention, to preserve the original plaster ceilings and spotlight rotating installations without sacrificing ambient warmth. Custom built-ins maximize functionality while maintaining a distinctly un-officey feel. Upstairs, the artist apartment is a thoughtful retreat: adaptable, light-filled, and comfortable, with just enough quirk to spark inspiration. Even the basement—home to a full photography studio and workroom—balances technical needs with aesthetic ease. Throughout, we used color, texture, and collected pieces to ensure each room feels curated, not staged. Personal, not polished.

We honored the building’s history where possible, keeping original bones and character wherever possible, then layered in the clients’ distinct creative identity. On the main floor, we designed spaces that shift seamlessly from workday to reception-ready. Lighting was planned with intention, to preserve the original plaster ceilings and spotlight rotating installations without sacrificing ambient warmth. Custom built-ins maximize functionality while maintaining a distinctly un-officey feel. Upstairs, the artist apartment is a thoughtful retreat: adaptable, light-filled, and comfortable, with just enough quirk to spark inspiration. Even the basement—home to a full photography studio and workroom—balances technical needs with aesthetic ease. Throughout, we used color, texture, and collected pieces to ensure each room feels curated, not staged. Personal, not polished.

We honored the building’s history where possible, keeping original bones and character wherever possible, then layered in the clients’ distinct creative identity. On the main floor, we designed spaces that shift seamlessly from workday to reception-ready. Lighting was planned with intention, to preserve the original plaster ceilings and spotlight rotating installations without sacrificing ambient warmth. Custom built-ins maximize functionality while maintaining a distinctly un-officey feel. Upstairs, the artist apartment is a thoughtful retreat: adaptable, light-filled, and comfortable, with just enough quirk to spark inspiration. Even the basement—home to a full photography studio and workroom—balances technical needs with aesthetic ease. Throughout, we used color, texture, and collected pieces to ensure each room feels curated, not staged. Personal, not polished.

Built for the Bluff, A Sea Ranch Home is Remade from the Inside Out The house had always been grounded, on an ocean bluff at The Sea Ranch. It sits unencumbered, adjacent to one of the most dramatic stretches of the Sonoma coast with protected commons meadow to the east, uninterrupted Pacific views to the west, and a bluff trail running alongside. What it lacked was the feeling of home, one that could hold up its own against the natural landscape. The owners are entrepreneurs with deep involvement across tech, real estate, and development and they know how things are built. The Sea Ranch house had been in their lives for years, a second residence and a place for family to gather. Built for a different time, it felt more compromising than comfortable. Sitting in a closed off nook, the kitchen fit one cook at a time and turned its back on the rest of the house. The entry was dim and compressed, divided by a structural column that presented itself at exactly the wrong moment. The primary suite was small relative to the view outside it. A large rear bedroom sat behind a lowered ceiling with a bathroom that had never been added. The house was certainly worth the trouble of doing it right. What followed was not one project but four, each with its own design challenge, each addressed over a period of time. Where the House Meets the Ocean The most complex piece of the project, in both structural and spatial terms, was the kitchen expansion. The existing room was a single-person galley squeezed in as an afterthought with no meaningful connection to the dining room, the living space, or the deck outside. To make it useful for a family that cooks and gathers, it needed to grow outward into an existing patio and flow into the rooms around it. A big challenge was the roofline. Several planes at different pitches and angles converged directly where additional volume was needed. A new form had to join that geometry without reading as a correction. The solution found the simplest possible connection between the existing angles, a roofline that from outside the structure, appears entirely original. From the bluff trail where the addition is visible, there is no discernible seam. Inside, the kitchen is now open to the living and dining rooms without interruption. A large sliding glass door connects the space onto the rear deck. The deck itself was expanded and oriented so that the body of the house shields it from the coastal wind which is a common consideration that determines whether outdoor space at The Sea Ranch actually gets used. The result is a room that works for large family gatherings where no one feels cutoff, and one that makes the boundary between being inside and outside easy to ignore. Welcoming Light A structural column stood at the convergence of eight distinct roof planes in the entry. It was load-bearing, but it was also the reason the entry had always felt like a hallway rather than a welcoming arrival. With the structural engineer, a custom steel connector was designed to receive beams from six separate directions, redistributing the load through a single new continuous beam. The column was surgically removed. Three triangular skylights were then cut into the roof above, their shapes drawn from the existing geometry of the planes around them. The entry is now bright and open. The skylights feel native to the structure because they follow the logic already present in the roof. Two Suites, Two Views At opposite ends of the house, the two bedroom suites were each reconfigured, and each found a different way to introduce more of the landscape into the room. An addition to the primary suite extended the structure outward to create a wraparound plan with a loop from the bedroom through bath and closet that had not been possible before. The expansion opened a slot view from the tub and shower toward the ocean. The view is precise and private. The ocean view is present and deliberate. The rear bedroom absorbed an adjacent storage room to transform it into a full second suite with a vaulted ceiling, a large bathroom with a tub, a shower, and a sauna. A private fenced garden courtyard sits just beyond the glass bringing the outdoors inside. The tub was placed so that, looking past the courtyard and through the bedroom beyond, the ocean is visible at the far end. It is a long view and it makes the room feel larger and more settled than its footprint would suggest. Glass on Four Sides, Fire at the Center The main living and gathering room had always been caught between two competing facts: glass on four sides meant exceptional views but at The Sea Ranch, it also meant a cold room. A 360-degree cylindrical fireplace was added at the center on a raised stone base, providing radiant heat in every direction and giving the room a focal point around which a group naturally orients itself, whether that means two people at the end of the day or the whole family after dinner. Owners Who Picked Up the Tools The owner was not a passive client. they came with construction knowledge, specific ideas, and the desire to be an active part of the process, a dynamic that other architects may had found difficult, which Klopf Architecture accepted as an asset. They took it upon themselves to complete some of the work during construction, including the installation of a new radiant heating system beneath the floors. The radiant system added to the older and less-desirable forced-air setup. At The Sea Ranch, that change matters as the house sits close enough to the ocean and moving air competes with the sound of it, where radiant heat does not. Solar panels were added to the roof as part of the new system. Insulation was upgraded throughout the walls, roof, and crawl space. The house that had always had the right setting now holds warmth the way a house on the bluff should. They were also deeply involved in the design and selections throughout, and the finished house reflects both of them in ways that are specific rather than generic. The process took longer and moved through more iterations than a more arms-length relationship might have allowed. The result is more defined and personal because of it. The Landscape Holds Priority Every exterior decision was shaped by The Sea Ranch Design Standards, which require that buildings defer to the landscape around them rather than compete with it. Because this house sits on the bluff and is visible from the public trail, the additions faced a close review. Existing materials were matched. Geometries were resolved. The additions had to become indistinguishable from the original building. From the trail, the house reads exactly as it always has — low, cedar-clad, secondary to the meadow and the water. The setting holds priority. Inside, the house has been remade. Klopf Architecture Project Team: Geoff Campen and Trenton Jewett
Contractor: Shawn Bettega Construction
Photography: ©2025 Mariko Reed
Year Completed: 2023
Location: The Sea Ranch, CA

French country open concept medium tone wood floor, brown floor and vaulted ceiling living room photo in Kansas City with white walls, a two-sided fireplace, a stone fireplace and a wall-mounted tv

This project was a new build, so the client’s wanted to make sure they were able to check off as many “wants” as possible, as well as their needs for the home. For the exterior, they wanted clean lines, not too busy and wanted to add some warmth around the front entrance, that would be a nice contrast against the cooler tones. Once you’re inside, they wanted the space to be open concept on the main floor, but we made sure to differentiate the areas by placing features along the walls, to give the illusion of separate rooms. The large sliding patio door allows so much natural light. The mono-stringer staircase with the structural glass railing! We wanted to keep the main floor as spacious as possible, so we opted to go with the glass panels; this way there are no visual obstructions with the standard spindles. The accent lighting throughout. We added LED strip lighting to some key areas of the home; the kitchen kickplate, the wine wall, in the ensuite niche, under the vanities in the common bath and ensuite and along the stairs. The vanity lighting is also controlled by a motion sensor, so you don’t need to worry about any overhead lighting in the early hours! This is a smart home; the blinds, interior and exterior lights and the locks are all able to be controlled remotely with apps! On the exterior, the light brick against the black aluminum items is a nice contrast to the warm wood tone on the metal siding around the front entrance. This house has a fully finished basement, with their own kitchen and bathroom, and it also has a separate entrance. By doing this, we gave the client’s an opportunity to use this space as an additional dwelling unit. They can rent it out for an additional source of income, or they can have their family stay there, whether it be for visiting, or a long term situation.

We honored the building’s history where possible, keeping original bones and character wherever possible, then layered in the clients’ distinct creative identity. On the main floor, we designed spaces that shift seamlessly from workday to reception-ready. Lighting was planned with intention, to preserve the original plaster ceilings and spotlight rotating installations without sacrificing ambient warmth. Custom built-ins maximize functionality while maintaining a distinctly un-officey feel. Upstairs, the artist apartment is a thoughtful retreat: adaptable, light-filled, and comfortable, with just enough quirk to spark inspiration. Even the basement—home to a full photography studio and workroom—balances technical needs with aesthetic ease. Throughout, we used color, texture, and collected pieces to ensure each room feels curated, not staged. Personal, not polished.

Located in the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the building was erected on a shallow commercial lot between two 120 year old masonry buildings and a new residential rental building. 330 Grand Street is a mix of 725 SF 1BRs and 1050 SF 2BR apartments. It also contains a 1100 SF two story duplex as well as private and public rooftop space, large private balconies for most units and two large private terraces for the ground floor units. 330 Grand Street was originally designed and approved at the NYC DOB as a prefabricated modular building. During the pandemic, as shipping costs skyrocketed putting the project at risk, we suggested redesigning the building as a reinforced cast-in-place concrete structure. Concrete was readily available and prices had not been affected by the demand increase that many other materials suffered in the pandemic. We took this opportunity to raise floor to ceiling heights, enlarge high performance windows and redistribute the buildings MEPFS and Structural Systems to create very open floor plans. The challenge was to create a luxurious sensorial living experience with very limited means. In a city with very high construction costs, low cost residential buildings in the area are usually devoid of good quality, design and character. Our approach was to aim high for the end user, prioritizing natural light, open space with long visual perspectives, high ceilings and as always, rejecting the use of predefined building templates. Our biggest challenge was to ensure that the small spaces feel as clean cut, large and bright as possible. Several unique design decisions were made to ensure low cost and high quality; Floor plans were laid out so that spaces were wide open and free of clutter from mechanical or structural interruptions. Therefore all infrastructure was placed in lateral demising walls, which in turn act as the unit’s storage and kitchen. The apartments feel wide open, are super quiet and have more storage space than any other comparable apartment in the city. To solve the problem of the site’s shallow commercial lot which is typically prone to dark interior spaces we focused our attention on the building’s envelope. Instead of the usual small punched window openings, oversized high performance windows were designed to ensure that light penetrated as far as possible into the units. In the smaller 1BR units, the full 50’ depth of the lot is perceived by partitioning spaces with sliding pocket doors that can be retracted to allow deep visual perspectives, making the sight lines in the space feel longer, larger, more ample than normal. In addition to the full height glazing, each unit above the 2nd floor receives a 7 foot covered balcony, adding 120 to 240 sf to each apartment, something unusual in New York City buildings. The space is large enough for a full size dining table, when the weather permits being outside. We also worked hard to ensure modularity. For example, all kitchen units are all identical throughout the building. The idea of modularity and the economy of the repetitive unit is exercised to the maximum through the building. Hardware, appliances, flooring, wall coverings and material finishes are all carefully selected to feel bespoke, high quality and unique. It was important to KURV that the result of this work manifest into something that would deeply connect with the end user and sustain relationships with the consumers of this space. All images by KURV Architecture ©