Cramped style: how regulators derailed California's most environmentally progressive development.

• Author: De Alessi, Michael

The Sea Ranch coastal development, some 100 miles north of San Francisco in Sonoma County, is probably the best-known attempt to address environmental issues with innovative architecture and private covenants. As the development's Chamber of Commerce puts it, the community has sought to "blend man-made structures with their natural setting, and to 'live lightly on the land.'"

The architects who designed the early buildings at The Sea Ranch not only fomented what has become known as the "Sea Ranch Style" but drove the creation of the legal covenants that defined the landscape and created the community that exists today. They advocated "a close relationship to nature and the use of natural materials"; they believed that "buildings can and should become a part of the encompassing landscape."

Thus, houses would be clustered and set well back from the bluffs to protect clear views of the land and sea. Roads and houses would be parallel to hedgerows, creating diagonal views of the ocean and taking advantage of natural windbreaks. No nonnative vegetation would be visible, cars would be kept from view to avoid reflections, natural materials would be used for exterior walls, houses would be kept to low heights, and there would be neither curbs nor sidewalks. In addition, 2,300 acres would be owned in common by the members of the Sea Ranch Association.

Today there are about 1,600 homes on the 4,000-acre property and about 600 undeveloped lots. The Sea Ranch has 500 permanent residents, and the Sea Ranch Association, which maintains and enforces the covenants through a design committee, has 1,500 members. According to Sea Ranch Realty, home prices start at about $400,000 and lot prices range from about $100,000 in the forests to $1 million for oceanfront property.

Short of a visit, the best way to experience the community's unique architecture is Jim Alinder's stunning photography in the recently published The Sea Ranch (Princeton Architectural Press). There are nearly 400 images in the book, 200 of them in color. The text, by architect Donlyn Lyndon, addresses why certain houses work with both the interior and exterior space they are given. Most houses, for example, are individually adapted to the contours of earth and vegetation.

Many of the most dramatic photos are shot from inside the homes looking out, giving a sense of individual taste as well as the beauty of the landscape. It is this desire to integrate people and nature--along with a private...