WANDERLUST | SEA RANCH with LINLEE ALLEN

Los Angeles-based PR Linlee Allen knows a thing or two about wanderlust. Originally from South Australia, she spent several years living in Paris handling international PR for colette, but these days she calls America home representing a bevy of international brands and identities including Slowdown Studio, Claire Oswalt, Ten Over Six and Twin Peaks costume designer, Nancy Steiner. 

Here, she takes a break from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood by giving us the 411 on her latest getaway: Sea Ranch.

You know how they say its not about the destination, its about the journey? Whoever coined that term must have taken the three hour scenic drive from San Francisco to Sea Ranch, during which you absolutely must take a break in Bodega, the iconic seaside town featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s ’The Birds' (1963).

Upon arriving at Sea Ranch, a 10-mile stretch of coastline sprinkled with iconic vacation rental homes designed by famed architects in the 1960s, you’ll spot a variety of animals ranging from seals and giant-sized seagulls to frogs, baby deer, foxes, raccoons and more. There’s nothing quite like it. And hiking or bike riding upon the trails at sunrise or sunset around these parts is seriously the stuff that magic is made of. 

Sea Ranch was conceived along a mystical 10-mile stretch of California coast in the early 1960s and has achieved a sort of a cult status among architecture mavens, who house-gawk rather than bird-watch. Sounds like our kind of place!

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BENAH BOOK CLUB | GESTALTEN

Welcome to Benah Bookclub. Where we explore books we love, own or admire and celebrate independent and interesting publishers, books stores and sites. Owning beautiful books is one of the great joys in life. 
Print is not dead, just more luxurious!

Publisher/Copyright : GESTALTEN

Speciality: Design, Lifestyle, illustration, architecture, Fashion, Photography, travel, art, & children's

Founded: Berlin 1995

Sold internationally

Today we spot light one of our favourite publishers, Gestalten. 

Best known for some of the most beautiful visual books on the market, they have really made a name for themselves with their travel, lifestyle & children's books. This is the go to place for the perfect adventure publication for the men in your life.

They also keep extremely good company by producing all the Monocle Travel and lifestyle Guide Series in both book and video form. We all know that Berlin is a hub for creativity so its extremely rare to visit the site without adding at least 10 books to our wish list. 

Buy Gestalten Books Locally HERE

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BENAH LOVES | William O'Brien Jr.

Award-winning American architect William O’Brien Jr. has designed two single-storey holiday houses located in upstate New York, now affectionately dubbed the Twin Houses, owned now by two brothers and their families. It is by way of obsessive geometry that these minimalist structures were realized. While one is a regular six-sided polygon and the other is a four-sided polygon, each building is composed from the same five forms: four trapezoids and one triangle. Heavy stuff, eh? Well, stay with us, because it’s about to get even more complicated…

According to a press release about the site, “the mathematical principle of ‘dissection’ states that any two regular polygons with equal areas can be divided into sets of similar shapes; “minimal dissection” is the pursuit of the fewest number of subdivisions in each polygon. This scheme appropriates this principle as a solution to (1) general similarities in the programmatic requirements, and (2) distinctions in the desired relationships to the site, voiced by the two brothers for each of their homes.”

Now, mathematics aside, these deeply considered and meticulously planned buildings are a sight for the eyes (if not the brain also). And, as these gorgeous images by Peter Guthrie reveal, although of the stark minimalist variety and not to mention a sharp black, these twin structures provide both a jarring contrast to the rugged terrain that holds them, as well as a adding a certain poetry to the landscape. A match made in heaven.  

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