Mickey Muennig

May 11

An architect that has been known as “The man who built Big Sur” has been called a visionary and an architect whose designs were relaxed and free.

Mickey Muennig’s post ranch inn, big sur, california

An “unsung pioneer of Californias iconoclastic organic architecture movement.”

A movement that arguably began with Frank Lloyd Wright and flourished in California during the 1950s counter culture movement. Muennig designed buildings in a way that had little impact on their surroundings, using natural and recycled materials, organic elements and taking up little space. His first home along the rugged coastline of Big Sur, was a small round Tee-pee shaped building made with glass ceilings that made use of solar power. His later home truly exemplified the organic movement with a “moon shaped door inspired by Chinese temples that was cut into the hill.. a waterfall cascading just inside the door and a living room full of banana trees and vines”.

Muennig was most famously known for his designs for Post Ranch Inn, a luxury resort that features building inspired by the geometry of animals such as butterflies, as well as towers and cylinders that lack right angles. The Inn is comprised of various unique units including treehouses on stilts and hobbit like rooms. Each individual building having its own unique feel and view point.