SIMPLE AND SERENE

WHERE THE BUILT AND NATURAL WORLD INTERSECT, A MODERN MARTHA'S VINEYARD HOME RESPONDS TO ITS ENVIRONMENT.

- JANICE RANDALL ROHLF

"Understated, beautiful, and comfortable while remaining authentic to the land." This is how a Martha's Vineyard homeowner describes the vision she had for a new house on a large, secluded tract in the peaceful up-island town of Chilmark. What began as a vacation retreat became in short order the year-round residence for her, her husband, and their three young children. "When COVID-19 put a stop to work travel for my husband and me," she says, "we asked ourselves, 'Why don't we live here?"

Nestled at the end of a dirt road, the modern home settles comfortably into topography typical of the island-a combination of seascape, woods, cliffs, fields, and moor. Remarkably, about 40 percent of the island is permanently protected by open space. In this environment, it's easy to understand that fishing and farming were once central to the Vineyard's economy and lifestyle.

None of this was lost on architect Jake Lilley, principal at Jacob Lilley Architects, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. He designed the house to be compatible with the landscape, and with Chilmark's existing architecture. The house resembles a pinwheel, with a flat-roofed central space surrounded by four cedar-gable cottages that were inspired by both the fishermen's shacks and the barns that once dotted the island. "Martha's Vineyard has a great organic quality to it," says the architect, who took pains to respect the island's-and his client's-inherent ease of living and connection to the land.