Martha’s Vineyard is hometo the single largest concentration of our residential work and some of ourearliest projects, including the Polly Hill Arboretum. Chilmark House, like manyof these commissions, is immersed in the landscape and continually reconnectsits inhabitants with the surrounding woods, pools of sunlight and nearbyVineyard Sound. Entire walls and windows are designed to vanish and eraseboundaries between indoors and outdoors. We were guided in the earliest phase ofthe project by the couple’s wish for distinct public and private spaces and thesite’s topography. The central public space—the living and dining areas—plus asitting room in the guest wing, are oriented toward a kind of naturalsun-filled well on the house’s south side. Interior load-bearing ellipticalcolumns allow sliding doors and windows to make large openings to the south inthe exterior walls. Opposite, on the north side, sliding windows create largegaps in the exterior, connecting the living room and kitchen directly to thewoods and waters of the sound. Bedrooms are on the wooded edges, on the eastand west sides. A roof deck, terrace and side decks create outdoor livingspaces. Shortly after completion of this project, the couple asked us to begindesigning a guesthouse nearby as their family continued to grow.