Family Vacation Home, Martha’s Vinyard.

The island community of East Chop offers stability and continuity to the succeeding generations who have been returning there for over 60 years.  The client wanted a brand-new house in East Chop to provide that same sense of belonging as the old family homes in the neighborhood.  DDA helped define the objective and provide a focus on the end result–a new home with a rich sense of family and community history. We designed two structures to emphasize and serve the succession of generations.  The main house conveys an ordered formalism, while the bunkhouse, the less disciplined, sculptural reduction of the next generation.  Several other ambiguous references imply a kinship with the past and the community. A romantic “past” shows up in the folly, tower room and hidden bedroom. Echoes of local landmarks appear in the eyebrow window, gazebo and pyramid roof.   Vernacular materials and carpentry techniques provide further continuity with the neighborhood.   As they create their own new traditions, one family will enjoy this quiet example of mindful architecture for many generations.