US firms Gray Organschi Architecture and Schiller Projects took cues from the natural terrain of Martha's Vineyard, a vacation island off the coast of Cape Cod, to create this holiday retreat.
The Chilmark House sits on a 4.25-acre (1.7-hectare) site that is surrounded by farmland and overlooks the sea.

"We worked with the family to search for land for a year before settling on an unbuilt parcel set back from the South Shore," said Schiller Projects, a Manhattan studio started in 2011 by Aaron Schiller. The studio worked with Connecticut-based Gray Organschi Architecture on the project.
L-shaped in plan, the two-story home is embedded in subtle hillside. "Wonderfully sloped, the site challenge demanded a delicate balance between the architectural insertion and the natural landscape," the team said.
While conceiving the design, the architects looked to an old barn that they viewed as a large mass that did not overwhelm the natural environment. Creating a home that worked in harmony with the terrain was a guiding concern.
"This landscape-based approach led us toward how best to site and lay out the house ? the architectural and landscape process feeding off of and interchangeably leading each other," the team said.

A long entry drive follows the contours of the land, passing through a wooded thicket and arriving at the eastern edge of the home. A stone walkway leads to the front door.
The upper volume extends beyond the lower portion of t...