Everything Is Illuminated
The Motlands built a guesthouse behind their home on Martha's Vineyard. Then they started spending the night.
Sandy and Randy Motland's traditional Cape home on Martha's Vineyard is the quintessential island getaway. On a 30-foot grassy bluff overlooking the Vineyard Sound in Aquinnah, it's hard to imagine living anywhere else, which is why they decided to add a guesthouse; they wanted their family with them. The only problem was that they liked it so much that they sort of moved in. (They stay there when the main house is rented.)
It all started seven years ago, when a neighbor sold a plot of land to the Motlands. With five children between them, the Motlands, who live in Greenwich, Connecticut, in the off -season, suspected that a brood of grandkids was on the horizon, and they hoped that building a separate space for family would encourage them to visit more often. They wanted a house that could be easily shared by their grown children and their families. Mark Hutker, an architect in Falmouth, worked with the couple on the concept. "The sociology of the house drove the design," he says. "We started with the idea that there would be two distinct bedroom wings, as far apart as they could be, in order to provide privacy and autonomy for two different family groupings."
Sound like a straightforward plan? Not on the Vineyard, where development restrictions can make building permits hard to get; homes must blend into the island rather than stand out. "The site is close to a traveled road, so we aimed for a stealth presentation," says Phil Regan, a principal at Hutker Architects. With its subtle natural-cedar shingle exterior and windows that all agree are the color of the moss on the north side of the oak trees, the house is practically invisible from the road. "The design is exactly what the town was looking for," says Sandy Motland.
Aquinnah's Planning Board Review Committee requested that they do their best to save the existing oak trees, so Hutker and Regan designed around them. What emerged was a triangular site, with a stand of oaks on two sides. The third side of the lot faces the water. The architects designed the house to closely follow the splayed lines of the triangular- shaped site, rather than build a more traditional rectangular structure within it. The creative design allowed them to maximize the footprint (it's just under 3,000 square feet) and the water view.
From the back (or water side), the home seems to be four independent buildings, but they're actually all connected. Two narrow bedroom suites run along the two stands of oak trees (one stand of oaks separates the house from the road; the other separates it from the neighbors). The narrow design allows the roofline to remain low, which was crucial in order to meet the town's 18-foot height restriction.
The heart of the guesthouse is, of course, the great room, where the families come together to cook in the large, open kitchen, eat at the long dining table, and read in the kilim-covered chairs by the fieldstone fireplace. It is the home's visual masterpiece - a vaulted timber-frame structure, with a curved roof that stops halfway at its highest point. Constructed from Douglas fir by Jim Cranston, the effect is a warm, cabin-style interior with a Shaker sensibility, featuring cypress ceilings complemented by the wood-plank flooring, wood cabinetry in the kitchen (accented with perforated stainless-steel inlays, instead of glass, to avoid having to keep the contents neat) and custom-built furniture, from armoires to the stainless-steel-topped tablelike kitchen island.
Says Regan: "The great-room space is a work of art - a combination of glass, wood, and stone that focuses on the view."
Sandy and Randy sometimes find themselves hanging out at the guesthouse even when nobody is visiting. The guesthouse is larger. It's also winterized - the main house is not - and extremely energy efficient. Sandy pushed to have the house done in time to celebrate her 60th birthday there in 2003 with six longtime friends who were also reaching that milestone. And a reception dinner was held there for Randy's son and his bride, who got married on the bluff on a misty afternoon last year. Sandy and her husband would love for the family to celebrate Thanksgiving there, perhaps when the grandchildren are a bit older. Meanwhile, they'll just enjoy the view.
Marni Elyse Katz summers in Truro. Send comments to designing@globe.com.
Architects
MARK HUTKER AND PHIL REGAN
HUTKER ARCHITECTS
217 Clinton Avenue, Falmouth, 508-540-0048,
hutkerarchitects.com
Contractor
JIM CRANSTON, CRANSTON TIMBER FRAMING
Vineyard Haven, 508-693-3794
