By Sarah Stebbins
From the Fall 2022 issue of Maine Homes by Down East
When Portland architect Will Winkelman’s clients purchased Wood Island in Denmark’s Moose Pond, they thought they’d build a classic gabled camp. Winkelman drew them a trio of peaked, connected structures that nestle, like a paper chain, among the island’s pines and oaks, plus another iteration: three shed-roofed “pods,” with glass walls and ceiling panels, linked with flat-roofed screened porches. “We weren’t trying to be contemporary, more just responding to the landscape,” says Winkelman, noting that the kitchen sink aligns with a sill at the base of an 18-foot-tall bank of windows that immerses dishwashers in the forest. After the clients greenlighted his design, he and former colleague Melissa Andrews worked with Denmark builder Henry Banks to erect a structure as quiet as a shadow. Western-red-cedar shingles are stained the color of pine-tree bark, and heart-pine fascia and framing, reclaimed from a local mill, blend with fallen needles. Island comings and goings are similarly inconspicuous. When the owners can’t travel by boat, they set off across the frozen pond on foot.
