In this paper we propose a new class of memory models, called transparent memory models, for implementing data structures so that they can be emulated in a distributed environment in a scalable, efficient and robust way. Transparent memory models aim at combining the advantages of the pointer model and the linear addressable memory model without inheriting their disadvantages. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by looking at a specific memory model, called the hypertree memory model, and by implementing a search tree in it that matches, in an amortized sense, the performance of the best search trees in the pointer model yet can efficiently recover from arbitrary memory faults.