1. By Ingrid Bush, Content Manager
In this remodel, a trusting client and a thoughtful remodeler come together to connect
a lakeside house to its unique site
Detailed Simplicity
48 Professional Remodeler ProRemodeler.com JULY 2015
Y
ou can “trust but verify,” or you can jump in and just trust.
The remodel of this lakeside house, designed and executed
by Bright Ideas by Martinec, is the product of the purest trust.
Trust between client and remodeler is key in all Martinec jobs,
project manager Alex Martinec says, and most of the company’s
work is repeat or referral for this very reason. But what made the
process of remodeling this lake house remarkable was the client’s
complete trust in the remodeler.
Martinec describes the homeowners as “ideal clients” who gave
him a basic idea of what they wanted—and then went on vacation
for almost the entire duration of the project. The remodeler took
those initial ideas and ran with them, developing the design and
details with just a couple of review meetings with the client before
construction began.
The work on the home occurred in two distinct phases that were
conceived of and executed independently, the first in 2010 (dura-
tion: four months) and the second in 2012 (duration: 12 months).
It wasn’t the first time that Built by Martinec had worked with the
homeowners. Alex Martinec had already proved himself on a couple
of earlier, smaller projects. But Phase 1 of the project was the first
large project of his career. “It was also the first project that was
most in line with my core beliefs on design,” he says.

2. project spotlight
JULY 2015 ProRemodeler.com Professional Remodeler 49
Improvements in Stages
Phase 1 focused on the rear (lake side) of the house, enlarging
and improving the exterior deck and access from the house to
the water, as well as providing better exterior sun protection.
The original scope of Phase 2 was to remodel the kitchen,
add an office space, and update the front of the home, but
once Martinec began designing, he says the scope grew to
include the dining room and entryway because the spaces in
the new design were more open and better connected.
The fact that each phase was conceived separately, rather
than being a continuation of a single project, plus the length
of time that elapsed between phases, presented the chal-
lenge of maintaining a cohesive vision and ensuring design
continuity. But Martinec’s knowledge of the site and house
gained from the first phase prepared him well for fully real-
izing the ideas that shaped the design in Phase 2.
The key themes that drove the second phase include
indoor/outdoor connection, the nature of water, spatial com-
pression and release, and using a set palette of materials in
different ways.
Drawn to Water
The site, with its water views and unique natural setting, informed the core of the
design. The water also played a pivotal role and, Martinec adds, “had the most
focus in the design, specifically the movement of the water and its clarity.”
But strengthening the connection between house and liquid landscape took
focused effort. While working on the project, Martinec learned that the home’s previ-
ous owners, who had had the house built for them, used to live in New England and
loved their home there so much that they built an exact copy on the lakeside site.
“It was a house built and designed for an average residential area,” Martinec says.
“And because the new lot was too narrow, they had to turn the house to make it fit.
In doing so, the siting of the home largely ignored the great views and the location’s
natural beauty.”
To remedy this lack of site-specific orientation, Martinec set about creating
visual connection to the water and manipulating the flow of interior spaces so
that occupants are drawn from the home’s entryway through the living spaces and
kitchen to the lake beyond. The design intention for the deck (opposite page) was
to create a multifunctional space and to continue the interior living space to the
outside. It’s a journey that reveals the landscape.
On the exterior, from the driveway to the water, Martinec also consciously manipu-
lated the journey so that your path wraps down around the house revealing the lake as
you descend (just as it’s revealed as you move into and through the house). He says
he’d read in an architectural design book about how a full 90-degree turn causes a
psychological shift, and he purposely employed that in the design.
BEFORE
Project Snapshot
Company: Bright Ideas by Martinec, Big Flats, N.Y.
Owner: George Martinec
Designers: Alex Martinec; assistant kitchen designer:
Julie Barnard Monagan
Location: Keuka Lake, Hammondsport, N.Y.
Project cost: Phase 1, $75,000; Phase 2, $500,000
WEbsite: martinecbuilders.com
Matt wittmeyer
NickMarx

3. Project spotlight
50 Professional Remodeler ProRemodeler.com JULY 2015
Finding the Wright Way
Toward the completion of Phase 1, several people told
Martinec that the design looked like something Frank Lloyd
Wright would design. “This is when I decided to do more seri-
ous research on Wright,” he says. “I was very inspired, the
more I found out ... Wright believed that if your efforts were
successful, you couldn’t imagine that building anywhere than
right where it is. It’s part of its environment.” Martinec feels
that what is important in his own work—integrating spaces
into a unified whole, the choice and use of materials, the re-
lationship of interior spaces to the landscape, and manipula-
tion of volumes of space as you move through a building—is
in sync with Wright’s design approach.
Space Games
Martinec intentionally manipulated the volumes of space as you progress through the
house to create a sense of compression and release. Rather than feeling like the main en-
try to the house, the existing entry was small, insignificant, and created a disjointed feeling
as you came into the home, and there wasn’t a natural inclination of where to go. Martinec
added a roof structure over the front door, making it feel deeper, and narrowed the open-
ing. The entry was already angled—to direct people—but he accentuated this even more.
There was a bulkhead that contributed to the odd sightlines of the existing entryway, but
rather than leaving it as-is or removing it, he accentuated it, adding on to it so it completely
covers the entry stair hall, creating that sense of compressed space.
“The [compression-release] idea suggests that if you have a low ceiling and a high ceil-
ing, people will move through the lower section into the higher,” Martinec says. “The same
concept can be applied to moving through hallways into open areas.” And that’s the point:
This hall is meant to pull you toward the
deck and out to the water. The horizontal
orientation of the cedar on the stair wall
is intended to move your eye toward the
water beyond, and that cedar continues
onto the soffit ceiling, creating the feeling
of a tunnel that you’re naturally inclined to
move through and out of toward the deck.
The existing wooden stair railings and
balusters were replaced with glass railings
“to increase the visual space,” Martinec
says, “and to simplify the hall so you focus
on the cedar.”
Matt wittmeyer
Matt wittmeyer
Nick Marx

4. project spotlight
52 Professional Remodeler ProRemodeler.com JULY 2015
Glass House
The homeowner has a collection of Corning glass, from nearby Corning,
N.Y., but the existing home didn’t provide any opportunities for showcas-
ing these beautiful pieces. Designing with the art in mind, Martinec set
about providing places where the glass could be front and center. In
addition to the dining room’s “wave wall” (below, inset), the entryway’s
glass shelves—glass art supported by glass—allow the artwork to “float.”
Martinec notes the connection between the clarity of glass and the water
theme expressed throughout the project.
That theme comes to life in several other details as well. Martinec says
he used “subtle ways of pushing the water theme, as well as more overt
ways,” notably, the “wave wall” panel from ModularArts; the mirrored
toe-kick on the kitchen island; and the choice of material for the doors
of the white kitchen cabinets above the sink and on
the pantry, 3form’s Current Porcelain, which features
a wavy pattern that provides a subtle design cue for
water and movement.
Out on the deck, a glass railing (see page 50)
replaces the old wooden deck railing, creating a
cleaner, simpler look and allowing the structure to
come forward. The glass also maximizes visual con-
nection to and enjoyment of the lake views.
Material Manipulation
In the remodel, continuity and a cohesive aesthetic are achieved through the use of certain
materials, such as Western red cedar, on both the interior and exterior. For example, the ce-
dar—4-inch tongue and groove—is used on the interior for the soffits and ceiling transitions
into the new office addition and in the entryway, and then for the fascia and soffits of the
entry exterior. Western red cedar also makes its appearance in the exterior sills, the slats of
the deck’s sliding screens for privacy, and as trim to cover the HardiePanel seams. This last
exterior detail also creates a strong horizontal aesthetic, which, Martinec says, results in a
“quieter structure” because it emphasizes the horizontal planes of the ground and water.
The 24-by-24-inch Florida tile is another material that’s used both indoors and out. Mar-
tinec says, “This is a great tile for the way I like to design. The friction coefficient is one
where the tile can be used both indoors and outdoors. This tile is used in the office and
kitchen … [as well as] on the walkway in front of the garage that continues to the main
entryway steps and to the front door.”
Photos: Matt wittmeyer

5. project spotlight
54 Professional Remodeler ProRemodeler.com JULY 2015
Going to Great Lengths
The design of the gull-wing kitchen cabinets was a partnership be-
tween several manufacturers. The aluminum door frames are made by
Element designs, the hinges and lift mechanisms are from Blum, the
door material is made by 3form (¼-inch-thick Varia Ecoresin, Artisan
series, Current Porcelain), and the cabinet boxes are from National
Forest Products. “The main part of the development was done with Ele-
ment Designs and Blum,” Martinec says. “Both told us that this would
be considered ‘experimental’ because Element designs had never
made a door this long, and Blum had never lifted a door of this length.”
The 9-foot-long doors are controlled by Blum’s Servo-Drive, so you can
touch anywhere on the face of the doors and they lift automatically.
Martinec says that while he designed the uninterrupted runs of
cabinetry to maintain visual simplicity, he was mainly concerned
about ease of use. Because the house functions as a summer home,
many guests are in and out throughout the season. “Either you don’t
know or you’re going to forget where you put something or you’re going
to go around and open every door in the kitchen,”
Martinec says. “With a single door that opens
multiple cabinets, the design becomes more
intuitive.”
Pantry Perfection
The white pantry next to the refrigerator is made from the same 3form panel used on the cabinets
above the sink. The doors are all the same size, but the cabinets are stepped in depth (3 feet,
2 feet, 1 foot) because the existing back wall of the pantry is angled. For the walnut pantry on
that same wall, instead of using cabinet pulls, Martinec used Blum Tip-on touch latches that pop
the doors open, allowing the natural beauty of the wood to take center stage uninterrupted. The
8-foot-tall, MDF core, walnut veneer slab doors have a machine edge with a 1/8 -inch reveal that
makes them appear seamless. “This is very difficult to do,” Martinec points out. Each door has
six hinges to support the weight and maintain the 1/8 -inch reveal. “It’s one thing to design these
projects,” he points out, “but it’s another thing entirely to build them accurately.” PR
Go to ProRemodeler.com to see more photos and details about this project.
DURING
Matt wittmeyer
bright ideas by martinec
Matt wittmeyer