Mid-Century Masterpiece

RETRO CHIC LAKEFRONT LIVING

Our clients were looking for an escape from their fast paced, urban lifestyle to relax and enjoy the outdoors.  Their search took them all around Eastern Pennsylvania looking for the perfect lakefront lot to purchase and build their getaway, dream home.  After months of searching, it became apparent that finding a vacant building lot was not going to happen.  So they decided to find an existing lakefront home to either renovate or demolish and rebuild new.  After much collaborative deliberation, the new home path became clear with one twist – we were going to craft a two-story, energy-efficient mid-century modern home all while utilizing the existing foundation.

In theory, this often saves money, but in our case, the existing foundation was not in great condition and needed much work.  We had to underpin and pour new frost walls and footings in one area of the foundation where the previous owner had decided to remove the fill, expose that footing, and put in a basement-level garage bay.  Furthermore, the existing footing had started to disintegrate, and the foundation also had many large cracks that needed to be repaired. And some of the walls even needed to be strengthened, so we had to pour additional support walls to brace them.

Conceptually, the homeowner had a clear design vision rooted in the mid-century modern aesthetic.  With the sound guidance and creative mind of the project architect, Richard Pedranti, the dream and subsequent design concept were clear.  The challenge then became: how do we implement their vision when they are working long hours and living many miles away in New York City. Luckily for us, they had already accumulated many images and photos that they wanted to incorporate in their home.  This “idea packet” became the source for all the design elements inside the home.  We worked many hours through email and phone to make sure we executed each and every element they desired.

Programmatically, our client was looking to capture a few of the cherished elements surrounding them such as the unsurpassed lakefront views.  The lot was situated in the center of lake with a panoramic view that captured almost the entire lake – just beautiful and calming.  Justifiably so, they chose to locate the common living spaces toward the lake and the more private bedroom areas toward the street with the lakefront elevation consumed with walls of glass to allow for maximum connection to the idyllic scenery beyond.

There are plenty of fun and functional design elements around the home.  From the colorful bathrooms and vibrant kitchen, the architecture is a pleasure to experience throughout.  One prominent space for the family and guests is their one-of-a-kind, completely custom Bunk Room.  With its collaborative design process and over 2,000 master carpentry cuts, this space alone is a distinguished reason to leave the big city behind for the restful confines of lakefront living!

In addition to the finishes, the home is also crafted with high-performance strategies such as a super-tight building envelope, triple-pane windows, intricate R-30 wall assembly and dense packed cellulose insulation in the cathedral ceilings.  Additionally, there’s an extensive energy-efficient LED lighting package, high-performance water heater, ultra-efficient heat pump HVAC system with an ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator).  Our clients are enjoying this home after busy work weeks, and we are thankful to have been chosen to help deliver this dream getaway, lakefront home for their family!