Materials+Methods

PHIL HAGEN

>>> Arcadia, Inc., Vernon, California

Ken Martinek's Pivot/Slide House in Tempe, Arizona was designed by 180 Degrees of Phoenix to feature Arcadia products. Photograph by Jim Christy.

Any good salesman's product inevitably gets intertwined with his life. But for Ken Martinek, the national sales manager for Arcadia, Inc., there's virtually no end to this attachment. And it's been that way since the beginning. Back in the 1960s, when he was growing up in eastern Kansas, Arcadia products were already part of his existence. Not only did his home have the famous sliding patio door — like everyone else in postwar suburbia west of the Mississippi — but his grandparents worked in a full-service glass and glazing shop. And so would Martinek. As a young man, he did it all in that trade, including nervously delivering those fragile loads of plate glass as a route driver.

Glass, doors and framing have been his life ever since, highlighted by a big career move to Arcadia, Inc. in the late 1990s. Then a few years ago, as further devotion, he built a beautiful Modernist home for his family in Tempe, Arizona that is 40 percent glass, in order to achieve the maximum feel of indoor-outdoor living, an Arcadia hallmark. "The Pivot/Slide House," designed by the Phoenix design/build firm 180 Degrees (see it at www.180degreesinc.com), is also packed with an impressive representation of other Arcadia products — including a commercial aluminum storefront system.

"It was part of my embracing the whole idea of the architect and the community," he says from his Tempe office (the corporate headquarters is in the Los Angeles area), where he is in charge of marketing and directs a sales staff at the dozen different service locales in the West, from Albuquerque to Hawaii. "This trade is a passion, and I really hang my hat on that."

The type of knowledge, experience and passion that Martinek embodies serves as the framework for Arcadia's services, the focus of which is finding, engineering and designing the right window, sliding door, storefront, curtain wall or entrance system for all building types. This is why, when the Tempe firm Architekton took on the challenge of designing the recently opened Tempe Center of the Arts, principal John Kane, FAIA, called Arcadia before the first sketch.

"What I like about Arcadia is that they're open to a variety of ideas and solutions — there's never just one idea," says Kane. "That's important when you have aesthetic concerns, performance and technical concerns, budget concerns … and you're trying to find that perfect balance."

In that particular project, the architects also had sound concerns, thanks to the flight paths of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. So, besides devising the building's aluminum door and window systems, the Arcadia team at the nearby plant had to come up with a metal-and-glass acoustic curtain wall that could help mitigate noise from passing planes.

Arcadia also gets contemporary design challenges from the Phoenix-based Richärd + Bauer architectural firm, which has designed a number of award-winning libraries in Arizona. "We take the standard components and tweak them a little to meet their unique way of expressing our framing systems," Martinek says. "They always seem to want more glass and less aluminum, trying to increase the span of glazing with less framing to create that zero sightline. And we have to come up with different ways of creating that."

Landing on the right design answer often involves a "very circular and collaborative" process, Kane says. "And Arcadia has the right chemistry for that, the right personality. They're used to working with architects."

That chemistry is vital to achieving one of Arcadia's chief missions: "We are very passionate about giving architects an opportunity to become better designers," Martinek says.

This requires keeping up with the times, something the $100 million company has done pretty well for more than 70 years. It all started, of course, with that sliding-glass door that took off in the 1940s and became so ubiquitous that "Arcadia" quickly went from a brand name to a generic architectural term. What's more, it was part of what Martinek terms a "design transition" in American housing, when the Arcadia door became "synonymous with the subdivisions going up all around the country."

Today's design transition is all about sustainability, and Arcadia has positioned itself to be a green leader — literally. "We have the flexibility of service, with distribution centers and manufacturing capabilities throughout the West, whereas a lot of major competitors have opted not to do that," Martinek says. "That enhances our ability to participate in some of the LEED programming and our ability to service any immediate market."

The flexibility of Arcadia's products — from thermal window systems to postconsumer recycled materials — also helps clients achieve LEED standards. "It's funny," Martinek says, "if I told an architect I was selling a recycled product a few years ago, he wouldn't have anything to do with it. Now it's a hit."

The biggest thrill Martinek seems to get out of the LEED movement is that it harks back to Arcadia's original forte: bringing natural light inside. "Visible light enhances performance," he says. "It enables you to bring a structure to life."

Ultimately, that's why his trade remains unique in the business, and that uniqueness in turn further fuels the company's passion.

"It's different than most jobs," Martinek says. "How many people do you know who want to work with glass with their hands, or with glazing or framing systems — and do it right, to where it makes a space livable and comfortable? It's different. That's what turns me on. I can run circles around the competition because I don't have anybody else who thinks that way."

Arcadia Inc., 3225 E. Washington Blvd., Vernon, CA 90023 (headquarters); (323) 269-7300 or www.arcadiaincorporated.com.