Steve McKee – Page 8

23 06, 2010

Confessions of a lighting junkie

By Steve McKee|2010-06-23T06:02:31+00:00June 23rd, 2010|At the School of Architecture, Thinking like an architect, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Confessions of a lighting junkie

It has happened that I’ll be at a party at someone’s home and notice that they’re not taking full advantage of their lighting scheme, so I’ll take the liberty of adjusting some of the light switches to bring up some accent lights on this wall or that. I should mention that I only do this every once in a while (so I don’t seem like too much of a weirdo) and usually only at the homes of former clients whose lighting scheme I helped design with them. Two seconds effort sliding a dimmer switch and suddenly artwork comes to life [...]

25 05, 2010

A day in the life of the architecture student

By Steve McKee|2010-05-25T06:03:51+00:00May 25th, 2010|At the School of Architecture, Uncategorized|Comments Off on A day in the life of the architecture student

It’s just before five o’clock, some weekend in March of 1981, and I haven’t been out of the apartment all day. Just me in my bathrobe, hunched over my mostly finished cardboard model of my Winery design, back aching right between the shoulder blades, and two day’s worth of cardboard debris scattered about the apartment living room. My two roomies are gone for the weekend, so I get to go nuts and do whatever I need to do to get my design ready for the final critique in a few days. I sustain myself with music of my choosing and [...]

4 05, 2010

Job site tips I learned the hard way

By Steve McKee|2010-05-04T06:06:04+00:00May 4th, 2010|Random observations, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Job site tips I learned the hard way

Every architect should have to personally build several houses from drawings that they’ve prepared. Really be the builder. Make every real decision about what to do next. Be there every day wearing tool bags and being involved “hands on” with everything. For me, it made for an education that I couldn’t obtain any other way. From bending and cutting rebar for the foundation, to placing beams just right in order to correctly meet sloping rafters, to aligning the deck framing in such a way so that the future handrail would line up just right with the window trim. Never a [...]

25 03, 2010

More than just a pretty picture

By Steve McKee|2010-03-25T06:07:56+00:00March 25th, 2010|Before you begin, Thinking like an architect, Uncategorized|Comments Off on More than just a pretty picture

An engineer buddy of mine likes to joke that architects just create “pretty pictures,” while engineers deal with real things like forces and loads. He knows this statement is simplistic, but that’s just all the more reason for him to chuckle. How easy it would be to just draw the alleged pretty pictures and be done with it. But really, it’s so much more interesting to go beyond “pretty” and also infuse a building with a multitude of nuanced choices that will enhance the quality of everyday life. Like the way a second floor window that is obviously there to [...]

18 02, 2010

A Benicia sense of place

By Steve McKee|2010-02-18T06:09:37+00:00February 18th, 2010|Benicia, My favorite columns, Uncategorized|Comments Off on A Benicia sense of place

In fair Benicia, where we lay our scene, we find a modest sized burg that has always been more “town” than “city.” Historians tell us the original founders had a vision of urban grandeur for our city, and you can see this for yourself when you look at early city maps showing a planned grid of streets and blocks that would do a major metropolis proud. Anticipated streets extend over hills and into the water with heady optimism. But with the gold rush, the role of alpha city for the region was quickly usurped by San Francisco, so Benicia ended [...]

27 01, 2010

Aging in place

By Steve McKee|2010-01-27T06:11:17+00:00January 27th, 2010|Elements of Design, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Aging in place

There are ways we can make our homes ready for us to “age in place” and still look like a gorgeous house. “Aging in place” is the name given to people remaining comfortably in their homes even as their bodies weaken with age. Many of these accommodating aspects can be built-in and seem so “normal” as to be invisible. It can start with a simple idea, like laying out a two story house so that there is both an upstairs and a downstairs Master Bedroom. The downstairs version is usually the “minor” master, but should at least meet the standards [...]

About Steve McKee

Confessions of a lighting junkie

A day in the life of the architecture student

Job site tips I learned the hard way

More than just a pretty picture

A Benicia sense of place

Aging in place