Blog – Page 3

29 10, 2013

Pompeii, Italy – my kind of town

By Steve McKee|2019-04-25T17:05:48+00:00October 29th, 2013|Travel Tales, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Pompeii, Italy – my kind of town

Pompeii and Mt Vesuviuspartners in one of the grand human stories All four McKees wanted to see the legendary ruins of Pompeii, the Roman city preserved just as it was on a random summer afternoon in 79 A.D. when nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered it in twenty feet of ash. In this way a time capsule of a day-in-the-life of a typical Roman city was left for the world to later discover. Despite a few tunnels created by looters, the place was left mostly intact until a small archaeological exploration in 1599 discovered it and then a [...]

29 10, 2013

Croatia visited

By Steve McKee|2019-04-25T17:05:49+00:00October 29th, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Croatia visited

Dubrovnik My daughter went to Italy in June for a month of "UCLA Summer School Abroad." The rest of the McKees used this as an excuse to join her when she was done in July. We would meet her in Rimini, a city on the northern end of the Adriatic Sea and spend the following ten days on some sort of trip in that part of the world. Figuring out exactly where to go became a project. Mostly fun, but with some chores to it as well. Planning began months and months before. A large map of [...]

29 10, 2013

Elsie Robinson’s Benicia

By Steve McKee|2019-04-25T17:05:49+00:00October 29th, 2013|Benicia, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Elsie Robinson’s Benicia

In 1883 a girl was born in Benicia, grew up there, and came to make sense of the world from what she saw. At age nineteen she moved to Vermont to marry into a family of strict puritans and years later returned to the West to barely make a living digging underground in a gold mine. Faced with exhaustion, hunger and despair, she willed herself to try to find a way out. At age fifty she wrote about it all, and wrote well. Elsie Robinson was her name. Her book was published in 1934. After hearing about it from my [...]

29 10, 2013

Q and A with the high school kids

By Steve McKee|2019-04-25T17:05:49+00:00October 29th, 2013|Travel Tales, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Q and A with the high school kids

A few years ago I had the chance to show images from my Europe travels to an A.P. Art History class at Benicia High that my daughter was taking. The very nice and enthusiastic teacher Ms. Thomas invited me to come and hold forth about architecture in any way I wanted for one class period. I created a power-point slideshow by using photos from my 1980 trip done as a college student and the more recent visits made with my family, as well as some online images and maps added for good measure. For about an hour I got to [...]

29 10, 2013

Who will speak for design review?

By Steve McKee|2019-04-25T17:05:49+00:00October 29th, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Who will speak for design review?

Before a building permit is issued, all plans get reviewed for compliance with building codes and local zoning rules, but a select few are also required to undergo something extra called design review. By degrees, the fates of cities are determined in these review sessions. Every city worth its salt has a panel of design reviewers. These are architects, builders and usually a landscaper who volunteer their time as city representatives to discuss a proposed design with the applicant and possibly request improvements during a public meeting to make sure the design is as good as can be under [...]

24 06, 2013

Features I want in my next house

By Steve McKee|2019-04-25T17:05:49+00:00June 24th, 2013|Elements of Design, Thinking like an architect, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Features I want in my next house

I've seen some cool stuff in houses in my day. And by that I don't mean the high-tech things like computerized light switches or the ability to turn on my hot tub from my smart phone while I'm in an airport. I suspect that these gizmos are destined for obsolescence, like the abandoned intercoms you see mounted on walls in forty year old houses. I tend to be more impressed by the simple things that will be useful and enjoyed for countless generations. Medicine closet Like a medicine cabinet, but much larger. I visited a client's home that had [...]