Uncategorized – Page 8

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 [...]

24 12, 2009

Why we travel: The hidden Puerto Vallarta is there for the taking – PART 4

By Steve McKee|2009-12-24T06:13:32+00:00December 24th, 2009|The Mexico house, Travel Tales, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Why we travel: The hidden Puerto Vallarta is there for the taking – PART 4

After the rain ended earlier in the day, the evening stroll through downtown Puerto Vallarta was especially delightful. The cobbled streets were just wet enough to reflect the different color lights from the restaurants and shops. Here was Vallarta, an old friend, looking as good as ever. I was there alone for a four day trip to finalize the sale of my parent’s winter home – the house that I had personally designed and helped build for them over twenty years ago in a village a half hour north of PV. Between the occasional lawyer meetings there was enough time [...]

1 12, 2009

How we lost our bit of paradise to someone’s greed – PART 3

By Steve McKee|2009-12-01T06:14:57+00:00December 1st, 2009|The Mexico house, Uncategorized|Comments Off on How we lost our bit of paradise to someone’s greed – PART 3

When it all went wrong, it was mind-boggling that someone could get away with something this wrong, something so totally unethical. But there they were, trucks and bulldozers, filling in our oceanfront with land fill. The bastards knew just what they were doing, too. It was all part of a massive effort to callously transform several hundred yards of Mexico coastline and make themselves millions of extra dollars in profit. For months and months trucks loaded with boulders rumbled by the front door while barges with huge dredging pumps created massive sand bars to fill in [...]