Mc Kay Architecture

Architect in Berkeley, CA
Architect in Berkeley, CA Michael McKay is the principal of McKay Architecture, delivering architectural services to domestic and commercial customers since 1995. He practiced in partnership with Chris Spaulding from 1990 to 1995. Prior to that, Michael apprenticed with Jarvis Architects, a Berkeley company specializing in custom and historic domestic and commercial projects. After his undergraduate education, Michael spent a year working in construction, learning everything he could about the way buildings are actually built.

Contact Details

Address
801 Camelia Street Ste D
Berkeley, CA
94710
Phone
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About Us
read moreMcKay Architecture, a boutique architecture practice, has been in business since 1990 providing architectural services to individuals, business owners, and developers. I am now based in Wellington and Martinborough, New Zealand and am working on projects throughout New Zealand. McKay Architecture is a registered New Zealand architecture practice. My latest project is a restored 160-year-old villa in Greytown that has been getting national attention from Fairfax Media for its innovative reuse of original old-growth timber and period details married with 21st century design and building technology.
read moreWe designed this house on a lifestyle block just south of the town of Waipu in New Zealand. The owners' goals were to build an energy efficient house and shed where they would live, raise miniature donkeys, and surround themselves with their own orchard of fruit and nut trees. The 3.5 acre site slopes gently from the road across rolling pasture to the mature Totara-lined Ahuroa River at the bottom of the property. The main views are to the west so the house was designed with a balance of western windows to capture the view and northern windows for solar gain.
read moreThe design brief for this dated 1950s ranch house was to expand and completely remake it as a grand Arts and Crafts estate house. Most of the original foundation and exterior walls were retained in the remake but little evidence of the original house can be found. We made use of dramatic roof lines, period architectural details, and generous porches to create the feel and look of a house from the 1920s. As this house is located in an area with hot summers, particular attention was paid to passive cooling techniques that would minimize the energy bills for air conditioning.
read moreWe were approached by the new owners of an historic McKenzie & Wolf Spanish Revival house in Saratoga California and asked to extensivly add to it and make it serve the needs of their young family. The existing 1920s era residence was a listed historic building by a prominant local architect and as such we needed to work carefully to preserve the character of the structure while adding much needed space and bringing the residence into the 21st century. We chose to preserve te entire front half of the structure.
read moreThis 1970s Sea Ranch-inspired Berkeley shingle house was in need of a major update when it was purchased in the late 1990s. The house was in poor repair and earlier remodels poorly executed. With drafty single-glazed aluminum windows, dirty white carpeting, a dark, confined kitchen, and a chopped up, uninviting interior, a major intervention was clearly in order. Working in stages, we gutted the house inside and out and remodeled and rebuilt everything except for the very solid foundation. The original house was clad with cedar shingles from the ground to the roof accentuating the vertical lines of the house.
Santa Barbara Inspired Estate
read moreOur brief was to design a new hilltop estate on a hilly 100 acre site in the California foothills south of San Jose. The top of the most prominant hill was crowned with a ring of mature oak trees leaving an open area on top. By placing the house behind the trees we achieved a hilltop house with filtered views of the countryside below without the house being highly visable from below. One signature oak tree, located near te top of the hill became a focus for our design and the imputus to divide the house into two pavillions connected by a garden hallway.
read moreAfter designing the house in a new Los Gatos development, we returned at the request of the new owners to create an intimately scaled entertainment and recreation area for the couple and their friends. The resulting 580-sqare-foot cabaa was sited to allow a strong visual connection to the family room of the house, and to take advantage of views of the beautiful terraced grounds of the property. An outdoor shower and plunge pool give cooling relief after exercise and from the summer heat. An outdoor fireplace and BBQ area have become the focal point of a garden dining terrace and are often in use on warm summer evenings.
read moreWe designed this country house in New Zealand's Wairarapa valley to have minimal impact on the surrounding native bush yet give maximum access to the natural scenery. The house is sited on a 12.5-acre property composed almost entirely of native bush. The house is placed on the only area of pasture on the site. Happily, this was nearly flat and close enough to the road that the house could be built with minimal disturbance to the land. The house is composed of two wings, a living pavilion and a bedrooms pavilion joined by a flat roofed entry.
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