Daniel Silvernail Architect

Daniel Silvernail Architect Santa Cruz Architect designing dreams in Monterey Bay, Silicon Valley, & the San Francisco Peninsula since 1997. Daniel Silvernail Architect, Inc.

(DSAi) is an award-winning Santa Cruz, California based design firm recognized for it’s innovative work in architecture, interior design, sustainable practice, and master planning. We design buildings and spaces that are well crafted, meet our clients’ needs and aspirations, respond to the unique aspects of site and climate, and achieve high levels of environmental stewardship. We have been privil

eged to work with extraordinary clients on a wide range of new, adaptive reuse, renovation, and master planning projects. We embody an inclusive, collaborative design process resulting in built works that best serve our clients and are highly valued by their communities.

My beautiful wife, with view from our hotel's restaurant. Plaka district of Athens, looking southwards towards the Acrop...
05/23/2026

My beautiful wife, with view from our hotel's restaurant. Plaka district of Athens, looking southwards towards the Acropolis.

Stairway in the Anafiotika neighborhood, AthensAnafiotika is a scenic tiny neighborhood of the center of Athens, part of...
05/23/2026

Stairway in the Anafiotika neighborhood, Athens

Anafiotika is a scenic tiny neighborhood of the center of Athens, part of the old historical neighborhood called Plaka at the foot of the Acropolis. The first houses were built in the 1840's by workers from the island of Anafi in the Cyclades, hence the name Anafiotika. The resulting neighborhood was built in the style of Cycladic architecture. Houses are small and mostly cubic, with whitewashed walls, small intimate spaces, and an abundance bougainvillea flowers, giving visitors the feel of the Greek islands in the heart of the city.

Carola above the Anafiotika neighborhood, AthensDirectly behind her is the Anafiotika neighborhood, settled by migrants ...
05/23/2026

Carola above the Anafiotika neighborhood, Athens

Directly behind her is the Anafiotika neighborhood, settled by migrants from the Cyclades islands. Further beyond are the Plaka and Monastiraki neighborhood; the hill beyond is Mount Lycabettus (Wolf’s Hill), which offers panoramic views from the north of the City.

Carola at the Pnyx atop Philopappos Hill, Athens.Philopappos Hill — also known as the Hill of the Muses — lies due west ...
05/22/2026

Carola at the Pnyx atop Philopappos Hill, Athens.

Philopappos Hill — also known as the Hill of the Muses — lies due west of the Acropolis and takes its name from Gaius Julius Philopappos, a prince of the Kingdom of Commagene and benefactor of Athens during the 1st century AD.

As early as the fifth century BC, Athenians gathered at the Pnyx, a natural hollow on the hill’s eastern slope, to hold the civic assemblies and public discourse that shaped the world’s first democracy.

Carola’s oration here, with the Acropolis in the background, continues this distinguished tradition.

Carola at the Temple of Hephaestus in the Ancient Agora, Athens.The Temple of Hephaestus — whose Roman equivalent was Vu...
05/22/2026

Carola at the Temple of Hephaestus in the Ancient Agora, Athens.

The Temple of Hephaestus — whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan, god of the forge — was designed around 450 BC by Iktinos, principal architect of the Parthenon.

Following the Persian invasion and the destruction of Athens, the Athenians vowed never to rebuild their ruined sanctuaries, leaving them instead as perpetual reminders of the war. However, when Pericles later rose to power, he envisioned transforming Athens into a model of Greek cultural and political achievement, initiating the building program that reshaped the city.

From the 7th century until 1834, the temple also served as the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George. Owing to its long history of continuous use, it remains one of the best-preserved ancient temples in Greece.

Carola at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, on the south slope of the Acropolis, Athens.Herodes Atticus (AD 101–177) was bor...
05/21/2026

Carola at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, on the south slope of the Acropolis, Athens.

Herodes Atticus (AD 101–177) was born in ancient Marathon, near the modern town of Nea Makri where Carola attended her homeopathic conference — the reason for our stay in Greece. An Athenian orator of enormous renown, he taught rhetoric to the Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus before eventually becoming a Roman senator himself.

A great philanthropist, Herodes commissioned public works throughout Greece, including the Sanctuary of the Egyptian Gods at nearby Nea Makri. In Athens, he built the famous Odeon in memory of his wife, Appia Annia Regilla, who died while pregnant.

Completed in AD 161, the Odeon served as a grand venue for musical performances, seating some 5,000 spectators — the largest structure of its kind in its time. Though damaged during the Herulian invasion of AD 267, it was restored in the 1950s and today serves as the principal venue of the Athens Festival each year from May through October.

Carola at the Parthenon atop the Acropolis, Athens.The Parthenon, dedicated to the goddess Athena, stands as one of the ...
05/21/2026

Carola at the Parthenon atop the Acropolis, Athens.

The Parthenon, dedicated to the goddess Athena, stands as one of the great architectural achievements of the ancient world. Its sculptural program is considered among the highest expressions of classical Greek art, and the building itself has become an enduring symbol of ancient Greece, Western civilization, and democracy.

Constructed to commemorate the Greeks’ victory in the Greco-Persian Wars, work began in 447 BC when the Delian League stood at the height of its power. The temple was completed in 438 BC, though work on its sculptures and decorations continued until 432 BC. Built from more than 70,000 precisely cut pieces of Pentelic marble quarried nearly twenty miles from Athens, it was designed by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates under the supervision of Pheidias, the greatest sculptor of the age.

Remarkably, the Parthenon remained largely intact for over two millennia. Its catastrophic destruction came in 1687 during the Morean War, when gunpowder stored inside by Ottoman forces exploded after a Venetian artillery strike. The blast collapsed the cella, destroyed much of the sculptural pediments, and toppled many columns, leaving the partially ruined monument we see today.

Carola at the Sacred Olive Tree beside the west façade of the Erechtheion, Acropolis of Athens.According to Greek mythol...
05/19/2026

Carola at the Sacred Olive Tree beside the west façade of the Erechtheion, Acropolis of Athens.

According to Greek mythology, Poseidon, god of the sea, and Athena, goddess of wisdom, competed to become the protector of Athens. Striking the rock with his trident, Poseidon produced a spring, but its waters were salty like the sea. Athena, in turn, caused an olive tree to spring forth — a gift judged far more useful — and so the city was named in her honor.

To acknowledge both deities and placate neither, the Erechtheion was dedicated to cults associated with both Athena and Poseidon. The ancient Greeks, we are told, were generally careful not to offend the gods by omission, given the possible consequences.

Carola and the “Calf-Bearer,” Acropolis Museum, Athens.One of the great pleasures of traveling together is encountering ...
05/19/2026

Carola and the “Calf-Bearer,” Acropolis Museum, Athens.

One of the great pleasures of traveling together is encountering works we both first studied years ago in art history classes.

This statue, known as the Calf-Bearer (Moschophoros), dates to c. 560 BCE and is attributed to the sculptor Phaidimos. It depicts a bearded man carrying a calf on his shoulders as an offering to Athena. An inscription identifies the donor as Rhombos, son of Palos—likely the figure portrayed here, an affluent Athenian able to dedicate such an expensive marble sculpture on the Acropolis.

Though weathered by time, the figure still bears the famous “archaic smile,” the restrained expression characteristic of the Archaic Greek period.

Carola at the Lion Gate (c. 1250 BC), entrance to the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae. Widely regarded as the oldest monum...
05/18/2026

Carola at the Lion Gate (c. 1250 BC), entrance to the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae. Widely regarded as the oldest monumental sculpture in Europe, the gate stood centuries before Classical Greece. Since ancient sources place the fall of Troy sometime between 1250–1135 BC, it is profound to reflect that King Agamemnon likely passed through this very gateway when he sallied forth to launch the Trojan War.

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