Paul McClean

McClean Design has grown into one of the leading contemporary residential design firms in the country with projects in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, and New York. With a keen focus on modern living and a desire to connect to the beauty of the surrounding natural environment, McClean Design is known for 

creating homes that redefine luxury living. In his recent design tome, McClean Design: Creating the Contemporary Home, McClean and author Philip Jodidio go inside 21 of these spectacular residences and offer a glimpse at the new standard of high-end real estate in L.A

What modern design trend makes you cringe?

Can trying too hard be described as a design trend? I find that originality for its own sake can be cringeworthy. Really good design simplifies to the minimal practical solution and then injects a little poetry.

What might the design world look like in 10 years?

I think we will continue to see an increasing focus on renewables in both energy and materials. We should also see more construction components fabricated off site and a ramping up of prefab and 3D printed structures in general. I do hope this will lead to faster and more diverse construction, in many ways our industry is not much different than it was one hundred years ago in terms of process and methods.

Who is a contemporary inspiration in your field?

There are so many that it’s incredibly hard to choose but for me the work of Seattle firm Olsen Kundig always is an inspiration in the way that they create Contemporary Homes rooted to the local vernacular of the Pacific Northwest.

Are there qualities in potential clients that you identify that make you know you have to run away.

I think that for a project to work, everyone involved has to be open minded and realistic. From a practical perspective we try to help our potential clients understand what the projects we do actually cost ahead of agreeing to work with them. They also need to be open minded with regards to the eventual outcome; there are so many factors involved that will influence the design and many only become apparent through the process. If a person insists that the design looks a certain way and that it can be built for half the usual local costs, we are probably not a good fit. 

Style (or design) icon?

Zaha Hadid for her enormous influence on the design world through amazing work and sheer force of personality. 

How would you define your work in three words?

Open, light, transparent. 

How do you define beauty?

That is such a thought question. Beauty is such an ephemeral and abstract idea but we know it when we see it, right? I think beauty evolves out of proportion and the relationship of individual components to one another and that we react to them at an emotional level.