#341 - PAUL McCLEAN, Founder of McClean Design
SUMMARY
This week Architect Paul McClean, founder of McClean Design joins David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design to discuss his Irish roots and early love for residential architecture; his experiences in architecture school; his travels across the globe and work in various countries; relocating to California; their approach to residential design; working on a 100,000 square foot house; and more. Enjoy!
ABOUT PAUL
“I grew up in Ireland where I attended the Dublin Institute of Technology graduating with honors in architecture in 1994. During my time at university, I traveled extensively and worked for award-winning architectural practices in London, Dublin, and Sydney, Australia. I also had an opportunity to work with the Monument Service of Ireland sketching and surveying many of the historic castles and monasteries dotted throughout the Irish landscape. In addition, I spent a year working with a firm in Dublin on museums and art galleries in the national capital. After graduation, I arrived in Southern California and worked for various local architectural firms before establishing McClean Design in 2000.
I feel that we have been very fortunate these last few years and have managed to complete many new homes. I have always enjoyed working with different people and am constantly amazed by the different and varied backgrounds of our clients. I have been able to establish lasting relationships with high-quality builders and other design professionals helping to ensure that our entire team is committed to realizing the dreams and aspirations of our clients. Design is more than a job for me. It is what I wanted to do as a little boy and which I am lucky enough to be able to practice today and hopefully for a very long time.”
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Introduction.
(08:31) Architecture school in Dublin.
(19:03) Working and traveling around the world.
“We really enjoy trying to learn the nuances of how people live in different places, the cultural differences, and how we accommodate that… People don’t build houses when they are in bad parts of their lives… It can be a very positive and exciting experience. A lot of our clients are super excited and that makes us excited.” (23:08)
(28:32) Moving to California.
(33:54) Fixed fee structures.
“You can make more money on a fixed fee than on an hourly because sometimes you can come up with a design relatively quickly and then you'll make bank on that but then sometimes projects can really drag out and then slowly what you thought was really great fee turns into minimum wage.” (34:45)
(46:53) The role of an architect.
“It's almost a bit like dating it starts off a little shy and as we get more comfortable, the real information comes out…” (48:11)
(59:08) Exploring non-residential building types.
“We're just humans in the end and you can only do so much. And I do feel like architects who try and do too many building types are not necessarily successful… Just because you're great at designing houses doesn't mean you'll be brilliant at designing a train station." (01:00:16)
(01:07:18) About the practice and team.
(01:13:09) Technology and A.I. in architecture.
(01:27:48) Working on projects globally.
(01:42:50) Pauls’ favorite building.
