At Close Range: An Exclusive Interview With Irish Architect Paul McClean In LA

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH RANGE ROVER

An exclusive interview with the California-based architect …

Your favourite virtue Kindness. We all need to be a little bit more gentle and caring with each other.

Your favourite qualities in a person Intelligence, confidence without being overconfident, people who are engaging and interesting.

Your chief characteristic You mean, apart from the fact that I talk too much?

What you appreciate the most in your friends That I can feel comfortable around them and that they’re always there for me when I need them.

Your main fault Sometimes I can be very indecisive, that drives me nuts.

Your favourite occupations Anything creative; writing, painting, sculpture, architecture, design, finding meaning through purpose, no matter how small.

Your idea of happiness A perfect beach and a long walk through nature with family – so long as everyone’s behaving.

Folsom, designed by McClean Design.

Your idea of misery The LA 405 freeway at 5pm any evening.

If not yourself, who would you be? I’ve wanted to be an architect all my life. I’ve never really thought about doing anything different apart from travelling more, perhaps painting or drawing.

Your current state of mind Relaxed, on a Sunday.

Your favourite colour and flower My favourite colour is blue, the colour of our planet. There are so many beautiful flowers it’s hard to pick, but I do love orchids.

Most overrated virtue People who are concerned but don’t actually do anything with their concern drives me nuts. I guess that would be false sympathy.

Which talent would you most like to possess To be able to sing and play a musical instrument.

Laurel II, designed by McClean Design.

Your favourite authors Virginia Woolf, David Mitchell, Kim Stanley Robinson, Christos Tsiolkas.

Your favourite heroes and heroines in fiction Orlando springs to mind in fiction, I always loved that story. In terms of fantasy, I always liked Hermione more than Harry.

Your favourite artist I’m a big fan of sculpture and I love Henry Moore. Also Turner and Rothko.

Your favourite musical artists and composers I’m an enormous fan of Philip Glass, I don’t know how many houses I’ve designed with him in the background.

The principal aspect of your personality I’m a very curious person.

Your idea of good taste Being polite, calmness, restraint, objects that are well made with thought and care. 

The quality I look for in my surroundings A sense of calm and peace, reflections in water.

I try to preserve the environment by … Making things with a long shelf life that I hope have enough intrinsic value that they will last and be reused.

The country where I should like to live I always fantasise about being in a cubist house on a Greek island.

I look to the road ahead with … Optimism, I think you cannot be an architect without being optimistic, you’re literally thinking about things that will materialise in the future. The world is going through a tough patch at the moment but I hope that things will turn out for the better, even if they may be a little bit worse in the short term.

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