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In a Vancouver penthouse with a view to thrill, designer Andrea McLean helps a family embrace a modern touch.
Any design job is a balancing act of sorts—at least it is for designer Andrea McLean. For her, it’s about listening to her clients and then marrying what she hears with a modern, timeless ethos—an ethos that doesn’t follow trends, but sets the bar instead. “I don’t want them to call up another designer in five years and say ‘This is out of date,’” she says.
But for one design job in particular—tackling a window-laden suite in Coal Harbour—there were other components to consider, too. For starters, the clients, who had purchased a unit in this modern downtown tower, didn’t live in town. They and their daughter were originally from Vancouver but had since moved to the U.S. The second challenge? The couple lived in a far more traditional space south of the border, while McLean’s expertise was firmly rooted in the contemporary. “My thinking is very rational,” says the designer. “I don’t like using a lot of extraneous details just for decoration—everything needs a purpose.”
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Finding a way to work together could have been a Herculean task from the outset. However, the couple knew they wanted to try their hand at a modern expression in their Canadian property. “It was a huge departure for them,” says McLean. “They weren’t familiar with it and were taking a big risk.” But the space was just asking for that modern touch: the 26-storey building of concrete and steel with a glass curtain wall afforded the owners expansive 180-degree views from Stanley Park to the downtown core to Burnaby Mountain. As a result, everything in their 3,000-square-foot sub-penthouse became a backdrop to the view. “They didn’t have a lot of interior walls, so art was not going to be a major component—the view is really the art,” says McLean. Every decision the owner and client contemplated was always prefaced with “What’s it doing for the view?”
While the vistas would take centre stage, the rest of the long suite still needed to feel warm. McLean worked collaboratively with Michael Macartney of Woodquest Construction, and Intempo Interiors’ Robin Woronko (who handled the millwork). “We wanted to make every room feel connected in some way,” McLean explains. “We needed to pick a few intelligent details to carry through.” First up, the flooring: it’s a key element of any home and shouldn’t overwhelm or overpower the other elements. Here, the clients gravitated toward a white oak, but they wanted it finished on-site for a more seamless look. The challenge was to emulate the stain on the engineered sample. The installer brought a dozen swatches to ensure the colour was perfectly matched, and a matte sheen was chosen. (“With so much light in here, a shiny floor would’ve been too reflective,” says McLean.) The millwork, another key element woven throughout, is the same material in a lighter shade.
Every decision the owner and client contemplated was always prefaced with: “What’s it doing for the view?”
Furniture came next. “Because the shell was so clean, they could have a bit of fun here,” says McLean. For the sofa, the family wanted to be able to snuggle up and watch movies, so the modular Bend sofa by Patricia Urquiola in charcoal grey was chosen for its tailored-yet-cozy design. The B&B Italia dining room chairs swivel to make for easy conversation, and the lighting, an angular 14-bulb Agnes chandelier designed by Lindsey Adelman, stretches and spans as needed.
Despite such whimsy, the space—like the relationship between client and designer—remains timeless. “I like to measure my success by whether the relationship goes beyond the project,” says McLean. “I still see them when they come into town, and I’m watching their daughter grow up.”
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