Andrea McLean

Principal at Andrea McLean Studio

Speaker

Andrea was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on the Canadian prairies, and works in Andrea McLean Studio, Vancouver, BC. Andrea holds a Bachelor Degree in Interior Design from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, as well as a Master of Architecture from the University of British Columbia.

Andrea started her design career in 1997 at Robert Ledingham Design Consultants where she worked on custom residential interiors. After gaining valuable experience, Andrea embarked on her own interior design practice where she focused on residential renovations until she decided to return to school to pursue her Master of Architecture in 2003. During her architecture studies, Andrea continued working on residential renovation projects of her own, as well as working at Evoke International Design where she designed modern single-family homes, restaurants, spas, and multi residential projects. Following graduation from UBC’s SALA in 2008, she restarted her own practice focusing entirely on modern houses, interiors, and landscape design.

Andrea has been the recipient of many prestigious awards, starting with the Abraham Rogatnik Book Prize for her architectural thesis, Community Architecture: Native Housing in Bella Coola, awarded for “creative and poetic talent in a design that also enriches the environment, and inspires the spiritual lives of the people using that environment.” Andrea's projects have consecutively won Awards of Excellence and Awards of Merit at the IDIBC Shine Awards, and in 2022 Andrea was awarded the prestigious Robert Ledingham Award for her Big Sky Beach House project. Andrea’s work has also received global recognition after winning an Architizer Jury Award in 2019 for her West Nineteenth project in the Private Garden category. Her work has been published in Dwell, Western Living, Western Living Condo, Canadian House & Home, and Montecristo. Andrea has lived in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan for five years combined and speaks Japanese. She has also studied and travelled extensively in Cuba and speaks Spanish.