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For McClean Design, the central ambition is not simply to create beautiful modern houses. It is to create homes that fit seamlessly into the fabric of the everyday. That idea sits at the heart of what Chris Pozil describes as the practice’s approach to “livable modernism”. The architecture may be precise, glassy, expansive and highly resolved, but it is not intended to dominate the people who inhabit it. Instead, the home should become a natural background to daily rituals, family life, entertaining, rest, wellness, and connection to place.

What homeowners can learn from McClean Design’s approach to natural light. In a McClean Design home, light is not an afterthought. It is one of the first architectural materials. Before finishes are chosen and long before wellness amenities are layered into a brief, the practice is thinking about orientation, openings, courtyards, views, transparency, and the way sunlight will move through the house.

The Ranch Mine did not begin with a polished manifesto. It began with a bathroom. In 2010, Cavin Costello and his wife Claire bought a small house in Arizona during the Great Recession. It was cheaper than renting, so they renovated it themselves. When a local newspaper featured their bathroom in a story about affordable remodels, they suddenly started receiving calls. First for bathrooms, then kitchens, then additions, then full houses.