Big Design Adventure

What’s the most impressive thing you can do for an overseas visitor?
Wrangle them an invite to the official residence of the Governor-General?
That’s exactly what Tim managed to do for Kevin. In this very special episode, they take a tour of Admiralty House and sit down with the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC.
The conversation is a relaxed one, a testament to Sam’s vision to modernise the role of the Governor-General and her desire to open the residence to as many Australians as possible.
Which well-known Australian randomly turned up in the garden? This, and many other questions, are answered in a conversation full of optimism, a celebration of kindness, and the enduring warmth of the Australian spirit.
To view images from this episode, head to our Instagram page - @big_design_adventure
And be sure to follow Tim Ross (@modernister) and Kevin McCloud (@kevin.mccloud1)
We’d love to hear from you, reach out to us on [email protected]
Know someone who would love this podcast? Please help us share this exciting new adventure.

Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by Space Furniture (@spacefurniture), the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation).

Hosts: Tim Ross and Kevin McCloud
Guest: Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, Her Excellency the
Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC (@gg_australia)
Big Design Adventure is produced by Modernister Films on Wallumedegal land, Australia.
Executive Producer: Shelley Kemp
Audio Production: Madeline Joannou – Mylk Media
Music: Kit Warhurst (@kitwarhurst)

Please note this podcast is not currently available in the UK or Ireland.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin on the dance floor?
The ultimate 1970s party house is on the menu as Tim and Kev hit the Perth suburb of Dianella to visit one of the city’s most talked-about homes.
Designed by Bulgarian-born architect Iwan Iwanoff in 1976, the Marsala House is a sculptural, concrete-block Brutalist wonderland that boasts a Saturday Night Fever-style dance floor.
The current owner, Greg, flings open the doors to reveal the stories of this iconic house.
Iwan Iwanoff (1919–1986) was a Bulgarian-born architect who trained in Munich before emigrating to Western Australia in 1950, where he worked with Krantz & Sheldon and later established his own practice in 1963. Known primarily for residential work, his early designs were influenced by post-war modernism, but from the mid-1960s he developed a distinctive, sculptural style using modelled concrete blockwork. Combining expressive forms with rational planning, his later houses - such as the Marsala and Tomich houses - read as bold works of architecture that verge on abstract sculpture.
There’s a couple of great Iwanoff books:
Perth born photographer Jack Lovel has documented many of his homes in this excellent publication – Catching Light – robinboyd.org.au/product/catching-light
Warren Anderson definitive Iwanoff book is a must read – The Architecture of Iwan Iwanoff – crowbooks.com.au
To view images from this episode, head to our Instagram page - @big_design_adventure
And be sure to follow Tim Ross (@modernister) and Kevin McCloud (@kevin.mccloud1)
We’d love to hear from you, reach out to us on [email protected]
Know someone who would love this podcast? Please help us share this exciting new adventure.

Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by Space Furniture (@spacefurniture), the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation).

Hosts: Tim Ross and Kevin McCloud
Guests: Greg Eastwood and Vespa Eastwood
Big Design Adventure is produced by Modernister Films on Wallumedegal land, Australia.
Executive Producer: Shelley Kemp
Audio Production: Madeline Joannou – Mylk Media
Music: Kit Warhurst (@kitwarhurst)

Please note this podcast is not currently available in the UK or Ireland.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Enter stage left: Neil Clerehan, the Melbourne architect who helped bring modernism to the suburbs - and a handsome, charming raconteur who waltzed his way through Melbourne society. A talented writer, his wit found a regular home in newspapers for much of his life.
In this very special conversation, Tim and Kevin head to the leafy inner-city suburb of South Yarra to sit down with Neil’s daughter, Esther. With inherited wit and razor-sharp precision, she shares the fantastical tales of his life with warmth, wonder and at times, good-natured, sheer disbelief.
“In Australia, no one has continued to write in the popular press in the way that Clerehan has, where he has been able to recall - always with the brevity and wicked humour of Waugh or Wilde - the zenith and nadir of professional and popular tastes of successive generations.” Phillip Goad.
To view images from this episode, head to our Instagram page - @big_design_adventure
And be sure to follow Tim Ross (@modernister) and Kevin McCloud (@kevin.mccloud1)
We’d love to hear from you, reach out to us on [email protected]
Know someone who would love this podcast? Please help us share this exciting new adventure.

Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by Space Furniture (@spacefurniture), the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation).

Hosts: Tim Ross and Kevin McCloud
Guest: Esther Clerehan
Big Design Adventure is produced by Modernister Films on Wallumedegal land, Australia.
Executive Producer: Shelley Kemp
Audio Production: Madeline Joannou – Mylk Media
Music: Kit Warhurst (@kitwarhurst)

Please note this podcast is not currently available in the UK or Ireland.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when two young architects build their own home with little money but plenty of ideas?
Tim and Kev head to London’s Hampstead to visit Patty Hopkins, one of Britain’s most influential
architects and the co-founder of Hopkins Architects, the practice she started with her late husband
Michael in 1976.
For this very special interview she opens the doors to the iconic glass and steel home the pair designed for themselves that same year. It remains one of the most compelling residential examples of High-Tech architecture, a style that celebrates technology by exposing structural elements like steel frames, ducts and services as part of the design.
In 1994 Patty became only the third woman to receive the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture from the
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and in this intimate conversation she shares the story of her
radical house, the practice she built with Michael, and the quiet wisdom that comes from a life in
architecture.
You can read more about the house here – hopkins.co.uk

Here’s a great new book about High Tech British architecture: High Tech Britian – c20society.org.uk
And the video Tim and Kevin talk about by Ned featuring Nick Grimshaw can be found via this link: Vimeo
To view images from this episode, head to our Instagram page - @big_design_adventure
And be sure to follow Tim Ross (@modernister) and Kevin McCloud (@kevin.mccloud1)
We’d love to hear from you, reach out to us on [email protected]
Know someone who would love this podcast? Please help us share this exciting new adventure.

Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by Space Furniture (@spacefurniture), the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation).

Hosts: Tim Ross and Kevin McCloud
Guest: Patty Hopkins (@hopkinsarchitects)
Big Design Adventure is produced by Modernister Films on Wallumedegal land, Australia.
Executive Producer: Shelley Kemp
Audio Production: Madeline Joannou – Mylk Media
Music: Kit Warhurst (@kitwarhurst)

Please note this podcast is not currently available in the UK or Ireland.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tim and Kev head to Brisbane to meet architect John Ellway, who has quietly built a reputation for
transforming one of Australia’s most iconic house types - the Queenslander.
Working almost entirely in his own neighbourhood, John carefully adapts these classic timber-and-tin
homes so they can handle contemporary living while still embracing the subtropical climate that shaped them.
Recorded in his own inventive house, John is one of a number of local architects responsible for some of the most exciting Australian architecture of recent years. In a typically laid-back Brisbane manner, he unpacks the thinking behind his work and explains why relationships with clients are central to his
practice.
Follow John Ellway on Instagram @jellway and more details on his website jellway.com
Other Brisbane architects doing interesting work include:
Vokes and Peters – vokesandpeters.com
Russell & Co – russelwith.co
Owen Architecture – owenarchitecture.com.au
To view images from this episode, head to our Instagram page - @big_design_adventure
And be sure to follow Tim Ross (@modernister) and Kevin McCloud (@kevin.mccloud1)
We’d love to hear from you, reach out to us on [email protected]
Know someone who would love this podcast? Please help us share this exciting new adventure.

Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by Space Furniture (@spacefurniture), the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation).

Hosts: Tim Ross and Kevin McCloud
Guest: John Ellway
Big Design Adventure is produced by Modernister Films on Wallumedegal land, Australia.
Executive Producer: Shelley Kemp
Audio Production: Madeline Joannou – Mylk Media
Music: Kit Warhurst (@kitwarhurst)

Please note this podcast is not currently available in the UK or Ireland.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.