Big Design Adventure

What happens when you try to fix the housing crisis without destroying the suburbs we love? You get
density by stealth.
Tim and Kev head to the Perth suburbia to visit Giuseppe’s House, a 1960s home recently restored by
local architect Kate Fitzgerald. Beneath the terrazzo floors and colourful character lies a bigger idea: how to add more housing to our cities without flattening their identity.
Kate shares her approach to preserving streetscapes while quietly increasing density, rethinking
backyards, laneways and overlooked spaces to create the “missing middle” between apartments and
traditional homes. Along the way, they unpack Perth’s boom-and-bust development history, the rise of
migrant architecture, and why small, clever infill might be the key to housing affordability.
Check out Kate’s work on their website - https://www.whisperingsmith.com.au including her home (House A) and Giuseppe’s House.

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: Kate Fitzgerald (@whisperingsmith_)
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.

We’re back with Series Two!

Tim and Kevin head to Birmingham to explore a city defined by industry, reinvention and the home
of Peaky Blinders, Black Sabbath and ELO.

Over tea and biscuits with journalist and campaigner Mary Keating, they examine the fight to save the
Smallbrook Ringway Centre, one of Europe’s longest modernist buildings and a rare surviving example of Birmingham’s post-war ambition.

In the decades following the Second World War, Birmingham was radically reshaped by modern planning and the rise of the car. New roads, new civic buildings and bold architectural experiments transformed the city, reflecting a belief that modern design could deliver progress, efficiency and optimism. Today, many of these - particularly brutalist - buildings are under threat, dismissed as outdated or expendable. The Ringway Centre sits at the heart of this debate, raising the question of whether a city’s confidence can determine which buildings survive.

Follow Brutiful Birmingham (@brutifulbirmingham) and Birmingham Modernist (@birminghammodernist) on Instagram.

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: Mary Keating
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.

In the special festive episode, can you have a room just reserved for Christmas Day? What’s our hot take on the merits of tinsel, and we present our all time favourite Christmas movies and songs.

The model makers who create wooden Christmas ornaments of buildings can be found on Instagram here: Atelier Maps or their Esty store here.
For suggestions of places and stories for Series 2, shoot us an email to [email protected] - we will be back on 4 th February 2026!
Tickets are now on sale for Kevin McCloud and Tim Ross – Live in Interesting Places –
check out the details on our website – http://bigdesignadventure.com/
You can find pictures and videos on 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
Big Design Adventure is produced by Modernister Films on Wallumedegal land, Australia.
Executive Producer: Shelley Kemp
Audio Production: Madeline Joannou – Mylk Media
Video Production: Ned Williams
Music: Kit Warhurst (@kitwarhurst)

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

In this mini episode we’ve got huge news about the final show for the year and we answer our most asked question.
For questions and suggestions for our Christmas episode, shoot us an email to [email protected]
For suggestions of places and stories for Series 2, shoot us an email to [email protected]
Tickets are now on sale for Kevin McCloud and Tim Ross – Live in Interesting Places –
check out the details on our website – http://bigdesignadventure.com/
You can find pictures and videos on 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
Big Design Adventure is produced by Modernister Films on Wallumedegal land, Australia.
Executive Producer: Shelley Kemp
Audio Production: Madeline Joannou – Mylk Media
Video Production: Ned Williams
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 London to visit Highgate New Town, a 1970s social housing scheme designed by Hungarian-born architect Peter Tabori.
Over a cup of tea with architect and long-time resident Rachel Stevenson, they uncover the secret behind the development’s enduring success.
In the 1960s and ’70s, Camden became a testing ground for a new kind of socialhousing in London — one that valued community, good design, and human scale over high-rise efficiency. Under the leadership of visionary architects like Sydney Cook, the Camden Architects Department produced some of the most influential housing in postwar Britain, including schemes by Neave Brown, Benson and Forsyth, and Peter Tabori. Highgate New Town was one of these bold experiments, driven by the belief that public housing could be both socially progressive and architecturally ambitious.
To view the full film – The White Flats - https://vimeo.com/917073596?share=copy
To check out the book – Cook’s Camden – The Making of Modern Housing -
https://isokongallery.org/products/cooks-camden-the-making-of-modern-housing
To check out the book – Modernist Estates – The Buildings and People Who Live In Them - https://www.thenile.com.au/books/stefi-orazi/modernist-
estates/9780711269262?srsltid=AfmBOoq45XQqD6qTV23sNHDZh6nTK0T6JnnCqKs0l
aLt5J43t6E1M89N
Tickets are now on sale for Kevin McCloud and Tim Ross – Live in Interesting Places –
check out the details on our website – http://bigdesignadventure.com/

You can find pictures and videos on 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
Big Design Adventure is produced by Modernister Films on Wallumedegal land, Australia.
Executive Producer: Shelley Kemp
Audio Production: Madeline Joannou – Mylk Media
Video Production: Ned Williams
Music: Kit Warhurst (@kitwarhurst)

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