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Man about the house — Ahead of his Adelaide show, Kevin McCloud talks Grand Designs, his fascinating career and why we’re so obsessed with our homes

After 20 years tracking the wild and wonderful plans of house builders in Grand Designs, Kevin McCloud is in Adelaide for his one-man show. He tells Roy Eccleston why we’re obsessed with our homes

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What was it like growing up in England in the ’60s?

My Dad was a rocket scientist and Mum worked with numbers as what was then known as a comptometrist. I guess you could have called them both a little nerdy – both interested in the ideas behind things.

 Dad was a huge inspiration for all  three  of us  boys  and  introduced  us  to   model-making, engineering and rudimentary car mechanics all by the age of five.

 We all thought we’d be spacemen or pilots of the white arrow-like Vulcan bombers that flew over our garden at 30,000 feet – though we weren’t aware of their deadly nuclear payload. There was no money to go around; we ate a diet that had evolved out of Second World War ration food (liver, ox heart, evaporated canned milk and the occasional banana). Mum knitted or sewed all our clothes for most of my childhood. But they did between them save for us all to go on holiday once a year by car (with a tent on the roof) round Europe. Those trips were inspirational.

Grand Designs: Episode 3 - Presenter Kevin McCloud
Grand Designs: Episode 3 - Presenter Kevin McCloud

How did you come to study opera – in Florence!?

Singing is a remarkable experience: it’s guttural and profound to feel your body reverberate to a noise you’re making and it’s meant to be very good for you, if not your neighbours. I sang at school from an early age and have always loved music. It seems to make up a missing piece of me. But singing isn’t necessarily a great way to make a living.

  Besides, a great mentor of mine, a musician called Ivor Davies, came to see me in Italy when I was studying there in 1977 and told me I should not accept the offer of a further course at the conservatory but go to Cambridge, where I had a place. My Dad wrote a letter (the only one I remember him ever writing) also sternly pointing out the waywardness of a musical career. They kept a place for me in Florence but I didn’t go back.

What made you switch to theatre design?

I had a meandering path through university, following interests as diverse as architecture, design, languages, theatre and graphics. I’ve always been a do-er – active and pragmatic – and in a way the academic path was harder for me. Theatre design was an opportunity to retrain, combine the things I liked and meet interesting actressy-type girls.

Was there an audition for Grand Designs, and how were you qualified?

Haha!  There  was  no  audition. I was asked if I’d do a pilot series, having done a few slots for the BBC here and there. My semi-academic, semi-design background (that’s posh for jack-of-all-trades) seemed to fit the television need. In a way, I’m an ideal piece of telly fluff.

McCloud with Australian Grand Designs host Peter Maddison
McCloud with Australian Grand Designs host Peter Maddison

You’ve flitted about a bit career-wise. What made you stick with the show for 20 years?

Don’t be rude about my career path. Only I’m allowed to criticise it. And, anyway, the road less travelled is a longer route covering many more miles in a lifetime. Worth following, in my view. I’ve had the privilege of filming in extraordinary places and meeting wild and wonderful people.

I’ve laid on the floor of the Pantheon in Rome at dawn, climbed glaciers, hung off cathedral spires and spent weeks living in jungles and slums – all powerful and unusual experiences in a television career that has sprung from the success of Grand Designs, which I still enjoy doing! It is quite simply one of the best jobs in the world so why would I stop?

What’s the secret to its popularity?

Proper storytelling where every narrative is fresh. Proper filmmaking where the story is made in the edit and not predetermined or pre-scripted as so much television now is. Proper production values. And the setting out of the last great adventure that we all imagine we could go on: building our own home.

How do you choose the projects?

We have to work hard to find them. We email architects and surveyors. We refuse to tell the same story twice and look for originality. We demand a lot of information for our due diligence and scrutinise the viability of each project. That’s a continual process running alongside the filming. At any one time we’ll have 20 to 25 projects running concurrently alongside four to five in development. That makes it sound like a factory, doesn’t it? In truth our team consists of 11 people, some of whom I’ve worked with for 20 years.

Building is stressful. Has anyone got really angry with you?

I’m sorry, I wasn’t concentrating on the question – I’m nursing this black eye.

Have there been any cases of “this isn’t going to work” and abandoning them?

No. We see things through; it’s just too expensive to abandon projects once we’ve started filming. We do … weed out the duff ones. And of course a few do fall by the wayside. Maybe one a year.

So why are we obsessed with our homes?

Place attachment. A powerful psychological connection to our surroundings that we reinforce daily by endorsement with those around us. It almost defines what a community is, how our public and private relationships work and how we express collective fear of change and threat to where we live – be that a wolf at the door of the cave, a forest fire that might engulf our paradise or the big piece of infrastructure (road, bypass, dam, wind turbine) that is going to get “done” to us. We express place attachment in our cushions and knick-knacks, our gardens and our decorations.

McCloud with homeowners Harry and Bryony Anscombe in a scene from season 16,, episode two of the UK version of the series. Supplied by ABC-TV
McCloud with homeowners Harry and Bryony Anscombe in a scene from season 16,, episode two of the UK version of the series. Supplied by ABC-TV

What’s your definition of “good design”for a home?

Good organisation; zero-energy buildings; sensitivity to place, to light and sun; plenty of storage; connection to the sky and to landscape when it’s there; intelligent and energy-efficient construction; height; compression and release; drama; intelligent layouts; firmness, commodity and delight – see Vitruvius (a Roman architect and engineer). It’s certainly not size. Size does not equal space. Space doesn’t even equal space because what matters is a sense of space and connection to it. Even a small attic room can have a skylight which offers a view of the stars, sun, moon and clouds and connects you, literally, to infinity.

What’s an example of your favourite piece of architecture and why?

Any small, beautifully laid out and crafted home. And the Pantheon in Rome.

What is the biggest change in home design you’d like to see but have not?

Sustainable design, construction and furnishings. Universal adoption of low-to-zero-energy homes and buildings that generate their own needs.

The World According to Kevin McCloud is at the Festival Theatre, February 15.

Go here for tickets

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Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/lifestyle/sa-weekend/man-about-the-house-ahead-of-his-adelaide-show-kevin-mccloud-talks-grand-designs-his-fascinating-career-and-why-were-so-obsessed-with-our-homes/news-story/4dd0cee384c4e4990dbe2d5a30d71587