Big Design Adventure

What makes a well-designed hotel?
This listener question set off a chain of events that created a cavalcade of hot takes, extreme rants about the state of modern hotels, a potted history of motels, a small-scale therapy session about the lettering on bottles in hotel bathrooms, a revelation about an unexpected adult movie star, and the rest you can find out for yourself.
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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 hello@bigdesignadventure.com
Know someone who would love this podcast? Please help us share this exciting new adventure.

Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation) in Australia. The Royal Institute of British Architects (@RIBA) in the UK and New Zealand Institute of Architects (@nziarchitects) in New Zealand.

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
Music: Kit Warhurst (@kitwarhurst)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robin and Lucienne Day, were the most distinguished British designers of the post war period.
Their designs were woven into everyday life. Robin's revolutionary polypropylene chair became one of the most widely used chairs in history, while Lucienne's vibrant textile designs helped define the optimistic look of post-war Britain. Together, they transformed the way ordinary people lived, proving that great design didn't belong in galleries, but in schools, homes, pubs, theatres and village halls.
In this episode, Tim and Kevin sit down with their daughter, Paula Day, inside London's Royal Festival Hall – the very building where her parents' careers were transformed during the 1951 Festival of Britain. Paula shares the remarkable story of how two young designers, emerging from the austerity of the Second World War, helped redefine British modernism through furniture, textiles and an unwavering belief that good design should be accessible to everyone.
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 hello@bigdesignadventure.com
Know someone who would love this podcast? Please help us share this exciting new adventure.

Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation) in Australia. The Royal Institute of British Architects (@RIBA) in the UK and New Zealand Institute of Architects (@nziarchitects) in New Zealand.

Hosts: Tim Ross and Kevin McCloud
Guest: Paula Day (@robinlucienneday)
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)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earlier this year, Sam Neill kindly agreed to join us on the podcast. The plan was to wait until Kevin was back in Australia so we could all sit down together, unfortunately we couldn’t make the dates align.
Last week, Tim went back through his archives and rediscovered a conversation the two of them recorded years earlier for a project that never eventuated.
For the next hour, you get to spend some time with Sam.
You’ll hear about his love of life, wine, acting and architecture.
It’s funny, thoughtful, candid and full of the warmth that so many of us admired.
It’s a small tribute to Sam.
This conversation was recorded with Tim Ross and Sam Neill in Sam’s Sydney
apartment in 2019.
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 hello@bigdesignadventure.com
Know someone who would love this podcast? Please help us share this exciting new adventure.

Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation) in Australia. The Royal Institute of British Architects (@RIBA) in the UK and New Zealand Institute of Architects (@nziarchitects) in New Zealand.

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
Music: Kit Warhurst (@kitwarhurst)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the night of 14 November 1940, nearly 500 Luftwaffe bombers descended on Coventry. Over the next 11 hours, they dropped more than 500 tonnes of high explosives and around 30,000 incendiary bombs on the city. By morning, 568 people had been killed, around 850 seriously injured and 43,000 homes damaged or destroyed. At the centre of it all, the medieval Cathedral of St Michael had been reduced to a roofless shell.
Rather than clear the ruins away, Coventry left them standing. Alongside them, Sir Basil Spence created an extraordinary new modernist cathedral. Together, the two buildings have become internationally recognised symbols of hope and reconciliation.
Tim and Kevin visit Coventry to meet the Very Reverend John Witcombe, who has just concluded a 13-year tenure as Dean of Coventry Cathedral.
During his time, John removed the admission charge and reconnected the cathedral with the arts, welcoming musicians including The Specials, John Grant, Beth Hart and The Libertines to perform across the cathedral precinct.
What begins as a conversation about architecture slowly unfolds into something deeper. This is a conversation we all need right now.
To keep up to date with event at the Cathedral, follow their Instagram at
@coventry_cathedral_events
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 hello@bigdesignadventure.com
Know someone who would love this podcast? Please help us share this exciting new adventure.

Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation) in Australia. The Royal Institute of British Architects (@RIBA) in the UK and New Zealand Institute of Architects (@nziarchitects) in New Zealand.

Hosts: Tim Ross and Kevin McCloud
Guest: The Very Reverend John Witcombe
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)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tim and Kevin head into the English countryside to visit acclaimed artist Morag Myerscough and artist-musician Luke Morgan, who traded the excitement of inner-city London for an unloved modernist house, an ambitious renovation and a completely different way of living.
Five years into the renovation, with the end in sight, they open up their home and their lives to share the unexpected ways the house has transformed them.
On a perfect summer's day, with the doors flung open and birds chirping in the background, they slowly reveal how taking on a home that had never truly found the right owners has changed their lives forever.
Check out Morag’s website here (moragmyerscough.com).
Luke’s band’s website is thehighliners.co.uk
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 hello@bigdesignadventure.com
Know someone who would love this podcast? Please help us share this exciting new adventure.

Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation) in Australia. The Royal Institute of British Architects (@RIBA) in the UK and New Zealand Institute of Architects (@nziarchitects) in New Zealand.

Hosts: Tim Ross and Kevin McCloud
Guests: Morag Myerscough and Luke Morgan
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)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.