Designing a Legacy on ABC – Tim Ross is on the hunt for great Australian architecture. In this two-part series he journeys to find and share his passion for buildings with people whose lives have all been touched by the power of good design.
From celebrated Australian architects to eccentric American millionaires, and from school kids and surfers to social housing tenants, a cast of great characters show him the amazing buildings in their lives …because Tim knows that when we create architecture, it also creates us.
While Tim is as happy as any of us to ogle at extraordinary homes, his love of design goes deeper than this. While beautiful and luxurious buildings can inspire us, he passionately believes that even the simplest things, when designed well, make our lives better…. and not just the buildings we live in either. There are all sorts of spaces in our lives which can have this effect.
Tim tracks down some of these structures and offers a new story about how our buildings shape us, today and into the future, acknowledging the millennia of human history this is all built upon on this continent.
In the second episode, “Community”, Tim Ross looks at how architecture can help bring us together in a world where we increasingly seem divided. He uncovers a number of fascinating stories of Australians forming communities around good design.
He visits an apartment block for swinging singles from the 1930s; an entire Canberra suburb conceived by its residents; one of the most ambitious and architecturally significant public housing projects ever on Sydney Harbour plus, an entire community built from scratch in the middle of the South Australian desert; a new intergenerational housing design that looks to address the twin crises of housing affordability and aged care; a stunningly beautiful concrete mosque; and a humble surf club in Tasmania which, for less than $20,000 and through great and responsive design, has transformed an entire seaside community.
Production credit: Presenter, Writer: Tim Ross. Executive Producers: Tim Ross and Sally Aitken. Producer: Aline Jacques. Director: Chris Eley. ABC Executive Producer: Madeleine Hawcroft. ABC Manager, Documentaries: Stephen Oliver. A SAM Content and Modernister Films production in association with ABC.
Designing a Legacy – Sunday 11 June, 2023 at 7.30pm on ABC and ABC iview
TV Central ABC content HERE
