Grand Designs Australia

Disappointing that the show grand designs has nothing to do with designs any more, and is all about grand time and climate challenges and budgets.

Shame to lose the market it was targeting. Shame it's just another reality TV filler. It was, and could, be better and worth watching.

Getting back to actual Grand Designs with progressive and historical architectural design would be more enjoyable.

As the title says, this is not a review about the show itself, but a warning for prospective architecture students.

Anthony Burke was the director and teacher at the faculty where I did my architecture degree. I have expressed multiple times about the poor quality of the course and subjective views of the teachers and total lack of real world applications the course content taught us. The course I did focused on unrealistic wild designs that could not be built in the real world, while also running a construction subject where we architecture students essentially had to self learn to be engineers, and didn't teach anything applicable like the techniques and methods shown in Grand Designs. The closest we got was learning about storing heat in the floor and gabions using thermal mass. We also didn't learn any ancient techniques or explore the various architectural design styles across the world. Finally after graduation, all work places require you to already know Archicad or Revit, neither of which were taught at the university, instead we were taught Rhino, the excuse was that we will learn Archicad and Revit on the job at work. The only think that "came true" was when he said that by the time we graduate, 3D printers will be available for individuals. Australia's architecture courses really suck, and I have since seen programs overseas. Total waste of time and money.

He is a such a childish, immature and irritating presenter. He often begins by being a smart ask. He asks silly questions in between and ended up being too patronizing. And he can't resists himself from touching other people belongings. I cringed whenever he tries to be comedian.

It is interesting to see the planning and construction of these houses. However, on the vast majority of cases these are houses being build costing vast sums of money. You do not get to see average people attempting to build a unique house of their dreams on a limited budget. I do get it that the show is called "Grand" designs and this inferring that the builds are expensive. But it is hard to relate to the show as an average person when you can't afford what is being done. The most frustrating part of the show is that not once have I heard the final structures being described as awful. On a number of occasions the final construct is woeful. ( Yes I know that is subjective) However, to laud over every building as a masterpiece, when clearly they are not, discredits the program.

Loved the house but my problem with the episode is in what was left out.

It was disappointing that in 2025 on ABC a big thing was made about the history of the family owning the block back to 1860. As if the land was Terra Nullius up to then. If you bring history into the story you need to offer more about what happened to the previous inhabitants? The land was evidently granted to the Irish settlers at the time. More than just acknowledgement of Country at the commencement of the episode is needed in this instance. First Nations peoples are owed the dignity of not being rendered invisible yet again. Here is the opportunity for some local truth telling. It wouldn't take much extra research to learn the fate of the Yaggera peoples who were forced to vacate that land and tell their story. Just two extra lines in the episode would contribute to some healing across Australia.