Don't get the postcards?

Both my other half and I liked to watch Grand Designs while in the UK, an hour-long pseudo reality TV programme about people and the distance they would go to in building their dream homes. The subjects are real people, not celebrities or public figures so there’s always something that we could relate to. Problems like limited budget, disagreements with the builder and authority and busted deadlines keep cropping up. If you are subscribed to Unifi, try catch the show on the bundled IPTV facility called Hypp TV, on Tuesday nights I think.

The houses showcased are not your run-of-the-mill type, otherwise the whole show would have been an antithesis to the title. Granted that they do not all the time look weird or risqué, each episode is special in that there would be uphill climbs that the owners had to face in order to get it built. It could be anything from the difficulty of sourcing for an environmental-friendly material that at the same time an efficient insulator to countless visits to the local council to convince that a design does not disrupt the harmony of the existing community. There was one episode about an elderly couple who travelled all the way to Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany so that they could discuss in person with the folks at Huf Haus, the provider of pre-manufactured (or pre-fabricated, a term more in use here) homes. They would make few trips more to while the build was in progress at the factory before the final delivery of the finished product to their site in the UK. The trucks from Germany with German technicians arrived on the dot (typical Germans) in the morning but had to wait a couple of hours for the local crane operator to show. With utmost precision and professionalism, it was amazing to see how they built the unit within days without much trouble. And did I mention that while the old house had to be torn down to make way for the new house, the owners lived in a rickety caravan just adjacent to the site? Quirky moments were one of the things why we like watching the show.

The house that we want to build is a grand design from our own point of view but is definitely not TV material so it’s apt to be called small projects. 

Back to the show, it is hosted by Kevin McCloud, an industrial designer turned TV personality. Boasting a very laidback style of presenting, Kevin also narrates and writes the script which as a result, make him ‘one’ with it. The only thing that perhaps needs addressing is his sense of dressing. Needless to say, he’s passionate about the subject matter. And the architect that we want is the ultra cool presenter's namesake.

Opulence is not our style of choice and all that we want is only straight lines. Of course, the architect is also into simple lines and clean design and minimalism judging from the pictures on his website. This one ought to strike a chord with him.

The last card had a picture of a British mailbox (pillar box to be more accurate) on it. And we said we like his mailbox better. Besides being an architect, he also takes a stab at designing furniture and other accessories around the house and we think he is rather good at it. Of course, there was an actual mailbox he designed that we saw on the Internet.

38 MPC stands for 38 Mount Park Crescent, our home address in Ealing, London.

So, do you get the postcards now?