In 2009, Peter Maddison became host of Grand Designs Australia, now into its eighth season. He also helms Maddison Architects, the boutique architectural practice he founded in Melbourne in 1989.
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Things seem quite cosy with you and Kevin McCloud, host of the original British Grand Designs series, with the live events you do together and a recent program in which he chose his 10 favourite builds from your shows. How did you feel when Grand Designs New Zealand emerged in 2015?
Each of these territories has unique constraints and opportunities for house design. The more we can help shape a national architectural identity around a sense of place, the better. Last week we were in Coober Pedy profiling a guy tunnelling madly for an underground house. That's certainly unique to this country.
Do you despair at the cookie-cutter big houses on small blocks that seem to define our cities?
Yes. It's incredible that exactly the same houses are being built in Hobart and Darwin without reference to environment or location. People say they can't afford an architect. I say cut the size of the house by 20 per cent, hire an architect, and you'll be far happier and have change in your pocket.
Do you enjoy being busy?
I've got a lot of bases to cover: my practice, the media arena and keeping myself connected to family and friends. I'm on the go all the time. To my wife's great disdain, I don't get to cook. And when I do, my kids bag me about not being able to manage something as simple as fried rice.
How do you manage the stress?
The ocean is a huge part of my life. I surf a lot and I swim four mornings a week as an iceberger at Brighton, year-round with no wet suit. The camaraderie of that and the sense of belonging to a diverse group of people is wonderful.
People really are their true selves in the freezing, dark water with little flashlights on their heads. There's nowhere to hide. It totally balances out my life to have something so at odds with the media and office environments. And surfing takes me back to my roots when I was 14, with bare feet in the sand and almost no clothes on. I just love it.
You're a proud almost-vegetarian. Have you been able to sustain that?
I eat fish a couple of times a week but other than that I'm completely vego. I'm five or six years into it now and it's worked out well. I feel good, I feel alive and nimble and I don't have any weight issues. I can have a couple of glasses of wine every night and not have to worry about it.
You have adult children. Have any of them followed you into architecture?
My daughter is established as an interior designer at another Melbourne architecture office, and she totally loves it. My second son tried architecture but found it too confronting. It's a very soul-searching profession because your nuts are on the line just about every time you come up with an idea.
At the end of each show there is a lyrical little piece to camera that sums up the build. Do you find that easy?
We call it "The closer" and it is just the hardest thing to do. There's quite a lot of pressure in the moment to get it right. When I first started on the show, I wouldn't sleep well the night before shooting just thinking about it. Now I find the best way to go is not to rehearse and prepare too much, to just go for it in the moment. It's about being more spontaneous and free with yourself.
