Grand Designs
Where to watch: Netflix
First broadcast in 1999, the British show Grand Designs subsequently reached audiences worldwide, reaching viewers across the Atlantic Although this famous series does not necessarily offer documentary-like depictions of everyday life, it instead tells of middle class homeowners who are to leave their own comfort zone and take on an architectural project that is beyond their ability to accomplish reasonably.
Presented by the inimitable Kevin McCloud, Grand Designs details these homeowners’ extraordinary journeys as they labor to change their everyday houses into architectural wonders. They often go for the extraordinary in design too, as is seen in cantilevered structures for instance.
From the vision to the finished project, every episode of Grand Designs enters into the homeowner’s ambitious projects in detail. Along the way, it brings drama, suspense, and moments of glad surprise. As they start out on exciting ventures into previously unexplored territory– new buildings for their homes are erected right before viewers’ eyes anyway!
Viewers then join the homeowners as they overcome unusual and unforeseen challenges and without fail after all their efforts witness those grand visions become real things. And with McCloud providing thoughtful commentary along with the rigorous pursuit of architectural artistic standards that throughout suffuses these broadcasts, Grand Designs offers a unique oepera experience showing off both daring unorthodox thinking by builders as well as magnificent willpower in construction.