Architectural designer Lincoln Miles and his wife, artist Lisa Traxler, are charting the course toward building their dream home on the Isle of Wight. They’ve acquired a plot of exceptional land and are embarking on a project to craft a dwe…

Architects Helen and Chris Seymour Smith are embarking on an ambitious project: the construction of a subterranean, environmentally conscious home beneath the foundations of a dilapidated 300-year-old barn in the Cotswolds. Kevin McCloud do…

Kevin McCloud chronicles Lucie Fairweather's endeavor to construct an environmentally conscious dwelling in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Eighteen months after the loss of her partner, and working with limited resources, Lucie is driven by a resolut…

Kevin McCloud chronicles the efforts of Simon Bennett and his wife Jill as they endeavor to restore two timber-framed barns in Suffolk. They discover that one of the structures is among the smallest surviving medieval guildhalls in England.…

Jonathan and Lindsay aspire to construct a home that is both visually stimulating and economical to maintain, while also respecting ecological principles. However, the construction process proves arduous, beset by unreliable technologies an…

Kevin encountered Kathryn Tyler, an interior designer with a determined vision for homeownership. Her plan to ascend the property ladder involved a bold undertaking: designing and building a house on the grounds of her parents' garden in Fa…

Alan Dawson has devised a method of house construction where each component is assembled directly on the building site, completed within days. The challenge lies in achieving flawless precision; only then can Alan determine whether his inno…

Robert and Milla Gaukroger considered their discovery in the Lake District National Park – a plot of land with a view over Lake Windermere – to be exceptional.

In 2006, Daren Howarth and Adi Nortje relocated from Brighton to Brittany, embarking on a profound personal endeavor. Their ambition was to construct an earth-sheltered dwelling primarily from reclaimed materials, and to pursue the most eco…

Bill Bradley, a master carpenter, and his wife Sarah constructed not one, but two timber houses on the land where Bill’s former wood workshop had stood, in south London. Their intention was to sell one dwelling to finance the other, envisio…

Six years prior, Thomas and Dervla O'Hare embarked on the ambitious project of constructing a striking split-level residence that dramatically descends a near-vertical hillside in Belfast. Few would consider building on such a precipitous s…

In 2003, Mark Sampson, an ambitious writer, his wife Debbie, and their daughter Tilly relocated to the Lot region of France with the intention of building their ideal home. Lacking any prior construction experience, yet motivated by deeply …

Amongst the inaugural projects for *Grand Design*, Andrew Tate and Deborah Mills discovered a property dominated by a colossal, decaying water tower, a hundred feet in height. Three years after settling into their modern extension, Kevin re…

In the heart of Midlothian’s stunning countryside, Pru and Richard Irvine discovered a plot of land and eagerly embraced the chance to create a custom family home there. The site, however, presented a unique stipulation: to build, they had …