Growing up in a 1960s house in the suburbs of Melbourne, the Australian broadcaster Tim Ross was often left to his own devices. A daydreamer with an eye for design, his passion for modernist buildings took root and caught up with him following his early career as a comedian and radio show host. Today, he has found a fascinating niche performing stand-up shows inside architecturally significant buildings including the Sydney Opera House and London’s BT Tower. He is also the host of the design documentary series, The Man About The House, and the eye behind Instagram’s Modernister. For this week’s episode of Homing In, co-founder Matt Gibberd catches up with the self-confessed design nerd to trace his passion for modernism and discuss how it has changed his life for the better.

“A while back, Tim came to London to perform at the Isokon building in Belsize Park, and I managed to catch up with him to record this podcast.  

“As a small boy in the Seventies, Tim quietly absorbed the lessons of modernist architecture. He remembers accompanying his parents to a dinner party at a modern house, where the sound of laughter reverberated around the circular lounge; his career seems to have been about trying to recapture that heady moment. 

“In 2003, he bought his own modernist house in Sydney, a move which, he says, ‘changed my life for the better’. His fascination with architecture and design had previously been a solitary pursuit, but the house provided a way to meet like-minded people and a launchpad for his TV career. 

“Tim is really great company, and we talk about all sorts of things. He explains how he’s an outlier in his family, and what it felt like to perform on stage for the first time.  

“He tells me about the day the Beastie Boys came to visit and wouldn’t leave, why he’d rather learn to be a builder than go through the stress of another renovation project, and why he swears by the uplifting effects of tinted moisturiser.”

If you enjoy this episode, which we hope you will, why not subscribe? That way, you’ll never miss an episode.