What happens when you try to fix the housing crisis without destroying the suburbs we love? You get
density by stealth.

Tim and Kev head to the Perth suburbia to visit Giuseppe’s House, a 1960s home recently restored by
local architect Kate Fitzgerald. Beneath the terrazzo floors and colourful character lies a bigger idea: how to add more housing to our cities without flattening their identity.

Kate shares her approach to preserving streetscapes while quietly increasing density, rethinking
backyards, laneways and overlooked spaces to create the “missing middle” between apartments and
traditional homes. Along the way, they unpack Perth’s boom-and-bust development history, the rise of
migrant architecture, and why small, clever infill might be the key to housing affordability.

Check out Kate’s work on their website - https://www.whisperingsmith.com.au including her home (House A) and Giuseppe’s House.

To view images from this episode, head to our Instagram page - @big_design_adventure
And be sure to follow Tim Ross (@modernister) and Kevin McCloud (@kevin.mccloud1)
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Big Design Adventure is proudly sponsored by Space Furniture (@spacefurniture), the Australian Institute of Architects (@institute_architects_aus) and is produced with the support of the Alastair Swayn Foundation (@alastairswaynfoundation).

 

Hosts: Tim Ross and Kevin McCloud
Guest: Kate Fitzgerald (@whisperingsmith_)
Big Design Adventure is produced by Modernister Films on Wallumedegal land, Australia.
Executive Producer: Shelley Kemp
Audio Production: Madeline Joannou – Mylk Media
Music: Kit Warhurst (@kitwarhurst)

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