Internationally-famed television series Grand Designs is coming to New Zealand and MediaWorks has announced award-winning architect and urbanist Chris Moller will host the TV3 series. 

Grand Designs New Zealand will be on-air in 2015 and will tell the stories of creative and enterprising Kiwis who are determined to build their ultimate dream home. The programme will follow the process of the dwellings from the initial blueprints through to completion.

Moller has worked extensively overseas and has realised important urban housing and intensification projects. He has won several accolades for projects including the Samarkand Regeneration, Gallipoli Peace Park, European 3 Groningen, Grenoble Ville du Foret, Tbilisi Rose Revolution Square redevelopment, Tallinn Aquarium and the Future Schools Sustainability Award for the Click-Raft system in Australia.

He is the founding partner of Wellington-based design practice CMA+U and previous international architecture/urban design practice S333. He is deputy chair and founding board member of the newly formed PrefabNZ, a non-profit organisation focused on bringing a change to the New Zealand construction industry and tackling the country’s housing problems. 

“I’m tremendously excited to be part of Grand Designs New Zealand – it’s wonderful to get out there and discover the creative spirit of Kiwis rolling up their sleeves to realise their dreams in ingenious ways,” Moller says.

“Architecture has a deep influence on us; it shapes the way we live, how we feel, our health and wellbeing. It also has a deep influence on the planet. Grand Designs New Zealand is the perfect opportunity to bring the importance of good architecture and the huge benefits it can generate to a broad audience.”