George Clarke attempts to create an elegant airborne cabin from an old industrial scissor lift

Wednesday: George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (Channel 4, 9pm)
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After 12 series, you may be wonder if George Clarke has lost his capacity for being amazed by spaces, but luckily, it seems the architect and presenter can still be impressed.

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Speaking ahead of an earlier run, he said: “Every year that I think we’ve virtually done everything, a whole other batch of projects come up again!

People are building all the time anyway, so every year there are new projects being created, and I’m genuinely blown away by people’s inventiveness and creativity.”

George Clarke takes a closer look at a stunning circular house inspired by the owner’s car collectionGeorge Clarke takes a closer look at a stunning circular house inspired by the owner’s car collection
George Clarke takes a closer look at a stunning circular house inspired by the owner’s car collection

If the previous runs have passed you by, the idea behind George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces is to celebrate small builds and the people who have managed to make places to live, work or play from very humble beginnings.

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The results may not be quite as imposing as the properties you see on Grand Designs, but they also don’t come with the same level of drama, heartache and spiralling budgets, which for George is all part of the appeal.

He says: “If it’s small and it’s something that’s just fun, it’s easier to do. And it doesn’t necessarily cost the earth either.”

“Architecture and design can be quite a serious subject and I even think that the architectural profession takes itself a bit too seriously sometimes…

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“But one of the proudest things about Amazing Spaces is I get a huge amount of school teachers, saying, ‘Do you mind if we run an Amazing Spaces school project?’ And I’m like, ‘Go for it!

“If I can inspire young kids to design a little house at the bottom of their garden or redesign their bedroom or design their dream home, that’s all fantastic stuff,”

If you want proof that George is inspiring the next generation, this episode provides it as he catches up with a teenager who created a beautiful shepherd’s hut last year. It seems that project has given the youngster the Amazing Spaces bug – he’s now embarking on another build.

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The presenter also meets up with a man who wants his garden room to be a homage to a famous modernist property, and checks out two structures that show that inspiration can really come from anywhere – a garden folly that is modelled on a wedding cake, and a beach house that nods to both pill boxes and an old RNLI station.

This series has also seen George visiting Denmark to find out why it’s become known for its beautiful, minimalist architecture. Here, he takes a closer look at a stunning circular house inspired by the owner’s car collection.

As regular viewers will know, George also usually takes on a project himself – in the first series, it was a caravan. This time around, he’s attempting to create an elegant airborne cabin from an old industrial scissor lift, and there’ll be a chance to see how it’s getting on.

And who knows, maybe some young viewers will be inspired to create an Amazing Space of their own (although they should definitely ask a grown-up’s permission first).