I shouldn’t really like Grand Designs, but I do. It’s a smug show full of smug people, ploughing their solar-panelled, cantilevered and modernist self-build furrows across our green and pleasant lands. Except, I LOVE modern design with a passion. Something about stark, symmetrical lines really does it for me and Grand Designs really takes away some of the stigma (if there is such a thing) attached to modern architecture – it’s people building homes for their families in a modern stylee, rather than just monoliths to look at.

Last night, a couple from Bristol wanted to build a giant sugar cube (their words, not mine) in the middle of a rural(ish) village stuffed with thatched houses and other visions of traditional house design. Unlike other episodes – where self-builders encounter all sorts of problems and budget-busting scenarios – the couple’s progress went like clockwork.

The main reason for this was that one of the couple – Martin – was an architect himself. He and his wife had bought the patch of land for £425,000 and had budgeted £350,000 for the build itself.

Martin was a commercial architect, and was used to building modern offices. Martin’s idea was to take some of the techniques he uses for both designs and builds in these commercial applications and apply them to a residential project. Kevin McCloud, the host, wondered whether this commercial approach to building a family home would take away some of the warmth associated with a

Martin’s wife wanted everything to be neat, tidy and super minimal. And white. Everything was to be white – the house itself, the interiors, the sofas, the everything. With two young kids and two dogs, could a totally white building (in and out) stand the test of time and busy family life?

Apart from finding an old sewer down where the foundations were to built, this was such a smooth build. Everything fitted beautifully, and thanks to Martin’s idea of using a steel frame (like the offices he builds) as the basis for the house, it also went up super-quickly.

Martin and his wife had spent a LONG time planning it. So, while the builders started their work, the couple finished choosing their taps and other finer details.

I doubted whether I’d like the final building. It was a white cube. A white cube with three walls and a whole wall of glass. It was all white inside. I don’t like white that much, and prefer my living spaces to have that ‘lived in’ look. But it really was stunning.

Martin had used special paint on the outside that would be mud-proof, walls for the kids bedrooms were imbued with a special liquid crystal substance that would make them opaque at the flick of switch and the interior walls were painted with special UV paint that sucks up smells. Blimey. They also spent a grand on a single tap for the kitchen and broker up the all-pervading whiteness with slate wall. The views through the glass wall was sensational – like waking up to a painting of lush trees every morning.

Their build came in on budget, and the build itself was just about the most stress-free I’ve ever seen on the show. Part of the fun of watching Grand Designs is watching things go wrong, and going on a journey with the builders as they encounter project-threatening problems along the way.

But Martin’s was calm, cool and considered. A bit like his house.