Tim’s interest in architecture has led to speaking engagements at The ’50s and ’60s House Symposium (Museum of Sydney), Home Series talks (Government House), Sydney Design Week, the London Design Museum, Culture of Lates Symposium in London, the Heritage Address in Melbourne and the prestigious Griffin Lecture at the National Press Club in Canberra.
He has written on architecture for various publications including Real Living, Habitus, The Saturday Paper, The Smith Journaland The Guardian. In 2017, Tim launched his second book, The Rumpus Room, capturing nostalgic short stories about life in Australia’s suburbs in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. The Rumpus Room is now in its third print run.
Tim’s two-part series on Australian architecture, Streets of Your Town, premiered on ABC TV in November 2016 to rave reviews, and quickly became the most watched arts program on the ABC for the year.
In 2018, Tim partnered with the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney to curate his first exhibition, Design Nation. Bringing together design objects from the mid-1960s to late 1980s, and casting a spotlight on Australia’s rich manufacturing history, this led to a nationally touring talk in which Tim used his trademark wit to ask us to rediscover these ubiquitous, everyday objects of Australian design through untold stories, personal anecdotes and design narratives.
MOTEL the live show by Tim Ross and Kit Warhurst, toured in 2019. A nostalgic, thought provoking and funny exploration of Australian holidays of the past, the show uses storytelling and song to take the audience on a sentimental motel journey. Motel. Images of Australia on holidays was published in 2019 with a collection of images from the National Archives of Australia.
Tim’s latest live show about why architecture matters, Designing A Legacy, premiered at the Sydney Opera House in February 2020. Part talk, part screening, part stand-up comedy, the show features Australian families whose lives have been shaped within the walls of modern masterpieces and poses the question of what will happen to these legacy homes. Commissioned by the ABC, Designing A Legacy has been adapted for television and will air in early 2021.
