Streetlines and structural silhouettes have always captured Mike Chapman’s attention. Long before cameras, studios, and production schedules defined his life, architecture defined his inquisitive nature. “I viewed buildings as narratives, interwoven in concrete, steel, glass, and timber,” Chapman explains. “Architecture was always my first love. Television came later.”
As that inherent fascination remained dormant, Chapman waited for the opportunity to bring it to the surface. He spent more than three decades inside the mechanics of broadcast media, building shows across genres and formats in various countries. “Cooking shows, travel documentaries, and reality formats of all shapes and sizes; I learnt the grammar of television fluently,” he recalls.
Yet alongside that career sat a disconnect he couldn’t overlook. He believed the TV industry has shaped the perception of design and architecture as an ostentatious spectacle for entertainment rather than a proper discipline that reflects expertise. ByDESIGN™, a global design entertainment TV show, emerged from that disconnect.
“I suppose I’m trying to change the old narrative of the architectural profession that exists on television,” Chapman notes. “We’ve stripped credibility from it for years. This is my way of changing that.”
As the executive producer, Chapman brings that distinction with clarity through his production format, where projects are complete before filming even begins. With multiple series across different countries, he underscores how dramatized buildups, contrived tension, or gamified storytelling are intentionally eschewed from the script.
Instead, an architect walks through the finished work, articulating the design intent, material decisions, client brief, environmental response, and construction logic. The camera observes the architecture as a process and cultural artifact. The American Institute of Architects, American Society of Landscape Architects, and International Interior Design Association all participate, validating the credibility of the show. “I think all these organizations are partnered with us because they resonate with the authenticity we bring,” he explains. “It works because we’re telling a genuine story.”
That credibility, Chapman underscores, has become the program’s structural foundation. The essence of the show lies in translating architectural thinking into an accessible conversation for the broad audience without diluting the intellectual and design expertise behind it. “If the audience can understand or get just an inkling of what architecture and design encompasses through our show, they can go from comprehending it to valuing it,” he says. In his view, every architectural choice has a deeper purpose. His goal is to bring that purpose to the screen.
While Australia ByDESIGN, its first series, began in 2016, COVID-19 gave the show its unexpected momentum. “During the pandemic, we began talking to networks in the US, who gave us the opportunity to expand globally,” he explains.
By 2020, its American counterpart began airing on CBS. ” It immediately reached a plethora of households on Saturday evenings,” he recalls. According to Chapman, the response surprised network executives and validated his long-held belief that audiences sought smarter conversations about the built world.
Though not an architect himself, Chapman has become a design commentator through proximity and immersion. Years spent in conversation with practitioners sharpened his perception. “I’m not an architect by profession,” he admits. “But the design ecosystem welcomes my input because they believe the intent is right.”
Una Maybin, ByDESIGN’s co-founder, brings a different perspective to the work. Unlike Chapman’s background in Entertainment, Una brings a plethora of knowledge from the architectural space. “Una sees what I don’t, she grounds our work in lived industry experience that no amount of passion alone could bring,”
ByDESIGN’s expansion into the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and ambitions for deeper engagement in the Middle East reflect Chapman’s belief that architecture is both universal and profoundly local. In his view, similar architectural processes can yield radically different outcomes shaped by culture, climate, policy, and geography. From desert residences in Arizona to civic museums in Nebraska, from Manhattan hotels to forthcoming shoots in Canada’s contrasting urban landscapes, the program highlights how different situational contexts can inform design language.
Behind this expansion lies a personal reckoning for Chapman. Now, at 60, he reflects on coming full circle. “I’ve made shows for money. This is the one I make for love. I geek out over every project I get to work on.” Every episode is an investigative look into lighting strategies, structural solutions, design inspiration, and cost-efficient construction methods. “The buildings become protagonists, and the architects their interpreters,” he adds.
Ultimately, through ByDESIGN™, Mike Chapman has created a space where architectural thinking can reach a mass audience without being diluted or dramatized. Viewers come away seeing buildings as planned responses to brief, place, and purpose. “Architects quite literally create the world we live in,” he says, “I want to make sure people finally see that.”
