A new philosophy for tailoring high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) coatings has been developed. The underlying key to the new approach is the use of an infiltration process to fabricate in situ BSCCO and YBCO coatings on graded substrates. This process allows the HTSC coating to be bonded in situ along the graded interface, thus avoiding problems associated with interface debonding. The resultant layered anti graded HTSC materials (LGMs) possess intrinsic electrical and magnetic properties in the coating and an improvement in mechanical and chemical properties at the graded substrate. When compared with the bulk material, the transport properties of the coatings on the LGMs are expected to be superior. The potential for application of this novel approach and its implications for the design of new materials are highlighted.