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SAW 2 – Utzon and the Sydney Opera House

The visionary world of the architect of the Sydney Opera House

Quick Details

• Walking tours of Sydney led by practising architects.
• Nominated as one of the world’s top five architecture tours by The Sydney Morning Herald.
• Nominated as one of the world’s top ten architecture tours by The Guardian UK.
• Winner of TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence 2012-2021.

Duration : 3 hours

Both an in-depth and textured portrait of enigmatic Danish architect Jorn Utzon as well as the story of perhaps the 20th Centuries most ambitious architectural project, this tour will draw you in to the amazing visionary world of the architect of the Sydney Opera House.

His work was beautiful yet transcended the purely aesthetic. He worked hard yet projected the image of a balanced life. He proclaimed himself a builder more than an architect and prior to his ground-breaking competition entry of 1957 he had only a few small houses to his name.

Discussing the sources of the young architects deepest inspiration, his working methods and influences, we will chart the development of Utzon’s ideas and their materialisation in the platform, concrete shells and ceramic skin of Sydney Opera House. You will discover the influence of towering 20th Century figures like Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto, Eero Saarinen, Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and even Picasso on Utzon’s thinking, his interest in the methods of Gaudi and you will discover the ways in which his work was at once contemporary whilst drawing its inspiration from the work of the ancients.

Utzon’s epic accomplishment is rivalled only by his tragic tale.  Booted out mid-construction by the Askin Government in 1966,  Utzon considered the six years he spent developing the interiors of the House – none of which were realised – the most productive of his career.  Using discarded drawings, models and prototypes, Utzon’s design of the acoustic interiors, glass walls and furniture – much of it ready for construction before he left – will be discussed and you can judge for yourself how much Sydney lost when he was forced to leave the building half-finished.

The tour finishes with the recent Opera House refurbishment, a decade-long collaboration between Jørn, his architect son Jan and Sydney architect Richard Johnson.

Meeting Location.

Botanic Gardens Gates on the eastern side of Sydney Opera House

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• Please bring your ticket for scanning either printed or on your phone.
• Please arrive at the meeting point 10 minutes prior to tour departure.
• We are COVID-Safe and follow all current NSW Government requirements.
• Tickets are transferrable and cancellable up to 72 hours before the event.
• Whatever happens in regards to weather – we walk – so dress for the weather! If for some reason the tour does not go ahead, you will receive a full refund. In this instance we would notify you at least 90 minutes prior to the tour by text message so a mobile number is requested in the next window.

Almost but not quite?

Does this tour almost meet your needs, but you would like to customise a few options? Email us at [email protected]

SAW is a member of Guiding Architects , the international network for high-quality architecture tours.

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• THE PERFECT INTRODUCTION TO SYDNEY
• Users Small Groups
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SAW 1 – The City, Sydney

The city examined – with a focus on four contemporary masterpieces including Renzo Piano’s Aurora Place and 3XN’s Quay Quarter Tower.

SAW 3 – Harbourings

Getting beyond the postcard view of the city and its two shimmering icons, ‘Harbourings’ reveals Sydney at her rawest and most spectacular, her most self–conscious and most corrupt!

SAW 4 – The Transformation & Regeneration of Ultimo

The transformation and regeneration of Ultimo.

“Even a brick wants to be something”

– louis kahn, architectural walks.

As well as exploring Sydney’s architecture from the street, we also take a look behind the scenes with our unique Construction Tours, where we visit Sydney’s iconic buildings as they are transformed, re-purposed or refurbished.

Our Construction Tours discuss the history of the sites, the architects, and their vision and inspiration behind the designs. Explore building sites, view plans and designs, and discuss the challenges encountered. If you have any interest in architecture, building and construction, then this is a must-do activity in Sydney.

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8 Amazing Architecture Tours That Tell The Stories Behind Sydney’s Past, Present And Future

City tours are normally just for tourists but these tours are for lovers of the urban landscape, of Sydney and are made with locals in mind.

If you’re a Sydney local, then you’re probably not interested in taking a tour of Sydney. But, what if there was a tour that detailed the forces that shaped the city— politically, culturally, economically and environmentally? And what if there was a tour company that was less touristy and more of a focus on the local, the locals and the powers that be?

Well, lucky for Sydney, there are walking tours of Sydney that offer a commentary that dives into how the city came to be.

The team at Sydney Architecture Walks , founded by architect Eoghan Lewis, has long been taking groups of locals and tourists, students and teachers, laymen and architects on walks around our harbourside city. Their intention is to “tell the stories and explain the concepts behind the concrete shells, glass skirts and sandstone facades that define Sydney.” These walks around town do exactly that, opening up new worlds of thought, perspective, and details that leave you seeing a side of Sydney you hadn’t seen before.

In total, there are eight urban narratives—seven on foot and one on bike—to tell and many stories to hear. There are concession prices as well as early-bird discounts for all of the tours.

1. The City, Sydney

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Nominated as one of the top 5 architecture tours worldwide by The Sydney Morning Herald , this Sydney tour acts as the perfect introduction to the city by taking a look at three contemporary works that reveal the forces shaping modern-day Sydney. ($49)

2. Utzon and the Sydney Opera House

Delve into the world and mind of Jørn Utzon , the architect behind Sydney’s most iconic building, and the man who described himself as a builder more so than an architect. On this Sydney walking tour you’ll discover his influences and hear the calamitous tale behind his sacking. ($49)

3. Harbourings

Sydney is more than just the famous postcard view the world has seen over and over again. The harbour is where the modern city crashes up against its maritime and industrial past. This is the Sydney tour, which reveals the city’s self-consciousness . ($49)

4. The Transformation Of Ultimo

Exploring the area between Sydney’s Central Station and Darling Quarter where Sydney’s most drastic transformation is taking place, this Sydney tour will highlight the battle between city and state and show you how it is affecting the neighbourhood . From the old to the new, from the preserving of the past to the pragmatism needed for the future, this tour includes recent headline projects by Pritzker-prize-winning architect Frank Gehry as well as transformative work by some local heroes including Durbach Block Jaggers, CHROFI, Lacoste + Stevenson and Anthony Gill. ($44)

5. Modern Sydney

Explore the interwar period and how modernism’s two strands —the aesthetic principle and the idea behind the machine—dealt with factors unique to Sydney and Australia, and shaped the city we call home . ($44)

6. The Track

On this Sydney tour, you’ll take a walk along the ancestral pedestrian artery of Sydney and the path Charles Darwin recorded in 1836 . From Circular Quay to Tank Stream, take in the transformative changes, for better or worse, that have taken place over the years. ($44)

7. The Regeneration of Chippendale

How has Chippendale changed? Home to one of the country’s largest breweries, Chippendale was also once the centre of Sydney’s clothing and textile trade. However, over the years this has shifted and Chippendale now features among the best of art, design, and gastronomy anywhere in Sydney .

This tour questions who has been behind this change as well as the ideas driving the cultural shift while walking by one of Australia’s finest social housing schemes, independent art galleries, converted warehouses and laneway developments. This tour finishes at Handpicked Wines Cellar Door where your discussion can continue while you can sip on prosecco and nibble on cheese. ($80)

8. Three-Suburbs South

The cycle tour winds its way through the inner-city suburbs of Surry Hills, Redfern and Waterloo . Once seen as the badlands, but now home to the city’s thriving creative scene and popular cafes, bars and hangouts, this tour explores how we live and make use of public and private spaces . To get around, you will need your own bike. ($90)

In the words of Eoghan Lewis, on the tours “there are heroes and villains, there is a beginning, middle and an end, there is humour too and all these devices help bring the facades to life, quietly revealing their hidden agendas” because architecture is more than just buildings and the spaces between them; architecture is giving meaning to how people use the spaces of a city.

Sydney Architecture Walks pieces together seemingly disparate pieces of information to tell the many stories hidden beneath the surface. Afterward, a walk through Sydney will no longer be the same . Make sure you check the calendar on the SAW website to see what days which tours are running.

Think somebody you know would love an intellectual and informative walk through the city? Great! The SAW team has gift cards are available online. For more information, bookings and early-bird or concession prices, see the SAW website .

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Sydney Architecture Tours: Walking Guides

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Architecture Guides Australia – Exclusive New South Wales Architectural Walks tailor made for Groups

post updated post updated 9 May 2023

Contact Isabelle Lomholt on isabelle(at)e-architect.com

Sydney Architecture Tour: Exclusive NSW Guided Walks

Our Sydney guided tours are all tailored to suit each booking, we do not allow for bookings to be joined. Our guided tours in New South Wales are all exclusive to each client.

Sydney Architecture Walking Tours

Should you be planning an office trip, a conference, or university trip in New South Wales please contact Isabelle at e-architect.

This is a 2000-seat multi-mode performance venue located in burgeoning Western Sydney.

Sydney Architecture – Introduction

Sydney is located in the south east part of Australia and is the state capital of New South Wales. It is the most populous city in Australia with a population of around 4.6 million. Celebrated buildings include the Sydney Opera House and a world-famous structure is the Harbour Bridge. All these buildings can be visited on our Sydney Architectural Tours .

Famous architects with buildings in Sydney include Foster + Partners and Harry Seidler, plus coming soon Frank Gehry and OMA. Famous 20th Century architects to build in the city include Jorn Utzon.

Other key architects with work in Sydney include PTW, Denton Corker Marshall, Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp and BVN Architecture.

Sydney Walking Tours

Sydney Architectural Walking Tours can focus on traditional buildings, contemporary buildings or both. The Sydney Architecture Tour can be an introduction to the city’s main buildings or can be based around your group’s interests. We are happy to accommodate your needs and interests on our New South Wales Architecture Tours.

e-architect can provide basic information to assist your programme preparations, eg on geographical areas in Sydney and building types, ahead of your tour. For example a group interested in Sydney Office Buildings or Sydney Houses could be provided with information before their visit to New South Wales.

Sydney Walking Tour Guides

Contact Isabelle Lomholt to arrange your Sydney architectural tour: isabelle(at)e-architect.com / mob. +44 (0)7952 149814

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Other than Sydney, e-architect organise architecture walking tours in other cities such as Melbourne, Barcelona, New York, Shanghai, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, London, New Delhi, Paris and Singapore.

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Behind the scenes, walks, tours and experiences

Sydney Opera House Tour

Step inside and discover the legendary history and extraordinary secrets of the Sydney Opera House. Experience the life, energy and buzz of Australia’s favourite building. 

Also available in  French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Mandarin

Specialty tours

Vivid Dinner at the House

Experience the Opera House in a different light during Vivid Sydney. Step inside before the lights go on and the music starts on a tour that uncovers the legendary history and extraordinary secrets of the House. After the tour, you'll enter one of the House's hidden spaces to enjoy an exclusive three-course dining experience , with a light projection in a stunning architectural setting.

Sunset at the House

Experience the Opera House in a different light with a sunset tour during Vivid Sydney. Step inside as the sun goes down and discover the legendary history and extraordinary secrets of the House. Finish with a drink at Vivid LIVE pop-up bar, Bar Subterranean, as you watch the Sydney Harbour light up.

Backstage Tour

Go behind closed doors and experience the House from behind the scenes. Venture backstage through the corridors to our rehearsal spaces, into the orchestra pit before enjoying breakfast in the exclusive domain of our performers, the Green Room.

Architectural Tour

Get your architecture fix on an in-depth tour with our expert guide. Hear how architects, engineers, builders and artists came together to create this UNESCO World Heritage-listed masterpiece.

Schools Tour

Take your students on a walking journey to learn about how Australia and a man from Denmark, Jørn Utzon, created a sculpture on Sydney Harbour that changed the course of 20th century architecture and the city of Sydney as we know it.

Mobility Access Tour

T ailored for patrons with limited mobility, g o inside and discover the legendary history and extraordinary secrets of the Sydney Opera House. Experience the life, energy and buzz of Australia’s favourite building.

Tour & Dine

Step inside and discover the history and secrets of the Sydney Opera House. Complete the experience in true Sydneysider style with lunch by the harbour at Opera Bar or House Canteen.

Taste of the House

Wine and dine your way around Sydney Opera House restaurants and bars to experience the culinary delights of some of Sydney's best chefs.

Language tours

French Tour

Did you know the special topaz glass of the Sydney Opera House was imported from France? Step inside and discover the secrets of this remarkable building.

German Tour

The first performance in our Concert Hall was a program of works by German composer-Richard Wagner. Take a tour and discover the building’s fascinating history.

Spanish Tour

From Don Quixote to the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, the Sydney Opera House has a diverse and rich cultural history. Take a tour and discover incredible stories inside this cultural landmark.

Japanese Tour

Over the years, the Sydney Opera House has welcomed Yayoi Kusama and Ryuichi Sakamoto to the Sydney Opera House, and you’re invited too. Join us on a tour of the building’s extraordinary history.

Korean Tour

The Sydney Opera House has many stories to tell, from the Korean National Ballet tour to the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra performances. Step inside, take a tour and be moved by the beautiful design and history.

Mandarin Tour

The Sydney Opera House is home to a rich history of world-class performers, from the China Philharmonic Orchestra to the Peking Opera. Step inside and experience unforgettable moments and history on a tour.

Experiences

Badu Gili: Celestial

Badu Gili - meaning ‘water light’ in the language of the traditional owners of Bennelong Point, the Gadigal people - is a free daily experience that explores First Nations stories in a spectacular six-minute projection on the Opera House’s eastern Bennelong sails.

Draw the House

Create a range of drawings inspired by one of the world’s most iconic buildings. Once a month join like-minded creative souls to explore the Opera House and its surroundings through the eyes of an artist. Working with a different artist each month, explore various drawing techniques, and perspectives inspired by one of the world's most iconic buildings.

Plan your visit

Thinking about visiting us? Uncover travel options, delve into venue insights, and discover the accessibility facilities that make your visit seamless.

Our goal at the Sydney Opera House is to provide barrier-free access, making the site, building and the experiences they offer accessible to all people. 

It's all happening at the House. Click here to discover upcoming events, performances and shows.

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Sydney Opera House Architectural Tour

Join us on this historical tour where you'll learn how in the mid-1950s, Australia and a man from Denmark, Jørn Utzon, created a sculpture on Sydney Harbour that changed the course of twentieth-century architecture. To quote US architect Frank Gehry, “(it) changed the image of an entire country.”

Hear how visionaries, idealists, architects, engineers, pragmatists and artists together built this architectural and engineering masterpiece that was at the cutting edge of what was possible at the time.

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Disabled access available, contact operator for details.

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Castlecrag Walking Tour 1

Our 1st tour around one of Sydney's most picturesque suburbs.

Surely one of Sydney's most picturesque suburbs, perched on a rocky peninsula surrounded by the sparkling waters of Middle Cove, Castlecrag was recognised as a special place by Canberra's designer Walter Burley Griffin and his partner Marion Mahoney, way back in the 1920s. They made a plan for Castlecrag to develop as the perfect garden suburb, with small houses surrounded by trees and rocky outcrops. Little did they realise what property values would do to that dream.

However, it always has been an architectural hot spot and includes houses by many of Australia's most interesting practitioners of architecture.

Tour leader Ben Gerstel is a local architect who has developed two tours of Castlecrag that reveal the suburbs development from its earliest days as well as the most interesting architecture in its hilly streets by architects as familiar as Harry Seidler and little known as Hugh Buhrich.

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From Sydney to Harvard and back: John Andrews exhibition at Tin Sheds Gallery

Surveying the career of a celebrated University of Sydney & Harvard-trained architect

Co-curators Paul Walker and Kevin Liu

Perhaps the first thing to say about John Andrews is that not enough has been said. Architect of Uncommon Sense , an exhibition now running at the University of Sydney’s Tin Sheds Gallery , marks a significant and welcome change in recognising the achievements of this titan of twentieth-century Australian architecture.

“Quite simply,” says co-curator, Kevin Liu, “it’s a story that ought to be told.”

Co-curator and Professor of Architecture at the University of Melbourne, Paul Walker, adds: “When I came to Australia 25 years ago, I wanted to work on Australian material, and Andrews seemed to be a figure who had been somewhat forgotten.”

John Andrews (1933-2022) was born in Sydney and studied at the University of Sydney and the Graduate School of Design at Harvard. The current exhibition is fitting in more ways than one, having arrived in Sydney following its inaugural showing at Gund Hall, one of Andrews’ very own buildings at Harvard and home to its Graduate School of Design.

The travelling exhibition’s journey, which is set to continue with stops around Australia, reflects the prodigious trajectory of Andrews’ career. At just 26 years of age, he was one of five finalists in the design competition for Toronto City Hall, considered to be the next big international competition following the Sydney Opera House.

“John Andrews’ career is just insane,” says Liu, who is also a University of Sydney architecture graduate. Drawing attention to Andrews’ commission for the Harvard Graduate School at the age of 34, Liu notes just how exceptional it is for an Australian architect to have had such an impact in North America at the time.

Architect of Uncommon Sense presents a survey of Andrews’ career, covering important projects in the USA, Canada and Australia. Liu’s contribution is an extension of his thesis, which was completed at the Harvard School of Design, while Paul Walker is the lead author of a book accompanying the exhibition.  John Andrews: Architect of Uncommon Sense  was published alongside the inaugural Harvard exhibition, marking 50 years since the completion of Andrews’ building there, and features the work of graphic designer, Willis Kingery, as well as specially commissioned photography by Noritaka Minami.

“I really enjoyed getting to know [Andrews],” says Walker. “When we started, most of the drawings and files from his Sydney practice were in a shipping container on a farm he owned in Canowindra and were a terrible mess. It was a slow process!”

With his emphasis on ‘common sense,’ concrete materiality and the urban scale of many of his ‘megastructure’ projects, John Andrews fits firmly into twentieth-century modernism. This exhibition certainly serves on one level to simply shed light on an under-told story. However, with a focus on architectural publishing and discourse, it has also used archival detective work to open up new ways of framing the work of an architect who rarely engaged in self-promotion. “The narratives around Andrews’ career are largely one-dimensional,” notes Liu, who poses an emphasis on Andrews’ communication as an alternative framing.

“He did something very dramatic and strangely cutting-edge – he just made sure the client knew what they were doing,” explains Liu. The diagrams and drawings on show at Tin Sheds Gallery illustrate this, while a notable feature of the exhibition is the presence of a 60-page construction document set. Drawings, text, historical objects and contemporary and vintage photography allow for a multifaceted and informative exhibition. 

Walker also entertainingly tells how some of these exhibition materials were acquired – large mounted drawings and photographs that the State Library of New South Wales could not take when they acquired the Andrews archive in 2017. “Andrews rang me and told me to come and take whatever I wanted,” he says.

“I drove a station wagon up to Orange one weekend and took everything that would fit. I am very pleased that some of these things are now on show at the Tin Sheds.”

Walker continues, “There are new observations in the book on seven themes: geography, the third generation of modern architects, urbanism, building, environment and sustainability, teamwork, and cultural agency. In particular, I think that the contributing authors and I have been able to show that Andrews' work was driven by a very strong urban imagination. We have also been able to show that an interest in the environmental performance of buildings was a key driver of his work.”

Liu concludes with the thought that, ultimately, the exhibition “is about objects and stories."

"I think there’s an interesting mix of an individual architect, an attitude and a generosity.”

John Andrews: Architect of Uncommon Sense  is now showing at Tin Sheds Gallery until 24th May, 2024.

Timothy Alouani-Roby

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