Downloads
SAW timetable & routes map: pdf download here
 
Newspaper Reviews

Sydney Morning Herald | Sydney's Best Walking Tours| Lisa Dabscheck | October 27, 2007
If the style is a touch undergrad, the substance is more PhD. Lewis effortlessly compresses two centuries of history, geography, sociology, architecture and art into two hours - while giving the impression he’s simply sharing a few off-the-cuff anecdotes. The result is like taking a stroll in the CBD with a clever friend.
Lewis leverages enough intellectual weight and industry asides to satisfy the pointy heads - while giving the design illiterate concepts we can understand.

The Sun Herald | What Cultural Cringe? Sydney has an architectural wonder to rival the best | Simon Webster| July 9, 2006
History, politics, philosophy - his quiet, compelling commentary covers lots of ground featuring heores (Joern Utzon, creator of the Opera House), and villains (former premier Robert Askin, who wanted to demolish The Rocks and extend the Cahill Expressway to Centennial Park, half of which would have turned into carpark)

The Sydney Morning Herald | A sorbet for the jaded urban palate | Elizabeth Farrelly | September 24, 2002
A refreshing exercise for the jaded urban palate is to flip into foreigner mode and walk our city streets as if they were exotic. Sydney Architecture Walk (SAW), the brainchild of architects Eoghan Lewis and Simeon King, is just such a sorbet, offering a handful of downtown routes. Lewis and King make intelligent, articulate and energetic guides, offering insights into architecture's non-visible world of unbuilt designs, political tensions and historical twists. Here's a chance to remember how vivid and exciting Sydney can seem. Recommended, three hats [out of three!].

The Australian | Every storey a picture | Kate Hamilton | November 2, 2001
Lewis' passion for the art and life of the city structures breathes through his language. He describes the buildings in terms of their energies - the structures are "quiet", "honest", and they are "clad in a zinc skin" or "glass skirt". Their designers are poets, mathematicians, magicians. This piece of urban theatre... a 2 1/2 hour walking narrative taking in the city's design icons... is perhaps the most innovative of Australia's architecture tours.

The Sydney Morning Herald | Genius doesn't mean pleasure | November 11, 2003
 
Web Reviews
The Program > Feature Story on opening page > Ambling through Sydney with SAW | Miles Merrill | December 16, 2003
This reporter went on a Saturday morning for a tour of Utzon’s Masterpiece, the beloved Sydney Opera House. My group was treated to the essential structural details one would expect on something called an architecture walk. However, what surprised most of my clan of 11 sun-visored water guzzling punters was the inside info; the personal lives, the trivia, and genius insights are all tantalising. Check out SAW for inspiration as an architect, tourist, or as a young artist trying to get your own act off the ground. They set a great example.

Sydney Is | Mike Laanela | January 2001
Eoghan Lewis speaks quickly in the patois of the architectural cultural elite. In a manner best described as informal and conversational, Lewis leads his own walking tour around the CBD waterfront, showing the curious how to interpret the complex language of the city's office towers

 
Punters
Fernando Romero | founder of LAR - Laboratory Of Architecture
Thank you for all your kindness and for the most magnificent tour I had ever had at the Opera House.
Alex Popov | Alex Popov & Associates
To Eoghan from Alex. Thank you for opening up Utzon to the general public.
David Robertson | Victoria
I went on your 'Utzon' Opera House tour in August 2005. I think pound for pound, it was the best tour I have ever been on and I've been on tonnnes. The tour was so comprehensive that it went for around 3 and a bit hours. The coffee afterwards added a really nice touch to the tour.

Cathy Benitez | USA | February 2008
Just wanted to thank you for the architectural walk yesterday. As I told you at the close of the walk, I really enjoyed it. I've done some fine arts study and always loved researching artist motivation. Your presentation was inspiring and it's clear that you are passionate about what you do. What a great idea! Everyone in the group seemed fascinated with the information you shared.

Dr Graham Meltzer | Queensland University of Technology | architect student group | September 2001
[the guide] employed an impressive knowledge and understanding of these projects to speak engagingly and with passion. He was able to capture the spirit of the projects and talk to subtle matters of symbolism and design intent as well as more obvious aspects of technology and construction.

Michael Rudko | Architecture graduate from Adelaide
Thanks again for the walk today (February 2006). I think it was by far the most intense tour I've ever experienced which is great (I would say
tour de force but that would be far too cheesy); I feel like I just sat through a whole semester course in Johnson, Utzon and Piano
Pam Best | traveller from Perth
I'm writing to express my thanks x 10 for the wonderful architecture tour I did today (October 2005) to the Opera House. I was bowled over by the depth of knowledge displayed and the passion with which it was all delivered. It was so good no one seemed to want to let our young architect go at the end of the tour.
Rachael Lee
Good morning. Comments on the architecture walks: SYDNEY was excellent, HARBOURINGS was fantastic, UTZON was superb! Thanks for a fun and enlightening time.
Marilyn Miller | Melbourne
Did the SAW2 Utzon walk today [May 2006] and it was fantastic. Got out of my sick bed (mostly because I’d prepaid) but soon forgot about myself as [the guides] passion and vast knowledge of Utzon’s work was pretty hard to resist. The walking was not too strenuous, so that was enjoyable too. I flew back to Melbourne, talking constantly about the ingenuity of the Opera House platform, its clever drainage system and the sails that are really clouds. Will certainly be recommending the walk to my friends and colleagues.
Leon Buker | Sydneysider
Thanks for setting up SAW. I love the blend of architecture, history and politics.
Kim Philip | 3rd year architecture student – NZ
It was particularly refreshing to hear an 'exposed' account (unlike other tours designed solely to glorify a city for the tourists). To a budding young architect such as myself, I gained most benefit from discovering the undercurrent and contextual issues that shaped the architectural responses, at a range of different scales. It enabled a first-timer to Sydney the ability to apply ideas to personal follies of exploration, and make informed interpretations of architectural idiosyncrasies. As I came to know about you, I intend to recommend that any of my architectural buddies who are planning on visiting Sydney do one of your walks.
Richard Carver | architect – NZ
Just wanted to say that we thoroughly enjoyed our Utzon tour Saturday 13th August. It was the highlight of a 3–day Sydney trip. Thanks very much to the guide. His enthusiasm and excellent presentation were a definite highlight and he needs to be congratulated.

Rinske Geerlings | Final year architect student – Netherlands
Must say I really enjoyed the tour yesterday! You collected the nice and comprehensible background information and also the spicy details on the stuff. You managed to let us share in your enthusiasm, which is quite something.

Samantha Goates | Textile designer – Scotland
I did your BRILLIANT Utzon talk a few weeks ago on the weekend.... been raving to anyone and everyone about it since you'll be pleased to know. Even suggested to the boss that we take all the interstate folk on your walks for our next conference....!!!!
Dr Janice Hirshorn | UK | forwarded by www.sydneytalks.com.au
Thanks to your website [Sydney Talks] I participated in an excellent architectural walk on Wednesday February 9 2005. It was a pleasure to see selected buildings through the eyes of a young architect together with the other tour participants, most of whom were visitors from overseas. I was so relaxed at the end.
Dr. Yvonne Perczuk | Sydneysider
We wanted to congratulate you on the remarkable Utzon architecture walk we experienced a few weeks ago. As we are both architecture novices, the walk was an absolute revelation. The guide's enthusiasm was infectious, his depth of knowledge impressive and his wit and humour were a bonus. Keep up the truly inspiring work!
Ilana McCorquodale | Sydneysider
Thank you for your super lecture on Utzon on Saturday. Both Ilana and I were really inspired and appreciated your real interest in the Opera House and its story. We were really interested in your explanation of the (unbuilt) glass construction - how we wish it could be recreated to Utzon's dream one day.

Michael Kinsella | Sydneysider
I was delighted to meet you on your guided tour of Sydney architecture 10 days or so ago. I thoroughly enjoyed the Tour and it served to get my "creative juices" flowing again in my new post retirement state. I found your narrative fascinating and enjoyed the anecdotes.

Alison Haywood | City Planner – Britain
I just wanted to say "thanks" for the Utzon walk on Saturday. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot more than i had expected to. It's things like your walks that allow the lay person as well as the professional to appreciate something that they would never normally take in, and i think it acts as a forum for people to feel good about themselves - it means that their weekend didn't go to waste in the Coogee Bay Hotel (obviously, not me...i wouldn't do that!) but have actually learned something.
Lorna Low | Sydneysider
Today my daughter, who is also an architect, and i enjoyed your wonderful narrative walk of Utzon's House. Your knowledge and passion for this truly exceptional mans talents were a joy to behold. I've always grieved for our failure at the time, when we were so insensitive a people with a poor government to allow such a tragedy... Iv'e always loved it but will now look at it differently. I learned so much. Thanks a million!

 

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Sydney will never look the same again!

For bookings phone +61 2 8239 2211
to contact us directly email info@sydneyarchitecture.org
web site & images by SAW
Copyright 2000 Sydney Architecture Walks
updated March 2008

 

O N D E S I G N ..

in most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. it's interior decorating. it's the fabric of the sofa. but to me, nothing could be further from the meaning. design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up exposing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. [steve jobs | ceo, apple computer]

O N S K Y S C R A P E R S ..

each skyscraper - in the absence of real history - develops it's own instantaneous folklore.
through the double disconnection of lobotomy and schism - by separating exterior and interior architecture, and developing the latter in small autonomous instalments - such structures can devote their exteriors only to formalism and their interiors only to functionalism
[rem koolhaas | delirious new york, 1978]

O N U S ..
we love to hear from you so email us with comments, questions, complaints, ideas + great carrot cake recipes, and while we try to respond as swiftly as possible, we rarely answer hate mail, unless itıs clever. send your gift certificates, money orders, straight cash, tickets to shows, or coupons for wine; all are accepted.
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