22.June-23.June_Walking to some Architecture

22.June_The first day of class

Really a pretty low key day, we met at the Uni at 10 AM, none of that early nonsense around here. We cleaned the space we’ll be working in, went over some syllabus type stuff, realized we still don’t have a project to start working on, did a bit of sketching, and took it easy the rest of the day. Can’t argue with that.

23.June_Walking to some Architecture

Tuesday morning, we had our second day of “class”, meaning we met downtown around 10 with a young local architect, Eoghan Lewis (pronounced Yowen Looooisss).  He runs a tour thing called Sydney Architecture Walks and it was probably the best way for a group of design students to get heaps of information about architecture around the city and a great way for us (We’re not from around here) to sorta get some bearings in the city.

Customs House

So the walk…We started out at the customs house, which is currently a library, café, and some other stuff with a giant glass floor and a huge scale model of the city of Sydney under the floor. From there we moved to a large outdoor map in the park and then started the real walk. 

The Map (P.S. That's Eoghan)

We first passed by one of the early works of Tonkin Zulaihka Greer, an interior renovation that continued outside to an awning of sorts and an interesting stair. From there we continued through The Rocks, a part of Sydney initially filled with convicts to my understanding. No worries mom, no convicts there now.

Sirius_Housing Project

We cruised past a brutalist housing project, a sports complex, and an intersection that looked like it should be in Disney world. 

MGM Studios anyone?

Next we walked through the harbor bridge to observatory hill, then down the hill to the Five Finger Wharfs, which include adaptive reuse projects focusing on reusing the old wharf machinery and structure as new structure and ornament. 

Observatory Hill

Adrian, Harbor Bridge, Gnome, Andrew

The wharves now house a few small cafes and restaurants, high-end condos (we believe Nicole Kidman lives in one of them, did I mention high-end?), some offices and such. 

The Wharves

Next we walked to a building called “30 The Bond”.  This could take some explaining to get you the right idea so get comfy. Sydney is a city built on a lot of sandstone, surrounded by water on most sides due to Sydney harbor and all of the harbors around. Somewhere along the line they cut large chunks of sandstone out of its natural location and put it into the harbor to create areas of deep water for large shipping vessels. In one of the places where they removed this sandstone, they decided to fill the gap with a building.  So you have a large sandstone wall with a street running parallel to it and then all of a sudden, you have a building with its façade about flush with the sandstone wall and the rest of the building goes back into the stone. On top of it being cool, it ranks as one of the highest in environmental design without looking for any recognition or flashy plaques. It’s just good design, not looking for fame and glamour, just well-planned functional architecture.

From there we continued to a Harry Seidler Building with a cool lobby and ended at the museum of Sydney, not going inside, but discussing a sculpture at the front entrance. And so a lot of information and around 5-6 hours later, even Michael decided it would be a good time for a nap.