A group of school students stand facing various directions. They are holding drawing materials and the Sydney Opera House sails are just behind them.

Draw the House – Secondary School Workshop

  • Schools
  • Visual Arts
  • Design and Technology
  • History
  • This tour runs Dates vary
  • Run time: 90 minutes Subject to change

Slow down, observe, draw…

In this drawing-tour workshop, students get unique access to one of the most famous buildings in the world to create a series of drawings inspired by the Sydney Opera House. Whether it be for folio preparation or development of drawing skills, this workshop led by artists and architects, fuses art and architecture inspired by one of the world’s most iconic buildings.

Drawing is practical as an architectural and engineering blueprint, but it is also a tool for creative expression and making meaning, visually documenting what we see or imagine on paper, for others to view, interpret and enjoy.

From the very beginning, drawings have played a significant role in the Opera House’s history – a global architectural competition saw entries from all over the world, where a relatively unknown Danish architect, Jorn Utzon, became the winner of a new National Opera House for Sydney. Utzon’s original and somewhat controversial design was an imaginative sculptural response that the judges were convinced would be ‘capable of becoming one of the great buildings of the world’.

What to expect

Students will:

  • Draw at key locations across the Opera House to compare and contrast the interior and exterior architecture and features
  • Work in sketchbooks using dry materials 
  • Learn about Jorn Utzon’s design process through the Utzon Design Principles
  • Learn observational drawing techniques in scale, proportion, repetition and perspective
  • Get insights into the role visual arts plays in the Opera House's history, including the beautiful tapestries that grace our venues and foyer spaces

Simple drawing materials to be provided by students/the school. Sydney Opera House provides the artist and workshop.

Subject areas: Visual Arts, Visual Design, Design and Technology, English, History 

Cross curriculum priorities and general capabilities: Creative and Critical Thinking, Sustainability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures 

Key themes: architecture, observational drawing, perspective, scale, proportion, section and elevation, design, construction, engineering

Tour details

I like to be on the edge of the possible...

Jorn Utzon

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Excursions at the Opera House

A Day Out at the House

A full school day experience of creative learning with a performance or workshop and Sydney Opera House tour.

Children in blue school uniforms wave towards the camera.

Arts Assist

Does your School need financial assistance to attend a Sydney Opera House excursion?

A group of school children carrying backpacks walk across the Sydney Opera House forecourt with the iconic white sails in front of them.

Schools Tour

Filled with stories that demonstrate the power of creativity, students join a guided tour to learn how architect Jørn Utzon created a sculpture on Sydney Harbour that changed the course of 20th century architecture.

A young girl wearing a school uniform stares out a window in a Sydney Opera House foyer. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is seen in the background.

Attending this tour

Plan your visit

Address

Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point NSW 2000
Australia

Getting to the Sydney Opera House

The Opera House is a 7-10 minute walk from Circular Quay, and is easily accessible by car, train, ferry, lightrail, bus, bike and on foot.