Living In Sydney

By Benjamen Judd

A couple of years ago the City of Sydney created an event where people signed up for a special pass that gave them access to some of the most iconic buildings throughout the city. It was like being in The Da Vinci Code just without the plagiarism and poor characterisation.

We were able to get in and see buildings like the mind-blowing Freemasons headquarters, bank vaults and all the heritage listed sites down Macquarie Street. A bit nerdy but a great day out and it all ended with a few bottles of wine which was the best part, really. But really, it was fascinating. Sydney does have some truly beautiful specimens of architecture designed by some of the most respected names in the industry. Unfortunately, this tour only lasted for one year and we’ve had fond thoughts ever since.

However, there is now an App for smartphones that takes you on a kind of virtual tour of Sydney’s buildings. ArchMap Sydney designed by architect Jun Sakaguchi, and uses GPS to pinpoint the city’s iconic built landmarks. Originally designed as a tour of Tokyo’s vast empire of structure, ArchMap Sydney allows you to learn about your built environment as you walk through the city, with information on the building itself and its architect showing up on the screen of your phone. Nerd-gasm!

For anyone about to travel overseas, there will soon be a London ArchMap and hopefully many more to come.

Click here to download ArchMap Sydney.