RAHS Day Lecture – Sydney Brutalism

Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 3 December 2025 @ 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm

Event Location: History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000

Cost: Free

Event Description:

Brutalist architecture hit Sydney in the late 1950s when local architects and their international peers experimented with raw concrete and brick and kicked off a revolution. These brave new buildings were ambitious, optimistic — often divisive — and predominantly made onsite by hand, not machine. For the next 30 years Sydney produced some of the world’s best examples of brutalist architecture. Sirius. The Sydney Masonic Centre. UTS Tower. The ribbed concrete shells of the Sydney Opera House. Design writer Heidi Dokulil explores Sydney’s brutalist architecture, its international influences, its architects, builders and residents, and the public buildings, university campuses and homes that changed the face of the city.

About the speaker:

Heidi Dokulil is the co-founder of Good Habitat and the Australian Design Unit. Heidi writes for T Australia: The New York Times Style Magazine, ArchitectureAU and Design Anthology. She co-curated the exhibitions Conversations of Things New and PechaKucha Night Sydney and is the author of BKH on Sydney design firm Burley Katon Halliday.