This last building by Murcutt is one that I would personally love to live in. The Donaldson house in Sydney, Australia is very natural looking, so natural that you could miss it if you weren’t looking for it. The roof is covered in Zinc panels to make the building resistant to wildfires. Throughout all of his designs, Murcutt seems to keep the climate of the area in mind and plans for the best use of lighting to allow for excellent energy efficiency. He also uses collected rainwater for the home that can also be used as a fire suppressant if the need arises.

The Idea of natural light continues in the Magney House, but the building itself is more round and less sharp than Murcutts normal design. The building Uses corrugated metal formed into a V shape to collect rainwater for reuse within the home, and is insulated by bricks. The building was planned with three things in mind: lightweight, natural, and to be split into two separate areas.

The Walsh house seems to go along very well with Murcutts theme of having wide outside facing areas and sharp edges all over the building. The large overhanging roof works well to block out the sun, allowing the windows to remain open and allow in plentiful natural light. The thing I don’t like about the house is that it doesn’t have a very good flow throughout. The rooms are small and cutoff from each other.

The Islamic centre  in Newport, Australia that Glenn Murcutt designed is quite different from a normal mosque. It has many skylights in the form of triangles on the roof that act as a beacon for people to pray to during the call to prayer. The building itself was completed in 2016 and will also serve as an Islamic community center. Murcutt was currently 80 years old when this building broke ground.

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Union Station was a building I visited every time I went to DC because of the extensive cafeteria and various restaurants that surround it. Its exterior was very similar to a majority of the other buildings in the DC area. Also very similar to the rest of the DC area, the inside is mostly white with gold trim with a major amount of natural light seeping in. This building is the one that ties all my memories of our nations capital over the years. The first time I visited it was because I had gotten lost on the metro system when I was trying to head to the Woodley park zoo from Metro center (It was in the opposite direction) and decided to look around for a while.

This Museum, before all else, is a monument to the sacrifices of Marines and their families. The exhibits go through the the history of the marine corp and talks about not just their wartime efforts, but also the efforts of the Marines at home. This Museum has two parts, the main building and a chapel. The Chapel has glass on all sides, allowing a lot of natural light into the building. It feels much more spacious and open than a normal chapel. The main building seems to be built similarly at first, but is much more closed off once you start going into the exhibits. The first and only time I visited the museum was because our car had just been rear ended and so we were waiting for it to get some repairs, so we had quite a bit of time to explore the building.

The Washington National Cathedral is a massive building and is the only Cathedral I have ever entered. The outside is adorned with over 100 Gargoyles, including those with the appearance of a robot and Darth Vader. I was highly impressed by this building and is one of the most memorable ones from my many visits to Washington D.C. just from the outside appearance. Once inside I was even more impressed. The building was built with music in mind, as the acoustics were amazing. That and the stained glass window made for a beautiful effect when the sun shined through. Once I climbed up the spires, I was met by the breathtaking view of the massive D.C. skyline.

The White house was an interesting building. I was initially excited to enter the home of the president of the United states, but we were only able to walk through less than a quarter of the residence, for security reasons. From the outside it is beautiful, if you ignore all the security and tourists surrounding it. The inside was kind of funky because with each new president, new additions would be added while only some of the older ones would be removed, making it a mish mash of different styles. The building seems like an impenetrable fortress, but I found there to be an ample amount of natural light. The building was originally inspired by the Leinster house in Ireland. The original idea of the building was for it to be the nations home, somewhere that you could just walk up to and have a conversation with the president. But with time more measures were added to close it off. Overall, it was probably the least impressive building I visited in DC.