The United States Courthouse in Phoenix, Arizona is named after Sandra Day O’Conner, the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court. It was constructed from 1994-2000 at a cost of 123 million dollars, and the six-floor building has a floor area of 555,000 square feet. Sandra Day O’Conner United States Courthouse uses glass extensively throughout different sections of the building. The courthouse features a massive glass wall along the north side of the building, and the main courtroom features an incredible glass ceiling. The courthouse also advertises that it is cooled passively by natural convection, but those on the top floors during the summer have reported extreme temperatures. According to some, the upper part of the building behind the glass wall can reach up to 100 degrees at most.

Jubilee Church is a church in the Tor Tre Teste district of Rome, Italy. It was designed by Richard Meier and constructed from 1996-2003. The Catholic Church held a competition for architects that wanted to design the project. Richard Meier beat out other greats such as Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava, and Tadao Ando. Jubilee Church is designed to look like a sailing ship. The church walls, constructed of pre-cast concrete, are also made with titanium dioxide to keep the exterior as white as possible over a long period of time. Meier also has said that the white exterior helps manage the internal temperature of the church, making the structure more energy efficient by reducing the need for air conditioning in warm weather.

Meier on Rothschild, also called Rothschild Tower, is a skyscraper in Tel Aviv, Israel. The building was constructed between 2007-2016. Rothschild Tower is 42-stories (520 ft) and has a base dedicated to retail space.  Richard Meier has said that lightness and transparity were the primary goals when designing the building. This is accomplished with the reflective glass along the side of the building paired with the white color of building material. In October 2011, a single apartment in the building was sold to an Israeli business man for 200 million shekels, which is equivalent to about 60,000,000 USD. He essentially bought out the entire top three floors of the building.

On Prospect Park is a condominium building in Brooklyn, New York.  Richard Meier, the architect behind the building, intended for the building to enhance the relationship between modern New York City and the rich history of Brooklyn. On Prospect Park was constructed between 2003-2009. The building is named because, well, it’s right on top of Prospect Park. Prospect Park is a public park that broke ground in 1867. It is the second largest park in Brooklyn and is home to the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The glass building  also overlooks Grand Army Plaza, which was the site of the Battle of Long Island during the Revolutionary War. The battle was the first major conflict after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The Union is a place that I have many fond memories from as a child. My family would usually hang out in the Union before gamedays when we were able to make get tickets. The building was named the Memorial Union after the OU students that died in World War I. Constructed in 1929, the old building has been renovated 3 times. It was most recently renovated in 2007.

Wantland Stadium is a stadium in Edmond, Oklahoma. I’m from Edmond, and this stadium was the first exposure I had to live sports. It is home to the UCO Bronchos, and it used to host the local high school football games until recently. My only memory of the first game I went to was watching the Edmond Memorial mascot tumble down the hill overlooking the stadium. It was opened in 1965, and the capacity was expanded to 10,000 in 2005. Last year, a 45,000 sqft sports facility was opened right next to the stadium.

The Cotton Bowl is host to the most important college football game in the universe. I first went there when I was about 10 years old, and we had seats on the highest row directly on the 50 yard line. I was not prepared for that level of trash talk as a 10 year old. The original capacity could hold about 45,000 people. As of today, the stadium record attendance is 96,009. If it were in Oklahoma, it would be the 5th largest population center in the state on game days. The stadium was built in 1930, but did nothing important until becoming the host of the Red River Shootout in 1932. OU has been annihilating inferior opposition on that field ever since.

I transferred to OU from UCO. The first college building I ever walked into was Old North at UCO. Opening in 1893, it is the oldest building of higher education in the state. It has had a reputation for being old and unstable; the building was first closed for safety issues in 1911, but it was renovated for continued use. In 2001, the building was closed for the same issues again. It was renovated during a $40 million project beginning in 2011 and officially reopened for classes again in 2017. I can’t find any updated interior pictures, but the style is very modern and mixes well with the design of the building.