My family and I are ending our year with a visit to Sydney, Australia. Whether in the city or its suburbs, Sydney is one of those places that screams its history through its buildings. Grand colonial structures built with the local sandstone. English arts and crafts–style dwellings reinterpreted with verandas to protect from the local sun. Federation style homes also with the requisite verandas framed with local iron. Modern office and apartment buildings turned to capture the views and strong breezes. Roofs tilted for solar panels and to capture rain water.