Always a favourite topic of mine, I realised it has been
a decade since I put this list forward:
meltwaterfalls:
On the commute in this morning I was reading about the new
Large Hadron Collider soon to be opened at CERN running through Switzerland and France. I was thinking about this a few months back and wondered if this was essentially something that will be a potential WHS in the future. I think it would make a pretty decent site, as long as it doesn't destroy the universe as some critics have argued.
I was trying to think if there were any current or recent projects that could be included in the list in the future.
The one that has made the biggest impression on me in the last few years has been
Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences. There are plenty of European cities trying to regenerate themselves with landmark projects but so far this one has been the most impressive. And also I am quite a big fan of Santiago Calatrava.
I was trying to steer away from just listing Iconic Modern buildings, but think that perhaps the
Bilbao Guggenheim would stand out as the best of the bunch (
Judische Museum Berlin, Beijing's 'Birds nest' Stadium, Weil am Rhine's fire Station and Design museum , The 'Gherkin' in London).
Though I am yet to visit it but
The Millau Viaduct in southern France would certainly be something I could see finding its way on to the list in the future, it would make a good companion piece to le Pont du Gard.
I think that list still stands up pretty well, even if a few of the sites are white elephants.
I think the other sites I would now add are the Architectural oeuvre of
Zaha Hadid, the most notable: 2012 Aquatic Centre, Heydar Aliyev Center (Baku) and Riverside Museum Glasgow.
Places tongue in cheek, aren't they still building the Heritage Village that will be inscribed when Khor Dubai inevitably gets on the list?