This is a list of special architectural attractions open to the public - places you might want to go to purely for their archiectural content. They are individual buildings of significant interest which you can enter and enjoy. We are not, however, attempting a comprehensive tourist guide and galleries and the like (with serious architectural content) will be added as a second level of information.

The UK is listed first.

United Kingsdom / Austria / Belgium / Czech Republic / France / Germany / Italy / Netherlands / Scandinavia / Spain / Switzerland /
 
SWITZERLAND
Le Corbusier Centre Le Corbusier, 1963 - 1967
Zürichhorn Park - Höschgasse 8 - 8008 Zürich

Originally designed by Le Corbusier as a private house, the Centre Le Corbusier was completed two years after his death. The building consisits of two independent structures of steel, a material which he otherwise almost never employed for major structural elements. The larger, a pair of huge open-sided umbrellas, symbolicaly relates the smaller enclosed exhibition pavilion resting beneath it to the scale of the park and the city. These great canopies further serve, almost incidentally, to shelter the open terrace atop the lower structure. It is, however, the lower structure that seems so unexpected in relation to Le Corbusier's previous buildings and projects. (Modern arch in Europe p52)

 
Peter Zumthor Therne Vals Hotel
Vals, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0) 819 268 080 		Zumthor's famous spa is an addition to a 60's hotel strapped onto a mountain side and it is actually the local public baths. But stay at the hotel and you have it to the guests all morning. It's pure hedonism is only relieved by a rather monkish taste in architectural aesthetics which makes the indulgence less guilt-ridden. It's (architecturally) wonderful. Stay there in the winter when you can glide out into the steamy outdoor pool and wallow whilst viewing the snow-covered mountains. Architectural skill has rarely been put to such good service since the Romans.
Cantiago Calatrava Stadelhofen rail station (Zurich)
Zurich A local rail station? Yes, in the old town, designed in 1983-90, one half rising up a hillside. This was Calatrava before he became famous and sensuality took over from engineering. It's excellent - a kind of latter-day Gaudi. There's also an underground shopping mall there, but it's unlikely to interest you apart from the architecture.