Like many others, I’ve been intrigued by the high concept building The Line in Saudi Arabia, and have been keeping an eye on its progress. I really thought it would just be a concept piece and never come to anything, but lo and behold, the building teams have actually broken ground and started work on the 170km long building.

This video from Two Bit da Vinci sums up the project so far and adds some really interesting thoughts and questions about the next steps.

Three things I hadn’t realised/thought about:

• That the building is so long it crosses several different terrains along the way, and that it also has to deal with the curvature of the earth!
• That there is no surface water in Saudi Arabia so will need some serious desalination plans, and that keeping inhabitants fed will also be a challenge.
• That the mirrors will need a significant amount of maintenance but might also have an unexpected impact on the surrounding nature and environment.

I do like the optimism that ends the video. Even though this project has many questions and problems, experimenting is the only way we move forward, so why not?