[Closed] The Shard.

Huge ego trip for someone in my opinion; also seems an odd place to site it as well. But what do I know eh??

I like it and think it adds something to the skyline

Waste of money"? - is it not letting well? Private money, no?

I think it looks great, why criticise it?

Built with just 40-odd car park spaces, most of which are for disabled use, apparently to "encourage green transport options".

I wonder how many bike parking spaces it has...

also seems an odd place to site it as well

Btw, don't do what a guy at work did and google shart instead of shard, messy.

I think it looks great, why criticise it?

Agreed, why not criticise it? Subjective surely, aesthetically speaking.

Prince Charles will probably have something to say about it, I hope it gets on his ridiculous tits.

DS you query it as a waste of money - only the investor will know the answer. He thought it was a better investment than refurbing empty office space.

Anyway he's got a great hairdo:

[img] [/img]

But with much of it not yet let or sold my question is more about the need for such a spectacular building.
During this period austerity, that we're in together, is the private money just showing off or is it a sustainable investment.
From a building point of view it seems to be quite a spectacular feat.
As a thing of beauty, it's gopping.

Well it started to be planed and built before the financial problems

The issue I have with the shard is mostly down to its size- not especially its height but the huge footprint at ground level and the fact that it's being used as a progenitor to a series of massive, TBH not very good tall buildings which are either just finished, in construction or planned.
Oh, and the not terribly shard of glass nature of it - it's a pretty bloody solid lump, not really like the visualisations at all.
I'm just waiting till next year when hopefully there'll be som PR beanos at the top. Yes, double standards 😉
It's still a lump though.

Wasn't it built with a deal done for renting out most of the floor space already done, then they got greedy and bought out the contract believing they could make more.

But now find they are unable to let out space, which makes it a pretty impressive monument to greed.

An emblem of the success of London/UK

You do realise it was funded with Middle-East (Qatar) money, don't you?

I wonder how many bike parking spaces it has...

Apparently 250 were planned, not sure how many went in.

You do realise it was funded with Middle-East (Qatar) money, don't you?

...and planned around 2000, 8 years before the recession?

and it's OK if it's a waste of eastern money, not UK?

racist.

I think its brill

The London skyline has been evolving over hundreds of years and it takes this kind of private investment to continue this evolution. Love it or hate it us plebs will never have much of a say.

But if you were rich/powerful enough to make such an impact on a major city would you? I would, it would be awesome! The Eiffel tower was hated when it was built.

I think the worse thing about the building is that it costs a family of four £90 to get to the viewing platform.

Edit....The Seavers tower.....nice.

As a building, I quite like it. Does it fit in that part of the city? Hell no!!

I've just landed the contract to wash the windows.

You are going to need a bigger mop.

You've no idea how big my mop is?

Ha ha...yeah silly me. Anyone who lands that kind of contract must have a whopping mop.

I quite like it, remember being on the top and couldn't wait to get back down out of the cold/sleet; shame they never probed as deeply as they could have into the King William Street tube tunnel. We had a good bash at it, but getting enough gear onto site to do it undetected was an impossible task.

Oh, and the not terribly shard of glass nature of it - it's a pretty bloody solid lump, not really like the visualisations at all.

I don't like the look of it as much as the Gherkin but its probably a more usable building internally.

I can see it out of my office window, about 100 metres away and it looks ok, nice clean lines and so on.

I also like its profile when seen from M11 beyond the M25, Hog Hill Cycle Circuit, the A2 and even from Easyjet when coming into land at Gatwick.

As for an earlier comment about being unlet I think a lot if is already let to a hotelier and a lot more is flats so its not too screwed by the general weakness in office market.

Well none of those other buildings pretended that they'd be mostly transparent. The shard was sold on being a semi translucent building.
It is a lump, it's nowhere near transparent, the top is clever but the rest isn't.
At ground level it obliterates the surrounding area, the son of shard is a huge lumpen building, and the issues during construction damn it for me. It's not even slightly witty like GLA building or Swiss Re (even though they show SFNPs inability to get buildings to hit the ground successfully).

Looks bloody impressive at sunset when on the westerly runways at Heathrow.

The architect has no imagination ... Ugly slim pyramid IMO.

Oh look I can design one too ... yes, it's a rectangle building. 🙄

I really like it.
When I get up and set off on my bicycle on a morning I can see it from the top of the hill I live on and I think, right, that's where I'm going this morning. From 7 miles away, on a sunny day, it looks like an ice sculpture straigth outta Krypton. Then when I get to work and look out the window it's standing there majestically, ominously.
Yes, it's an ego-falice and is an expression of wealth and greed - it's therefore found its rightful home in that London.

Pretty impressive in real life. Dead cool standing underneath and looking up. Views from the top must be stunning
Wonder if it's been BASEd yet?

I think it stands out too much. Probably the whole point of sky scraper willy-waving.

I love it, up close or from 15 miles away on a hazy Sunday morning in Richmond park it is domineering like nothing before in the central London skyline.

it's nowhere near transparent

I would imagine a transparent building would offer some challenges.

For one thing, where would you put the loos?

And how would you stop people walking into walls?

And men staring though the transparent ceiling to see up the skirt of Sandra from Accounts?

It's a minefield I tell you.

The laser show was rubbish.

I think it looks epic!

It's a fact of economic cycles that shortly after such grandiose projects are completed the economy takes another lurch down...

Too big and in the wrong place.

Too big and in the wrong place.

rewski - Member
Btw, don't do what a guy at work did and google shart instead of shard, messy.

Er... ak! Eeeeeeeewwwwww

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dang-nabbit/sets/72157630251465100/

The view is quite good:

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/06/checkout-this-stunning-360-degree-panorama-of-london-from-the-top-of-the-shard/

[img] [/img]

This one’s from Silent UK who broke into the Shard in April and captured this beauty at night.

'Broke into' could be substituted for 'walked in the door' and went up some steps (albeit near an hour of climbing!). Media blows everything up into painful hype.

I quite like the building, its location I believe is very good, all around that area is on the up anyway.

The wind turbine tower over in E&C was very strangely placed (and the turbines can't be run during the day because of vibrations/noise running down inside the building) and AFAIK is STILL not fully occupied (and likely never will be) and its been there at least 18months. Same for Heron tower, there's still space going.

The guys that build these things don't expect to see returns in 1-5years, more like 20-30years, so the current economic climate isn't really too much of a bother, it will pick up (years away), but when it does, they will have tens of thousands of square footage ready on the market ahead of those that only build in times of prosperity.

It looks okay, but I prefer the Gherkin.

It's just a shame that some greedy little toe-rag wants £24.95 to let you look out of the windows, hopefully he'll be bankrupt before the year is out. Would be nice if we could have something in this country without all the nasty little spivs wanting a piece of it first.

These projects are sold to investors as ‘trophy stock’ - people like to associate themselves with the biggest and best. There was a phrase I liked recently from the Face Book listing ‘muppet bate’, similar principal. From an investment return perspective you would be better buying a kebab shop in Shoreditch.

I quite like the architecture – there is much worse about and the fact Charlie will hate it gives it more appeal.

Hooray, we've built something that's [i]quite[/i] tall but tiny in comparison to many other buildings.

It's not even as tall as that big brown pylon in Franceland.

95% recycled though, so the ecomentalists should be happy.

Me likeee , seriously it is rather "brilliant " (see what I did there )
I've watched it's progress from my pad in CW and it has been a fabulous view through it's build cycle. I've ridden around it a few times on me bike like just to get a better view of it .
I'm not bothered if it's a success or not tbh, just hope it breaks even world be good.
Glad someone had both vision and imagination to build it.

"Most Excellent"

Madame took 67 French kids to London and the collective verdict was that the Shard is ace.

It's just a block of flats FFS.

It's just a block of flats FFS

Individual Price on the Day
Adults (16 Plus) £18.90
Child (4-15 years) £9.90
Child (Under 4) FREE
Senior* £15.00 £13.50
Family of Four** £57.60

I like it. Bold architecture with an impressive skyline impact. I don't care where the money came from to build it or how much it costs to go up it. It's a cool landmark that makes it easier for folk like me to navigate around London when I visit. I like the Gherkin too for what it's worth.

ridiculous, irrelevant, big, over priced, pointless, ugly, stupid.....i can go on....ok i will.... isnt it just willy waving with buildings?

Renzo Piano Workshop have done some very good buildings.
Unfortunatatley the shard isn't one of them.

aP- http://yeoldemitreholburn.co.uk/
lunch tues?

Hmmmmmm....
Sounds good.

pm me