The Shard Tower in London

[beeboo]

244/310 = 0.79.

i.e. about 4/5 of the way up the building, which is a much more sensible place for a viewing platform of the tallest building in Europe.

1/3 (~100m) up would barely be worth the bother. Tower 42 (AKA the NatWest Tower) is 183m tall.

Even if it's 244m, the last 60m aren't going to be much use to anyone if it's that skinny at 244m

 

[_pH_]

Anyone been keeping their eye on the new Park Plaza hotel on the roundabout before Westminster Bridge

I'd hate to be the window cleaner What is the point of all those little sheets of coloured glass anyway - just to take away from the boredom of looking at the same coloured glass all the way round

don't like! it's like a washing machine drum

 

[Crispy]

Wooh! Check out this super sci-fi mockup of the viewing platform on the Shard.

The platform spans three stories a third of the way up the 100-story building and offers a 360-degree view from 244 metres - twice as high as the London Eye.

http://londonist.com/2009/05/the_shard_room_for_a_view.php

Well that doesn't make sense. The shard will be 310m tall, so 1/3rd up is 100m or so. I reckon it's a typo and it should be 2/3rds up. IIRC, there's another public space at the 1/3rd mark so that probably cuased the confusion.

 

[_pH_]

Some shard pics from last week:

Still piling! And still v. busy.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

I have to say, I'm well excited about buildings like this.

what's fantastic about London as a city is that it's not a giant museum of concrete, like Paris, set in some golden era, with very little room for new things or layers. And it's not like Chinese cities which are the result of yaers of knocking down, rebuilding, knocking down, rebuilding, etc, it's just loads and loads of different layers and things, like a huge onion. The shard is just the newest layer on the onion.

 

[hipipol]

I think ity'll look amazing, but for years it will make London Bridge - a place that sets my teeth on edge like no other - will be even more hellish for the next few YEARS!!!!

To make up for that, the Shard need top be spectacular

Oh yeah, and the train service need to step up tp the plate too!!!

 

[Crispy]

The station's getting a big overhaul too, but not till after 2012. Will mean more trains and much much better concourse and platform access.

 

[hipipol]

Well I hope they sort out Zimmer frame access, by the time they finally finish it, I'll probably be using one!!!!

 

[IMR]

Can't say I'm overenthusiastic about another office block. It's not as if the Shard is going to be anywhere near as attractive or sophisticated-looking as the Chrysler building.

It's just going to be one more over-sized simple shape tipped out of a giant Fisher Price building block set. Wow, maybe they'll do one like a big cylinder next, or a pyramid!

 

[PacificOcean]

Did London Bridge station ever look nice?

I know that the concrete box at Euston used to be all arches and ornate buildings, but I never seen or heard about what London Bridge was like.

It really is one the grimest stations I have ever been in. Perputuarly dark, choked with fumes from the bus station outside and with platforms here there and everywhere.

 

[ovaltina]

Anyone been keeping their eye on the new Park Plaza hotel on the roundabout before Westminster Bridge

I'd hate to be the window cleaner What is the point of all those little sheets of coloured glass anyway - just to take away from the boredom of looking at the same coloured glass all the way round

This looks close to completion now. It's not the most inspiring building but it's better than the concrete lump that was there before. I'd guess the archiects had to be conservative because of where they were building (opp parliament).

I'm always amazed that St Thomas's hospital hasn't been shunted to a cheaper site. A friend of a friend was on a ward there recently after having a baby and she had views of parliament from her bed.

I reckon the Shard will be great and should make London Bridge a lot more interesting - but I bet we have years of disruption to the Thameslink while it's being built.

 

[kyser_soze]

Did London Bridge station ever look nice?

I know that the concrete box at Euston used to be all arches and ornate buildings, but I never seen or heard about what London Bridge was like.

It really is one the grimest stations I have ever been in. Perputuarly dark, choked with fumes from the bus station outside and with platforms here there and everywhere.

Yeah, the old train shed on platforms 7-16 is ok-ish, but it was utterly brutalised by the walkway to plats 1-6 and bus station roof thing, all done out in that lovely late 70s/early 80s brown...

 

[Gromit]

I have to say, I'm well excited about buildings like this.

what's fantastic about London as a city is that it's not a giant museum of concrete, like Paris, set in some golden era, with very little room for new things or layers. And it's not like Chinese cities which are the result of yaers of knocking down, rebuilding, knocking down, rebuilding, etc, it's just loads and loads of different layers and things, like a huge onion. The shard is just the newest layer on the onion.

There was some documentary on London which basically describes London's planning process.

You want to build what?!!!
But it doesn't match anything else nearby!
You are going to spend millions and millions which will create lots of jobs?
Its going to look bloody stupid but as you are spending lots of money... here is your planning permission.

Its less of an onion but more like the most random pizza you can think off.

Ham, pineapple, giraffe, peppers and walrus toes.

 

[TitanSound]

They are still piling at the mo. I pass it every week on my way to the rehearsal studio. I'll get some pics on Sunday

 

[hipipol]

Ham, pineapple, giraffe, peppers and walrus toes.

What, no Kittens.....


These are a few of my favourite things...tra-la-la-la-lee!!!!

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Can't say I'm overenthusiastic about another office block. It's not as if the Shard is going to be anywhere near as attractive or sophisticated-looking as the Chrysler building.

It's just going to be one more over-sized simple shape tipped out of a giant Fisher Price building block set. Wow, maybe they'll do one like a big cylinder next, or a pyramid!

Bollocks.

 

[teuchter]

Can't say I'm overenthusiastic about another office block. It's not as if the Shard is going to be anywhere near as attractive or sophisticated-looking as the Chrysler building.

It's just going to be one more over-sized simple shape tipped out of a giant Fisher Price building block set. Wow, maybe they'll do one like a big cylinder next, or a pyramid!

Bollocks.

I was going to type out a wordy response but I think I'll just go along with upsidedownwalrus's.

 

[kyser_soze]

So what view of LDn Bridge is this? It looks like you're seeing it as you leave the gates onto the main concourse. the row of shops by the tube entrance currently being where the row of departure boards are...is this correct...if it is I'm even more pant-wettingly happy about the development...

 

[Gromit]

My main worry about this shard project is that it reminds me of the Tattered Spire in Fable II.

Please tell me that the guy in charge of the project is not called Lord Lucien.

 

[PacificOcean]

So what view of LDn Bridge is this? It looks like you're seeing it as you leave the gates onto the main concourse. the row of shops by the tube entrance currently being where the row of departure boards are...is this correct...if it is I'm even more pant-wettingly happy about the development...

It very much looks like it.

All that glass! Give it a couple of years and it will be as dark as it is now.

And they just spent all that money on new LCD boards only for them to swept away for more Costa Coffees, Whistlestops and Upper Crusts.

Anyway, by the time this is all done (given how long rail infasturcture projects take in the UK), we will all be on Hoverboards anyway.

 

[ericjarvis]

I'm always amazed that St Thomas's hospital hasn't been shunted to a cheaper site. A friend of a friend was on a ward there recently after having a baby and she had views of parliament from her bed. .

St Thomas's gets to stay where it is precisely because it's handy for Parliament. It's where MPs go when they are sick, which is why it's arguably the best funded hospital in the country.

 

[kyser_soze]

Anyway, by the time this is all done (given how long rail infasturcture projects take in the UK), we will all be on Hoverboards anyway.

Generally speaking we can build station sheds pretty effectively - Eurotart at Waterloo was on time, on budget.

This isn't a rail infrastructure project either - it's a massive piece of planning gain upgrading so that The Shard could get built...

 

[PacificOcean]

Generally speaking we can build station sheds pretty effectively - Eurotart at Waterloo was on time, on budget.

This isn't a rail infrastructure project either - it's a massive piece of planning gain upgrading so that The Shard could get built...

Ah, so all this new station melarky is part of "The Shards" planing application?

So we can expect a shiny new tower and and some shitty "revamped" station made to the cheapest specifications known to man?

 

[Brainaddict]

I was going to type out a wordy response but I think I'll just go along with upsidedownwalrus's.

I'm withholding judgement myself. If all you've got to go on is the propaganda put out by Renzo & co then I'm surprised you have such a strong and conclusive opinion about it. Glass buildings in architect's imaginings always look as though they're made out of fairy dust. Then you see the finished product and they look like a glass block, like a thousand others. Granted it's tall, but size isn't everything.

Incidentally I was pleased to see in the rendering's of Renzo's exploited interns that the guys hospital tower is now a sort of golden biscuit colour. This must please those who work in it no end. It must make such a change for the grubby grey, shabby exterior they are so used to.

I'm not saying the tower is definitely pants, I'm just saying that it seems sensible to reserve judgement.

 

[teuchter]

I'm withholding judgement myself. If all you've got to go on is the propaganda put out by Renzo & co then I'm surprised you have such a strong and conclusive opinion about it. Glass buildings in architect's imaginings always look as though they're made out of fairy dust. Then you see the finished product and they look like a glass block, like a thousand others. Granted it's tall, but size isn't everything.

Incidentally I was pleased to see in the rendering's of Renzo's exploited interns that the guys hospital tower is now a sort of golden biscuit colour. This must please those who work in it no end. It must make such a change for the grubby grey, shabby exterior they are so used to.

I'm not saying the tower is definitely pants, I'm just saying that it seems sensible to reserve judgement.

I'm withholding judgement too. It was the simplistic commentary I was saying bollocks to.

But I have some degree of faith in Renzo Piano, based on his previous work, that means I'm optimistic that the finished building here will be a decent one. Certainly I imagine it will be a lot better than that awful tower recently finished by liverpool st station.

 

[hipipol]

I'm withholding judgement too. It was the simplistic commentary I was saying bollocks to.

But I have some degree of faith in Renzo Piano, based on his previous work, that means I'm optimistic that the finished building here will be a decent one. Certainly I imagine it will be a lot better than that awful tower recently finished by liverpool st station.

Ah, the Broadgate Tower

I suspect whoever designed it has lots of 1950s Meccano sets, but doesn't use them, never taking them out of their boxes, for fear of reducing their value

It takes a lot of work to build something that bland, yet somehow also deeply offensive to the eye

 

[teuchter]

It very much looks like it.

All that glass! Give it a couple of years and it will be as dark as it is now.

I don't know how recent that image is; it may bear no great resemblance to the final design.

But - as far as glass roofs are concerned: yes they get dirty easily. However, if they are designed in such a way that they are easily cleaned, and then are actually cleaned by the building's owners (this being the critical thing), they are fine, and worth the effort in my opinion (in this kind of situation). Natural light makes people happier and saves lots of energy on lighting. Look how much nicer Waterloo (the old bit) is now, since they replaced and cleaned the glass in the roof a couple of days ago.

 

[PacificOcean]

I don't know how recent that image is; it may bear no great resemblance to the final design.

But - as far as glass roofs are concerned: yes they get dirty easily. However, if they are designed in such a way that they are easily cleaned, and then are actually cleaned by the building's owners (this being the critical thing), they are fine, and worth the effort in my opinion (in this kind of situation). Natural light makes people happier and saves lots of energy on lighting. Look how much nicer Waterloo (the old bit) is now, since they replaced and cleaned the glass in the roof a couple of days ago.

In repsonse, I give you the GLA headquaters. Very nice shiny glass when it was built.

But have you seen the state of it now? Directly opposite a World Heritage Centre?

It looks like the worst of Southwarks council stock has decamped to the South Bank.

No wonder that the Hertiage people want to delist the Tower of London.

 

[teuchter]

In repsonse, I give you the GLA headquaters. Very nice shiny glass when it was built.

But have you seen the state of it now? Directly opposite a World Heritage Centre?

I haven't noticed it to be in a particularly bad state. But I haven't really been by it recently.

Complain to Boris. If Kew Gardens can keep their greenhouses clean, then the GLA ought to be able to do the same.

Or - if the reason is that it's difficult to clean, then that is the fault of the designer, not the use of glass per se.

 

[kyser_soze]

The GLA building was a massive dissappointment - the pics/CGI had it as this lovely sheathed in blue glass building, instead we got a grey steel rugby ball. Altho I don't think it's actually any less grubby now than it was then...it's just the way it is...