design magazine

Article by Tania Droggitou
Posted on February 13th, 2013
in Architecture & Nick Guttridge

The London skyline began to change for ever as the controversial building known as The Shard began to take shape. Designed by Renzo Piano in 2000 and completed in 2012, it finally opened  to the public in 2013. These photographs by Nick Guttridge show exactly how the 72 storey, 310 metre structure towers above every other building in the London cityscape.

The Shard exerts its majestic presence at all times of day, from sunrise to sunset as this collection of images demonstrate. Taken from various heights in several parts of the city, it gives us a comprehensive idea of its impressive size which dominates all neighbouring structures..

As the major tourist attraction of 2013, visitors may, for a fee, enjoy a bird’s eye panoramic view of London and surrounding regions of up to 40 miles away. Piano terms the multi use building as a ‘vertical city’ and states that his intention was to create a skyscraper which would not be termed as an ‘arrogant’ building, a term which is often applied to structures of this volume. When construction began, The Shard was seen to be the tallest structure in Europe but it has now taken second place to Moscow’s Mercury City, which has gained first place due to it being a whole 30 metres taller.