Room with a view
As you might expect from the general shape and positioning of The Shard, the fragmented, upsidedown icicle of glass that now bisects the London skyline, not many women were involved in its construction.
Actually, it’s hard to think of even one. The promotional films and website (which is something of an event in itself, so stylishly designed is it) all make clear that this is a man’s vision, and, if you discount the girls who take your coat at the entrance foyer, that’s the way it stays – from the chap who built it (architect Renzo Piano, co-architect with Richard Rogers on the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and inventor of the Jelly Piano watch) to the men (prime minister of Qatar Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the Duke of York, Boris Johnson) who opened it last year with a fanfare of laser beams and search lights – it’s a male fantasy set in the silvery sea of the City.
That’s not to say you can’t enjoy it, as a mere woman, of course. The Shard has been on the minds of all Londoners, regardless of sex, ever since 2009, when the inner core of the building began to rise, taking with it a series of precariously balanced cranes (five in all) higher and higher into the sky. Since you could see it from almost everywhere in London, watching those cranes ‘jumping’ into the stratosphere became a daily miracle of urban living.
By 2010, the concrete inner core was rising by three metres a day; by 2011, it was topped out at the 72nd floor, 245 metres high and by September that year the whole thing was almost entirely clad in steel and glass, and the final glass spire, prefabricated in 3D and pretested in a field in Yorkshire, was on top – forming the now familiar splinteredglass effect that to the uninitiated, still looks as though it needs to be joined at the summit.
Indeed, at the opening ceremony, a member of Piano’s team admitted that the only two questions he’s ever asked about The Shard are ‘how high is it?’ and ‘when are you going to finish it?’
Finished or not, The Shard now stands at 309.6 metres (1,016ft) and is the tallest tower in the European Union. It dwarfs Big Ben (96.3 metres) and the London Eye (135 metres), and leaves even Canary Wharf Tower (243.8 metres) and the Gherkin (180 metres) – those other symbols of flamboyant economic life – standing.
So what’s it like to be at the top of The Shard? Pretty amazing, is the short answer. On 1 February, The Shard will have its place on the tourist map, inviting visitors to ascend to the 72nd floor. Whether this dramatic building strikes you as a thing of beauty or not, viewing life from 1,000ft up is astonishing.
For one thing, although you can see it from all corners of the metropolis, it’s very hard to find once you’re bang underneath it, so stepping out of London Bridge station (redeveloped in tandem with its lanky neighbour) is very disorientating. You have to look up and there it is, towering, as towers do, over you, causing distinct feelings of vertigo.
Once inside you are whisked with incredible speed to the 68th floor and from there, the second lift takes you to the four-sided viewing platform on the 69th floor. Given its height, the viewing platform is a relatively small space, but you can walk all the way round it, pausing from time to time to use the (free) videocam telescopes to zoom into corners of the city you wouldn’t otherwise be able to access, and marvelling at the 360 degree, 40-mile view across London and out into Kent, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Surrey.
Because you are so high up, it’s difficult to distinguish individual landmarks: London itself is the landmark – breathtaking in size – stretching out in all directions in a brown, amorphous mass of Victorian terraces and nondescript tower blocks.
The most interesting thing to see turns out to be the intricate pattern of trains coming in and out of London Bridge station, winding like fat white worms along the curving tracks, missing each other by inches. You could watch that for hours, but there are other things to do at The Shard.
Go on up to the 72nd floor where the viewing platform means you can be outside in the elements, looking down, visit the restaurants on floors 31 to 33 (run by Rainer Becker, and the Aqua Group), or book in for the night at the 200-bed, five-star Shangri-La Hotel, all of which will be opening this spring. On the ground floor, the redeveloped London Bridge Quarter (as it’s now known) will be stuffed with shops, bars and cafes.
You’d have to be a Russian billionaire – or at least find one to marry – in order to buy one of the 10 flats on 10 floors currently under construction (POA, but so expensive that only about four people in Europe can afford them).
They make the rather extortionate price of the entrance ticket to The View From The Shard seem almost cheap. But even if you have to starve for a week to take the lift up to the top of The Shard – do it; it’s definitely worth it.
The Shard, Joiner Street, London SE1. Tickets, £24.95 (adults), £18.95 (children). Open from 1 February, 9am to 10pm daily: 0844-499 7111, www.the-shard.com
Actually, it’s hard to think of even one. The promotional films and website (which is something of an event in itself, so stylishly designed is it) all make clear that this is a man’s vision, and, if you discount the girls who take your coat at the entrance foyer, that’s the way it stays – from the chap who built it (architect Renzo Piano, co-architect with Richard Rogers on the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and inventor of the Jelly Piano watch) to the men (prime minister of Qatar Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the Duke of York, Boris Johnson) who opened it last year with a fanfare of laser beams and search lights – it’s a male fantasy set in the silvery sea of the City.
That’s not to say you can’t enjoy it, as a mere woman, of course. The Shard has been on the minds of all Londoners, regardless of sex, ever since 2009, when the inner core of the building began to rise, taking with it a series of precariously balanced cranes (five in all) higher and higher into the sky. Since you could see it from almost everywhere in London, watching those cranes ‘jumping’ into the stratosphere became a daily miracle of urban living.
By 2010, the concrete inner core was rising by three metres a day; by 2011, it was topped out at the 72nd floor, 245 metres high and by September that year the whole thing was almost entirely clad in steel and glass, and the final glass spire, prefabricated in 3D and pretested in a field in Yorkshire, was on top – forming the now familiar splinteredglass effect that to the uninitiated, still looks as though it needs to be joined at the summit.
Indeed, at the opening ceremony, a member of Piano’s team admitted that the only two questions he’s ever asked about The Shard are ‘how high is it?’ and ‘when are you going to finish it?’
Finished or not, The Shard now stands at 309.6 metres (1,016ft) and is the tallest tower in the European Union. It dwarfs Big Ben (96.3 metres) and the London Eye (135 metres), and leaves even Canary Wharf Tower (243.8 metres) and the Gherkin (180 metres) – those other symbols of flamboyant economic life – standing.
So what’s it like to be at the top of The Shard? Pretty amazing, is the short answer. On 1 February, The Shard will have its place on the tourist map, inviting visitors to ascend to the 72nd floor. Whether this dramatic building strikes you as a thing of beauty or not, viewing life from 1,000ft up is astonishing.
For one thing, although you can see it from all corners of the metropolis, it’s very hard to find once you’re bang underneath it, so stepping out of London Bridge station (redeveloped in tandem with its lanky neighbour) is very disorientating. You have to look up and there it is, towering, as towers do, over you, causing distinct feelings of vertigo.
Once inside you are whisked with incredible speed to the 68th floor and from there, the second lift takes you to the four-sided viewing platform on the 69th floor. Given its height, the viewing platform is a relatively small space, but you can walk all the way round it, pausing from time to time to use the (free) videocam telescopes to zoom into corners of the city you wouldn’t otherwise be able to access, and marvelling at the 360 degree, 40-mile view across London and out into Kent, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Surrey.
Because you are so high up, it’s difficult to distinguish individual landmarks: London itself is the landmark – breathtaking in size – stretching out in all directions in a brown, amorphous mass of Victorian terraces and nondescript tower blocks.
The most interesting thing to see turns out to be the intricate pattern of trains coming in and out of London Bridge station, winding like fat white worms along the curving tracks, missing each other by inches. You could watch that for hours, but there are other things to do at The Shard.
Go on up to the 72nd floor where the viewing platform means you can be outside in the elements, looking down, visit the restaurants on floors 31 to 33 (run by Rainer Becker, and the Aqua Group), or book in for the night at the 200-bed, five-star Shangri-La Hotel, all of which will be opening this spring. On the ground floor, the redeveloped London Bridge Quarter (as it’s now known) will be stuffed with shops, bars and cafes.
You’d have to be a Russian billionaire – or at least find one to marry – in order to buy one of the 10 flats on 10 floors currently under construction (POA, but so expensive that only about four people in Europe can afford them).
They make the rather extortionate price of the entrance ticket to The View From The Shard seem almost cheap. But even if you have to starve for a week to take the lift up to the top of The Shard – do it; it’s definitely worth it.
The Shard, Joiner Street, London SE1. Tickets, £24.95 (adults), £18.95 (children). Open from 1 February, 9am to 10pm daily: 0844-499 7111, www.the-shard.com