Just in time for the Summer Olympics, London has a badass new
addition to their already random assortment of skyscraper shapes. Opened
on Thursday night, the new 1,016-foot-tall cutting-edge glass and steel
behemoth, christened The Shard by famed Italian architect Renzo Piano, is the new tallest building in both the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Envisioned as a “vertical city,” the mixed-use Shard contains 26
floors of office space, 3 of restaurants, 18 that will serve as London’s
first Shangri-La Hotel, as well as 12 floors of private residences.
Capping the tower will be four levels of 360-degree sightseeing offering
40 miles of views across the nation’s capital. Joining the ranks of
recent landmark additions such as the “Gherkin” and “the Inside-Out
Building,” along with the upcoming “Cheese Grater” and “Walkie Talkie”
buildings, it appears London has developed an obsession with the
aesthetically abstract.
