The Shard, the vertical city
Considered by many one of the most beautiful buildings in London, the Shard was completed in April 2012 and was opened to the public on July 5th of the same year.
The sky-scraper was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano and was built using recycled material. Mr. Piano’s idea was not to design another unremarkable featureless building, but an outstanding unique one. He wanted to create a vertical city, a building that offered everything modern man needs: flats, shops, restaurants, offices, a five-star hotel with a spa, a gym and a swimming pool.
The word shard means "piece of broken glass", and that’s exactly what the building looks like; it is 310 metres tall and has its sides covered with 11000 glass panels. These reflect the sun and change colours according to the weather conditions and the season. (Click here to see)
The building has 95 floors; you can climb up 306 flights of stairs to get to the top or take one of the 44 high-speed lifts which will shoot you up at the speed of 6 metres per second.
You can reach The View from the Shard in about 30 seconds and get a spectacular view of the whole of London. The View from the Shard is open every day, except Christmas, from 9:00 am. to 10:00 pm.
The Shard is a new landmark in London that redefines the city’s skyline.