Shardtastic

A few days ago in the office we were discussing our top 10 most iconic buildings in London. Everybody's list was different, until it came to the No.1 slot. Top of the list was a building that hasn't even been built yet. The Shard.

This building has been in the pipeline for almost 10 years, and to be honest at first no one thought it was really going to happen. The spec hasn't changed much since those early days and it still sounds a little far fetched:

At 1,016 ft tall The Shard will not be one of the tallest buildings in Europe, it will be the tallest building in Europe. It will exceed 70 storeys, in which there will be 817,450 sq ft of office space, 22,669 sq ft retail a 500 room hotel not to mention numerous public viewing areas and auditoriums. In addition to the 70 habitable storeys there will be a further 15 storeys just to house the plant for the building.

Just think about that last line for a moment. The structure that holds the machinery to run the building is itself a tall building. The word we're looking for here is awesome.

 So we've established that, on paper at least, this is going to be an incredible building. But iconic? If you're unsure about that one, have a look at these:

 That was just the top, this is the whole building, close up...

...and the long shot...

 ...and at night...

 ...and finally 

But there are two things I haven't mentioned abouth the building. Firstly, the one thing that is hardly ever mentioned when it comes to The Shard, the residential element. It's not a huge component, only 14 units, but that's exactly what makes it so special. When all the office and shop workers have gone home, when all the restaurants have closed and when the viewing galleries are locked up for the night 14 people will have this building to themselves, there is the 500 room hotel of course, but lets not spoil it.

The other thing I forgot to mention, partly because I still can't believe it, is that The Shard is under construction and yesterday it looked like this:

If you'd like to debate the merits (or otherwise) of this building have a look at this forum.