Possibly outdoing the July 4th fireworks that blasted into the sky stateside, London plans to festoon its skyline with lasers tonight to celebrate the completion of Renzo Piano's Shard, the tallest building in Europe. Soaring 1,016 feet into the air in a landscape of low-rises — in the midst of an economic recession, no less — the prismatic steel-and-glass tower has quickly emerged as the most polarizing addition to the city in recent memory.
The Shard, conceived by Piano in 2000, has endured more than a decade of criticism for its size and scale: "It dwarfs and overshadows buildings of infinitely greater beauty, constructed with much greater artistic skill," one critic wrote in the Telegraph. "That scale becomes a bullying, destructive thing." In fact, the supertall's imposing height threatened to debase the neighboring Tower of London, prompting UNESCO to consider stripping the 11th-century fortress of its status as a World Heritage site in light of its newly compromised "visual integrity." Though the idea never progressed further, no one can deny that the $2.35-billion skyscraper is a jarring sight amidst its immediate surroundings, which largely consists of low-income housing projects and a scattering of historic landmarks.
Ninety-five percent of the lavish, marble-lobbied, glass-clad tower is owned by Qatar, providing a reminder of the Arab state's influence on U.K. real estate. After spawning a sovereign wealth fund in 2005, the oil-rich nation has been aggressively converting its oil and natural gas surpluses into investments in the built environment, particularly in the United Kingdom. The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) plans to invest $30 billion in U.K. property and development this year alone. As one sardonic commenter writes in an online forum in the Daily Mail, "Just waiting for the Star and Crescent Symbol to be mounted on the top. Job done, London dominated."
Despite all the opposition, critics have had a difficult time finding fault with the building’s exterior. "I bloody love the Shard," another Telegraph critic writes, demonstrating the tower's divisive nature, even within a single publication. Defenders praise the building's elegant tapered shape, the purity of its design, and its extraordinary feats of engineering — all 72 habitable stories and 44 elevators (some of which are double decker) of it. Though it ranks as only the 59th tallest building in the world, the Shard is certainly nothing to scoff at.
Critics have harangued Piano's glistening modern pyramid, for exactly that reason — its unabashed indifference to the current push toward austerity. "This building is not going to be a symbol of arrogance," Piano insists, according to Bloomberg. "For me, the most important thing is, is it going to be loved in London or not? Skyscrapers have to give back to the city more than they get from the city." Piano likens the Shard to another skyscraper — New York's much-loved Empire State Building, which topped out when the Great Depression was in full swing. Like the Empire State, the Shard "was conceived before the crisis, and it will enjoy life after the crisis."
Exactly who will get to enjoy the Shard is another story. Most of the building will largely be privy to only the very wealthy — a Shangri-La hotel will occupy 18 of the floors, while 10 multi-million-dollar condos will occupy the ones closer to the top. Tenants are expected to begin moving in next year. The public does, at least, get to enjoy one part of the building, albeit just a sliver: In February, floors 68 to 72 will open as a viewing gallery to the city below. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, if you can afford it — they run £24.95 (about $40). Stateside, that translates to two trips up to the observatory deck at the Empire State Building — a full 200 feet above the tip of the Shard.