Friday, 6 July 2012

Shard Opening

The official opening of the Shard took place last night with a light and sound show. Well that is the official line. Actually it was the official opening of the outside. The inside is now scheduled to open in February 2013. Hailed by the media and its designers as the tallest building in Europe at 310 metres. Hmm isn't the Eiffel tower 320 metres high?
Let's just settle for the tallest building in England then shall we? The lights were pretty last night, most of us didn't hear the sound part of the show, but hey it wasn't raining for once which was a pretty big plus.

14 comments:

biebkriebels said...

Wow that is high and blue. The Eiffeltower is indeed higher 317 m, but maybe it is not a building but a tower? Don't see the difference anyhow.

Angie said...

Looks like it's going to blast off any minute!! Nice blue.

Jenny Woolf said...

We saw them practising the laser show!

IleDuLevant said...

The Eiffel Tower as originally designed by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Exposition Universelle/World's Fair (ie the centenary of 1789 French revolution) is 300m tall. In the 1950s, a TV/radio antenna was added bringing its height to the present 324m. The tallest structure in France at 343m (and tallest bridge in the world) is the Millau Viaduct (Norman Foster and Michel Virlogeux). And finally, the tallest structure in Britain (330m) is the Emley Moor transmitting station in Yorkshire – stucture rather than building as it is not designed for human occupation. (Its predecessor was even taller at 386m but they had trouble with ice formation.)

Sharon said...

This makes a beautiful shot! I can't wait to make a trip and see this building in person.

RedPat said...

Great shot, Mo!

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Why?

LONDONLULU said...

Love this capture! What a vivid blue.

Jack said...

I am going to take a little while before deciding how I feel about it. Some modern buildings need to give me time, like the glass pyramid at the Louvre.

iimajoebob said...

I just about choked on my Cap'n Crunch this morning when BBC America News showed a clip of the laser show, booming out one of Aaron Copland's (a Yank!) most famous works: "Fanfare For The Common Man."

Irony appears lost on these guys.

I respect the effort, but still hate the building.

Babzy said...

beautiful architecture :)

Witness said...

nice shot!

Anonymous said...

nice posting.. thanks for sharing.

damien, der Gute said...

Could you send this tower to Berlin, please?