Wednesday, November 13, 2013

The Shard
By: Ivy Pham & Yvette Ortega




        As a new 72 story high, tallest skyscraper in London, England; The Shard is designed to represent a great achievement. With ten years of working on this project, it has “demonstrated the economic and social value of the buildings high-density structures” ( Theshard.com) Many of its great features comes from the design its self, being made out of glass and the top being as if it is a flower getting ready to bloom and open. Along with that The shard has an immense views as to say that the London citizens have no privacy due to the view area at the 68-72 floors towards the roof area. Because this building is so high it allows the guests inside to have an unlimited view of all their surroundings, at any moment they please.  In this building there is a total of four different areas the building is divided in; we have the first floor which is the lobby, then offices which are floors 2-28, then there is the restaurants floors 31-33, then the Shangri-La hotel in the floors 34-52, along with that there is floors considered “the view” on the 68-72 floors as we mentioned before. This hotel has become one of the hotspots in London and people are flying in to experience a birds eye view as upper class investors.

        The owners of this building are foreign and although they do not live in the skyscraper they just want this building to be seen as just another building. The owners of The Shard are QNB Group, Qatari Islamic Bank, QInvest, Barwa Real Estate. To whom we have to thank for this great achievement is the architect Renzo Piano. His key concept to his creating was.

        As an amazing building it there is a lot to cover, and the many services inside are great. One nice attraction that everyone would enjoy most is the food being served in the building, this is a real treat being able to sit in a luxurious restaurant while being able to gaze at London for desert. The restaurants that are included in such architecture beauty are the Aqua-Shard, Oblix, and the Hutong. These high end restaurants are all located within the thirty-first floor to the thirty-third floor. Each individual restaurant has different qualities such as interior design wise. Within the restaurants there is an all-day atrium three story bar which crosses all three restaurants. All the restaurants are private dining and dress codes, meaning that because these restaurants have such exquisite tastes and feels of luxury along with the food being served at each establishment; one makes an appointment to dine inside of a restaurant in a high end building so he or she must dress appropriate. The appropriate attire would consist of professional like casual wear, no sweats, or sandals basically anything a common person would wear to the market or daily routine.


The Aqua-shard has a purple velvet feel to its chairs, and the peacock theme going on in the stalls. This restaurant serves “innovative contemporary British cuisines”. In the Oblix restaurant is another private dining and it serves Japanese food on the thirty-second floor. It was the first hospitality opened in the Shard the day of the grand opening. The fascinating restaurant of Hutong serves Contemporary Northern China cuisines and this fine dining design concept is based on dark wood and red lanterns it has a dark feel so that the red can give it some life. Throughout all of the restaurants, same flooring materials were used, just in different colors. All engineered wood flooring for the busy traffic. Dense and clear class all surrounded wall for the gorgeous view of the city.

 

13 comments:

Unknown said...

So much better than the Gherkin!! This building is gorgeous.

Beth Esh said...

I can only imagine the views from this beautiful new London building. With prestige in architecture and views like that it would be a tall order to be the interior designer to match the luxury and excitement already present. It sounds like the restaurants have met the challenge. I agree that an engineered wood for the restaurant flooring is a good use of material for the luxurious look and durability of these spaces. The purple velvet chairs sound like something fit for the royalty of London or those wishing they could be on by visiting this new building.

Unknown said...

It would be cool to be there and have some drinks! The lighting of the room emphasize the view from the windows yet it gives the sophisticated look to the interior. This building is also unique shape and I would like to see it in London.

Galina Nitaeva said...

The view is beautiful, especially of the sunset. The interior is chic and elegant.

Unknown said...

This is the mix of modern and old building, looks great!!!

Unknown said...

it is really nice restaurant, I like the landscape too. This would be great choice for diner!

Denice Sil said...

This building is built in such a contemporary design, it almost looks out of place in its surroundings. Beautiful design though, so sleek and elegant. I can only imagine what beautiful views you get from the hotel rooms.

Unknown said...

The interiors are just as great as the view! Love it.

Unknown said...

Love the location and history on the building. I really enjoyed the bar lighting and how it lights it in ways ive never seen before.

Unknown said...

Its amazing how quickly we are able to build structures of this magnitude these day! The views must be unbelievable...sure would beat having to go on that humongous ferris-wheel to get an arial view of the city.

vivian said...

Wow, thanks for sharing! I never knew that the Shard is currently the tallest building in London. Very effective use of lighting techniques to enhance the interior and exterior.

Anonymous said...

I love that the view is such a huge part of the design. So beautiful. I love the mix of modern and traditional

Unknown said...

Beautiful use of the natural light, even at night! Wish our next field trip could be there..:)

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