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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| Interacting with the Shard | Interacting with the Shard |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Yes, it's a bit too tall and, yes, it can easily be damned as a triumphalist monument to super-wealth power, but I decided two years ago that I was going to like The Shard and my misgivings haven't yet outweighed my admiration. | Yes, it's a bit too tall and, yes, it can easily be damned as a triumphalist monument to super-wealth power, but I decided two years ago that I was going to like The Shard and my misgivings haven't yet outweighed my admiration. |
| After all, as Norman Rosenthal, the former head of exhibitions at the Royal Academy has asked, "When have great buildings and structures – since the pyramids of Egypt and before – been anything other than monuments to wealth and power?" | After all, as Norman Rosenthal, the former head of exhibitions at the Royal Academy has asked, "When have great buildings and structures – since the pyramids of Egypt and before – been anything other than monuments to wealth and power?" |
| As for its height, I forgot all about that when viewing it from Southwark Bridge one evening after dark late last year, when its lights had the strange and magical effect of making it appear conical rather than flat-sided. Its meaning, in the end, is for the beholder to define. For me it's a big, kitsch, inverted icicle intruding on London Bridge station from some subterranean snow kingdom by mistake. It's also rather elegant, putting the Olympic Park's gormless Orbit tower to shame. | As for its height, I forgot all about that when viewing it from Southwark Bridge one evening after dark late last year, when its lights had the strange and magical effect of making it appear conical rather than flat-sided. Its meaning, in the end, is for the beholder to define. For me it's a big, kitsch, inverted icicle intruding on London Bridge station from some subterranean snow kingdom by mistake. It's also rather elegant, putting the Olympic Park's gormless Orbit tower to shame. |
| What's it for apart from gazing at and arguing about? "It physically symbolises the regeneration of the south of London," according to Southwark Council leader Peter John when interviewed by London SE1 last year. "Where the Shard has led, other opportunities and developments will follow." | What's it for apart from gazing at and arguing about? "It physically symbolises the regeneration of the south of London," according to Southwark Council leader Peter John when interviewed by London SE1 last year. "Where the Shard has led, other opportunities and developments will follow." |
| "We have to be clever in Southwark," John added. "We have to make sure that that doesn't just mean new buildings with new people, but new buildings with Southwark residents benefiting from the jobs and opportunities that come from that. Even if it means people just in service and hospitality jobs in the next couple of years, that is no bad thing. | "We have to be clever in Southwark," John added. "We have to make sure that that doesn't just mean new buildings with new people, but new buildings with Southwark residents benefiting from the jobs and opportunities that come from that. Even if it means people just in service and hospitality jobs in the next couple of years, that is no bad thing. |
| "I think there's a whole aspirational issue as well here,' he added. "If you walk out your front door and you see people going to work in smart offices doing well-paid white collar jobs, you will ask [yourself] the question, 'Why can't I do that?'" It will be interesting to see how Southwark's approach compares with that of other boroughs with big regeneration projects underway. | "I think there's a whole aspirational issue as well here,' he added. "If you walk out your front door and you see people going to work in smart offices doing well-paid white collar jobs, you will ask [yourself] the question, 'Why can't I do that?'" It will be interesting to see how Southwark's approach compares with that of other boroughs with big regeneration projects underway. |
| But for the moment let's take in the spectacle. The Guardian's Fran Panetta has produced a truly dazzling, sight-and-sound, "360-degree, augmented-reality panorama," interactive showing the view from The Shard's viewing deck. Experience her gift of virtual vertigo here. | But for the moment let's take in the spectacle. The Guardian's Fran Panetta has produced a truly dazzling, sight-and-sound, "360-degree, augmented-reality panorama," interactive showing the view from The Shard's viewing deck. Experience her gift of virtual vertigo here. |
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