Room At The Top
The Times today has a big article about how the office space in The Shard has not been letting very well.
If we assume their report is correct, then could this be because, The Shard is not a building that those who live in this great city, don’t generally like the building. I don’t think I’ve actually met anybody who lives here, who has visited the viewing galleries or speaks positively about the building. Admittedly, I’ve met a few from out of town, who have liked the experience.
So does this negative attitude amongst the people of London, put decision makers off renting space in the tower.
Apart from the fact, that it gets into every picture you seem to take of London, with the notable exception of the cable-car, where Canary Wharf is in the way, the biggest problem I have with the building, is that is has questionable aerodynamics. When I end up at London Bridge station and want to get home, I go to the bus station and get a friendly 141 bus to perhaps fifty metres from my house. But on a breezy day, the turbulence around the base of The Shard can be fearsome. So I now take other routes on breezy days!
I suspect, anybody interested in renting space on a windy day, would go elsewhere!
The Shard is a classic case of a designer not making sure all the consequences of his design are covered.
Perhaps the building is only suffering from the same sort of problems as did CentrePoint in the late 1960s, which stood empty for five years on completion.
Birmingham Is Getting A World Class Station
I’ve been going to the old Birmingham New Street station since the 1960s. Until recently, you always got the impression, you were in the depths of a dark place underneath the centre of the city. The platforms are still a bit dark, but I suspect that’s because they haven’t been finished yet, but get upstairs and some of the station has been transformed.
A Transformed Station
Or at least half of it has, as the reconstruction has some time to run.
Escalators are everywhere, as they should be.
Escalators Are Everywhere
At present only one bridge over the platforms is complete and the second, is just a building site.
Outside an impressive frontage is being finished.
An Impressive Frontage
Although, another entrance is littered with dummies.
New Street Station With Dummies
How do you stop smoking dummies cluttering up entrances? But at least it’s not as bad in the UK, as in some European countries.
After lunch, my friend dropped me back to the station in his car. And what a surprise we got!
Passenger Drop Off At New Street Station
How many stations or airports have such a good well-designed drop off area? I walked straight into the booking hall, and after buying my ticket from a new and improved machine, two minutes later I was on the train back to Euston.
After Birmingham, you realise what a dump Euston station is. And of course it gets worse, as you descend into the Underground. We really knew how to design and build things badly then. Although, there are some notable exceptions! But Euston station is not one of them!
Impressive Structures At Liege Station
In this home run from Stockholm, I didn’t see any good modern station architecture, until I got to Liege station.
Impressive Structures At Liege Station
So why can’t the Swedes, Danes and Germans, do what the Belgians obviously can?
The Amalienborg Palace
The Amalienborg Palace is the winter home of the Danish Royal family.
These pictures were taken about ten and show tourists just waiting around for something to happen.
Tiles At South Kensington Station
The tiles at South Kensington station seem to be being cleaned and repaired.
Tiles At South Kensington Station
The station is one of those that needs serious refurbishment and various proposals have been made.
Considering the station’s important location, with respect to the museums and Albertopolis, upgrading can’t come too soon!
Remove Weight To Make Something Better
You would think, that by now, we’ve pushed the technology in lifts, as far as we safely can.
But, go up in a very tall building and you’ll often have to change lifts to get to the top.
One of the problems was that the weight of the steel cable that holds the lift car up, was just too much.
But now Kone have come up with a carbon fibre lift cable, that is both light and strong. They call it Ultrarope and it’s described here on their web site.
They claim that maximum lift heights can rise from 500m to a kilometre, whilst saving energy too.
That sounds good to me.
It’s a classic case of improving something, by using a new lighter and stronger material.
Irving Sellar Does A Guy De Maupassant
Prufrock in the Sunday Times reported that Irving Sellar, who developed the Shard, has his own table in the restaurant on floor 32.
He must only be following the reasoning of Guy de Maupassant, who often ate lunch in the Eiffel Tower. Wikipedia says this.
Maupassant was but one of a fair number of 19th-century Parisians who did not care for the Eiffel Tower; indeed, he often ate lunch in the restaurant at its base, not out of any preference for the food, but because it was only there that he could avoid seeing its otherwise unavoidable profile.
So does Irvine Sellar feel like that about the monstrous Shard?
The New Pedestrian Bridge At East Croydon Station
Going south from Clapham Junction station today to Redhill, staff at Clapham said it would be quicker to go via East Croydon station.
It would appear that Network Rail is creating another of their excellent pedestrian overbridges.
This one isn’t as spectacular as Reading or Leeds, but it does seem, that Network Rail have got a concept that can be applied easily in different ways at various stations.
I should hope they’re working on a standard system, that can be used on the many stations, that need better access.
The Tower of London And Modern Buildings
I walked past the Tower of London on my way to get a DLR train at Tower Gateway station.
In some ways it could have been surrounded by a much worse collection of buildings. Although nothing of the quality of One New Change seems to have been built near to the Tower to blend the ancient and modern.
At least it’s impossible to see the Tower of London and the Tower Hotel at the same time.
The Monstrosity By The Tower
Watching the bridge go up and down, I realised what a classic of monstrous architecture, the Tower Hotel opposite where I stood, is!
I suspect that if anybody applied for planning permission today, they’d be sent back to their drawing board with several fleas in their ears, to think again. Wikipedia sums up the hotel like this.
The Tower Hotel, part of the Guoman collection, is situated on the north bank of the River Thames, on the east side of Tower Bridge, in London. It is built in a modern style considered unattractive by many, indeed it was voted the second ugliest building in London in a 2006 BBC poll. However, it is reputed to offer occupants excellent views from its rooms.
As you see, they do give the rooms credit. But I am very much reminded of Guy de Maupassant’s thoughts on the Eiffel Tower.
I think I went inside once to meet someone with C and our view afterwards was it is the sort of hotel, where you took somebody else’s husband or wife to impress them. I think one of her clients had done that, as I haven’t and I don’t think she ever did!
The Anonymous Widower 