The Shard // London // England

The Shard - A new skyscraper project for the London skyline by the infamous Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Well actually, the project in itself isn't quite new - it was proposed a few years ago, but was put on hold at the time, but now, it looks like it finally will be completed and construction has already begun. The 306 m tall, 72 story skyscraper is expected to be ready by the year 2012, and it will at completion be the tallest building in Western Europe, beating its competitors The Canary Wharf Tower also in London and The Commerz Bank Tower in Frankfurt, Germany by only a few meters. 

The skyscraper will serve as a multi functional building, and will contain offices, luxury apartments, a luxurious hotel, cafés and restaurants and even two larger winter gardens. From the sustainable angle, the building is designed in such a way, that the building is naturally ventilated, and thus its use for air conditioning during the hot summer months is unnecessary. 

The skyscraper construction is made of a good old steel and curtain wall system, but at the very top of the building, the curtain wall system is detached, which creates a dramatic effect at the top point, as if the building disappears in the sky. This open top construction is also what allows the building to have natural ventilation.