Views from the Shard on the opening day
Discussion
B'stard Child said:
Mrs BC booked tickets for the shard on the first day they went on sale last year and managed to get a slot on the first day - weather forecast wasn't looking good but I took my Nikon DSLR (luckily the afternoon weather was much better than the morning) so I rattled off a few shots so anyone else considering the new London attraction will have a feel for what the views are like.
There is also a level of duplication as there are two viewing levels 68 where it's all enclosed and a more open to the enviroment area on 72
As to be expected all shots are from behind glass - some due to the nature of the building are thro double layers of glass and that didn't work so well
There are a couple of night time shots taken later in early evening although forgetting the tripod and the remote wasn't clever!!!
Link to the album
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n19/Bstardchild...
Nice one! I was in London on Friday and did take a wander over to the shard but the long queues put me off. On a different subject, I hired a Boris Bike while I was there - and was very impressed! There is also a level of duplication as there are two viewing levels 68 where it's all enclosed and a more open to the enviroment area on 72
As to be expected all shots are from behind glass - some due to the nature of the building are thro double layers of glass and that didn't work so well
There are a couple of night time shots taken later in early evening although forgetting the tripod and the remote wasn't clever!!!
Link to the album
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n19/Bstardchild...
How on earth do they justify the price of this???
I thought the London Eye seemed eye-wateringly expensive at £50.40 for a family of 4 booked in advance, but at least that's for an attraction which has to make all its money out of visitors, and presumably has fairly costly maintenance and safety costs.
The Shard, on the other hand, want £87.80 for that same family of 4 booking in advance, and it's just a couple of floors of a building which is there anyway and has lots of other revenue streams! I reckon they could make it free, and it would still be profitable for them to do so, just in terms of all the publicity they'd get out of it on social media making selling space in the building easier.
I thought the London Eye seemed eye-wateringly expensive at £50.40 for a family of 4 booked in advance, but at least that's for an attraction which has to make all its money out of visitors, and presumably has fairly costly maintenance and safety costs.
The Shard, on the other hand, want £87.80 for that same family of 4 booking in advance, and it's just a couple of floors of a building which is there anyway and has lots of other revenue streams! I reckon they could make it free, and it would still be profitable for them to do so, just in terms of all the publicity they'd get out of it on social media making selling space in the building easier.
Dr Jekyll said:
Kermit power said:
How on earth do they justify the price of this???
There's a queue of customers willing to pay it, so why charge less?My wife went with a friend who won a pair of tickets before it opened. They got there for an 11:30 session, and the view was as shown below. She reckoned anyone getting there before 11:00 would've seen nothing but clouds. Would people get a cloud-check in those circumstances?? I'd be bloody fuming if I paid out £100 to take our family up there just to see some water vapour!!
Shard2 by Chris Walker Epsom, on Flickr
Kermit power said:
...My wife went with a friend who won a pair of tickets before it opened. They got there for an 11:30 session, and the view was as shown below. She reckoned anyone getting there before 11:00 would've seen nothing but clouds. Would people get a cloud-check in those circumstances?? I'd be bloody fuming if I paid out £100 to take our family up there just to see some water vapour!! ...
Yes, I believe that if weather conditions are that bad a free re-book is available. Althought, if at the right hight, it can be quite fun looking out over the top of clouds at buildings rising through, did that in the John Hancock tower in Chicago, which is free to go to, but is only a bar and restaurant there.
I paid to go up the Empire State Building in NY ($25), the Sears (now Wills) tower in Chicago($18) (Plus taxes). It's a business, and while it's a little steep at the moment, I didn't have a problem paying, although I did comment at the time that when the restaurant I've heard rumour about is open, how will people get to it without a ticket?
I just wish they'd coated the glass of The Shard with something more reflective like you get on most skyscrapers. It rather spoils the illusion that it is composed of giant shards of glass when you can see through most of the windows.
I see it every day and was looking forward to it being completed but now it is, feel a bit underwhelmed.
I see it every day and was looking forward to it being completed but now it is, feel a bit underwhelmed.
The Jolly Todger said:
I just wish they'd coated the glass of The Shard with something more reflective like you get on most skyscrapers. It rather spoils the illusion that it is composed of giant shards of glass when you can see through most of the windows.
I see it every day and was looking forward to it being completed but now it is, feel a bit underwhelmed.
Me too.I see it every day and was looking forward to it being completed but now it is, feel a bit underwhelmed.
Also which they'd changed the design at the top slightly so you cant see the exposed concrete so much. I see it daily and for weeks I wondered when they were going to put the last pits of glass in to cover up the shaft asn then suddenly they announced it's completion. I was bewildered.
blindswelledrat said:
The Jolly Todger said:
I just wish they'd coated the glass of The Shard with something more reflective like you get on most skyscrapers. It rather spoils the illusion that it is composed of giant shards of glass when you can see through most of the windows.
I see it every day and was looking forward to it being completed but now it is, feel a bit underwhelmed.
Me too.I see it every day and was looking forward to it being completed but now it is, feel a bit underwhelmed.
Also which they'd changed the design at the top slightly so you cant see the exposed concrete so much. I see it daily and for weeks I wondered when they were going to put the last pits of glass in to cover up the shaft asn then suddenly they announced it's completion. I was bewildered.
As far as the lack of coating goes I have read that any kind of tinting or other reflective coatings have been omitted to allow maximum light into the building thus cutting down on the amount of energy required for lighting during the day. I believe there is some kind of clear IR coating to try and keep heat out. Either way I don't see the point in building such a magnificent building and then ruining it to save a few quid a year on lighting.
The Jolly Todger said:
. Either way I don't see the point in building such a magnificent building and then ruining it to save a few quid a year on lighting.
Me neither. It sitll remains one of my favourite buildings in the world, but like you I think they just needlessly wasted an oppurtunity here and there.
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