Shard progress

Construction started in March 2009 on the Shard designed by Renzo Piano and is due for completion in 2012.

Shard building, July 2010,  by Cybermyth13.

Construction started with the central core  but the work was completed on the lower floors as the core increased in height. The 72-storey central core was finished in December 2010 and is 244 metres high.

The Shard, April 2012

The Shard has now risen to 87 storeys at 310 metres (1,016 ft) and is Europe’s tallest commercial building.

2012 Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion, Kensington Gardens, completion

The 2012 Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei, opened on i June 2012 in Kensington Gardens, London, UK.

Eleven columns characterising each past pavilion and a twelfth column representing the current structure  support a floating platform roof, which can collect rainwater. The pavilion's interior is clad in cork, a sustainable building material chosen for its unique qualities and to echo the excavated earth.


Below is a video of some of the preparation and completion of the pavilion:

Serpentine Gallery website.

2012 Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion, Kensington Gardens

2012 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, preparations, by Cybermyth13.

In Kensington Gardens, preparations are under way for the 2012 Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei. The space for the pavilion is created by excavation under the lawn that was used by the previous pavilions. Eleven columns characterising each past pavilion and a twelfth column representing the current structure will support a floating platform roof. The pavilion's interior will be clad in cork, a sustainable building material chosen for its unique qualities and to echo the excavated earth.

Serpentine Gallery website.

The Shard Building, Progress 2010-12

The view from St Thomas Street of the southwest corner of the Shard outside London Bridge Station in July 2010

The southwest corner in evening sunlight, April 2011

Nearing completion, the southwest corner in April 2012

Some Favourite Pics of 2011

Urban Fox on Southbank, London

Regent Street with 2011 Christmas lights featuring characters from Arthur Christmas.

While the workers are away, the machines can play. 
A building site in East London at the weekend.




Things do not always work out the way you expected.
Appearing Rooms by Jeppe Hein outside the Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre in London. The walls of water vary to create different spaces and to allow people to enter and exit the spaces.

The corridor round the 2011 Serpentine Gallery summer pavilion, Hortus Conclusus, designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. It is a transitional area between the outside world and the garden within the pavilion.

Within the Serpentine pavilion, the central garden by the Dutch designer Piet Oudolf provided an area of peaceful retreat. See earlier post on pavilion