But these new residential buildings still have mixed-use qualities: the development in Canary Wharf’s Westferry Circus, set to become the UK’s second tallest building, has been dubbed a “town in a tower” as it will include a gym, library, cinema and even designated play areas for children. Most of the proposed 200-plus skyscrapers due to be built in London will not be as diversely occupied as the Shard. Are “vertical villages” becoming reality, or is this just a science-fiction romance, as one of my interviewees suggested? In the course of making a documentary about the seismic changes occurring to London’s skyline, I’ve talked to sharply dressed architects, the manager of the Shangri-La hotel in the Shard, even a futurologist, about this idea. The 308m Shard includes shops, offices, flats, a hotel and restaurants – although given its capacity of 12,000, it is probably more accurate to label it a “vertical village”. Renzo Piano, the architect of London’s Shard, described his creation in similar terms, calling it a “vertical city” because of its mixture of uses. He claimed this arrangement would solve the problem of congestion, as people would live and work in the same building, commuting by lift.
Hilberseimer project for highrise city series#
In 1924 the German architect and city planner, Ludwig Hilberseimer, presented the idea of a “high-rise city” made up of a series of large blocks (100m deep, 600m wide) which would each contain flats, offices and restaurants. With so many of its own features, the building functions in relative isolation. The Shard stands alone from its traditional London Bridge surroundings.
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