The Metropolis

Is going to watch the Shard opening ceremony at 10.15pm on a Thursday night really a thing?

Mike Pollitt | Wednesday 4 July, 2012 10:22

The Shard opens is inaugurated [see comments] on Thursday night at 10.15pm. Apparently this is perfectly normal and not something we should be batting any eyelids about. After all, why shouldn’t an office building open be inaugurated at 10.15pm on a Thursday night? It’s just common sense.

I know this is happening because a friend of mine has been invited over Facebook to go and watch it with some friends. Apparently there’s a laser show and some music from the London Philharmonic.

Music and lasers notwithstanding, I struggle to comprehend how this is a social thing. I know it’s a tall building, but…it’s an office block! Why is it a thing to go and watch it open be inaugurated? Why?!

In other Shard views, published author Simon Jenkins comes up with this corker in the Guardian:

“The Shard is thus an adjunct of Tony Blair’s foreign policy, a cure for erectile dysfunction.”

Lost. It.

And the BBC has a more respectful, sympathetic, you might say sane, facts and figures rundown here.

See also:

Events uncut – Laser light opening of the Shard
Simon Jenkins in the Guardian – The Shard has slashed the face of London for ever
Andy Dangerfield at BBC London – London’s Shard skyscraper rises above its critics
Snipe – Why does the Shard intimidate us
Snipe – Watch The Shard’s architect Renzo Piano talk about creating his ‘vertical city’

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