It’s an awful, awful name, but it’s an amazing design. And what sets it apart from other amazing designs is that they’re actually building this. It’s not just a pretty idea. Pretty crazy.

The building, designed by ol’ Renzo Piano, is going to be the tallest building in Western Europe (1016 ft). From a post at ArchDaily, via a post at Inhabitat:

The mixed use tower, complete with offices, apartments, a hotel and spa, retail areas, restaurants and a 15-storey public viewing gallery, will sit adjacent to London Bridge station as part of a new development called London Bridge Quarter.

Known for his elegant, light and detail oriented building, Piano’s Shard consists of several glass facets that incline inwards but do not meet at the top.  Inspired by the towering church spires and masts of ships that once anchored on the Thames, the Shard’s form was generated by the irregular site plan and open to the sky to allow the building to breath naturally.

Not too shabby. The building will be completed in 2012, in time for the Olympics.

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Interesting angle.