Towards an Architecture of Representation · Towards an Architecture of Representation “In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all life presents as an ... ‘Junkspace’

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Via

Images and words

Towards an Architecture of Representation

Raluca Cirstoc

Dissertation 9144 words

MA Architecture

2013

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Contents

List of illustrations

Title page

1. Introduction

2. Gallery

3. How it came into being?

4. Of images and words

5. Metaphors of space

6. A Shard of spectacle

6.1 Elements of semiology

6.2 Elements of display

7. Final notes on representation

Endnotes

Bibliography

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List of Illustrations

This text uses the following representation for the word ‘Shard‘.

Figure 1.

Renzo Piano, 2000. First original sketch of the Shard. [image online]. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/

artanddesign/2012/dec/30/shard-renzo-piano-inspiration. [Accessed 13th Aug 2013]

Figure 2.

Renzo Piano, 2012. Sketch of the Shard. [image online]. Available at: http://www.dezeen.com/2012/05/18/interview-renzo-

piano-on-the-shard/. [Accessed 13th Aug 2013]

Figure 3.

AVR London commissioned by Sellar Property Group, 2009. Rendered image of the Shard. [image online]. Available at:

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/08/25/the-shard-by-renzo-piano-building-workshop/. [Accessed 13th Aug 2013]

Figure 4.



Figure 5.



Figure 6.



Figure 7.



Figure 8.


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Figure 9.

n.a., 2013. [image online]. Available at: http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Battle-lines-drawn-to-protect-views-

of-old-London/28379. [Accessed 13th Aug 2013]

Figure 10.

Jeremy Selwyn, 2012. [image online]. Available at: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/storey-by-storey--the-shards-

progress-7844163.html?action=gallery&ino=17. [Accessed 13th Aug 2013]

Figure 11.

Lewis Whyld/PA Wire, 2012. [image online]. Available at: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/storey-by-storey--the-

shards-progress-7844163.html?action=gallery&ino=8. [Accessed 13th Aug 2013]

Figure 12.

n.a., 2012. [image online]. Available at: http://www.architectural-review.com/buildings/skylines-opinions-on-renzo-pianos-

shard-london/8633386.article. [Accessed 13th Aug 2013]

Figure 13.

The View from the Shard, 2013. [image online]. Available at: http://www.theviewfromtheshard.com/#gallery. [Accessed

13th Aug 2013]

Figure 14.

n.a., 2013. [image online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/21284915. [Accessed 13th Aug 2013]

Figure 15.

Raluca Cirstoc, 2013. [photograph].

Figure 16.

Rob Telford, 2013 [image online]. Available at: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=407549&page=1264.

[Accessed 13th Aug 2013]

Figure 17.

OMA, 2012. Crazy Buildings. [image online]. Available at: http://www.architectural-review.com/the-big-rethink-transcend-

and-include-the-past/8629373.article. [Accessed 13th Aug 2013]

Figure 18.

Greenpeace, 2013. Scaling the Shard. [image online]. Available at: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/greenpeace-

women-scale-shard-in-arctic-oil-drilling-protest-8702293.html. [Accessed 03th Oct 2013]

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Figure 19.

Skyline Chess, 2013. [image online]. Available at: http://www.skyline-chess.com. [Accessed 03th Oct 2013]

Figure 20.

n.a., 2013. [image online]. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/9380342/

The-Shard-opens-with-laser-light-show.html. [Accessed 03th Oct 2013]

Figure 21.

n.a., 2013. [image online]. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/9380342/

The-Shard-opens-with-laser-light-show.html. [Accessed 03th Oct 2013]

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Via Images and WordsTowards an Architecture of Representation

“In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all life presents as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.” 1

The Shard

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I find myself in a society that promotes the false more than the

truth, that is led by images rather than concepts and that believes

that the reality exhibited makes up for the truth. Debord (2009)

argues in his book The Society of the Spectacle written in 1967

that our lives are driven every second by images that shape the

spectacle we live in, spectacle that becomes a tool for exhibiting

the false. What is left behind characterises a society of hyper

reality, a world made to be imaginary. Being surrounded by

symbols, by images created to have a meaning, I find myself

overwhelmed by the spectacle-like aspect of humanity.

I am unwillingly witnessing what Koolhaas proclaimed as

‘Junkspace’ in 2001.

“A shortage of masters has not stopped a proliferation of masterpieces. ‘Masterpiece’ has become a definitive sanction, a semantic space that saves the object from criticism, leaves its qualities unproven, its performance untested, its motives unquestioned... Masterpiece is no longer an inexplicable fluke, a roll of the dice, but a consistent typology: its mission precarious, most of its exterior surfaces bent, huge percentages of its square footage dysfunctional, its centrifugal components barely held together by the pull of the atrium, dreading the imminent arrival of forensic accounting…” 2

Koolhaas is referring to this recent tendency of naming every new

building an icon, a masterpiece, as if it is a pre-condition for social

1. Introduction

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structures, as if the naming leaves no questions to be asked or

answered, as if the fashion of a superstructure directly relates

to an act of greatness. Architecture seems to have degenerated

into a game played by developers trying to get their project built

through the use of semiotic fluxes and visually stunning images

of what seems to be yet another iconic building.

Hence, I ask myself:

Has architecture shrunk from a spatial form to an image form? Or

even to a semiotic form?

Are we more inclined towards images rather than concepts? As

Lefebvre points out

“We build on the basis of paper and plans, we buy on the basis of images.” 3

Which are the main driving forces behind the image?

How is the identity of a place affected?

Is there a new identity created?

What is being touched upon in order to attract favourable opinions

around a certain project?

In this dissertation I would like to explore how representation in

terms of images and language embodies the idea of identity and

of the spectacle, which is being driven by economical and political

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forces. My ideas would probably be insufficiently pragmatic for

architectural critics and insufficiently conceptual for philosophers

but my hope is to speculate on how representation has become

an extensively used tool in order to attract positive feedback

regarding the built environment.

I will be looking at the designed by Renzo Piano in the

context presented above, as a phenomenon of architectural

communication.

The victorious that stands above London Bridge at its 310m,

along the river Thames, ignited debate across the world. Being

such a large construction, it was unavoidable for a high number

of actors4 and issues not to come face to face right from the

conception following through to completion. The reason for

choosing this specific construction has its roots in the long

lasting controversy on buildings that will change the London

skyline. In this paper the will be explored through the prism of

representation.

This dissertation seeks to explore the role that representation

plays in the built environment. Through a range of theories and

by looking at the as a built precedent, I will examine the extent

to which images and semiotics can mislead and influence

by considering the importance of identity in a community and

whether this current architectural discourse driven by political

and economical factors has ceased to create a sense of place.

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images imply

coping

reality,

but here they are used as a

defence mechanism,

as a

negation

of reality,

something that

transcends

social existence

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2. Gallery

“In a culture of the simulacrum, communicative practice is necessarily theatrical. Electronic media are instrumental in staging an exchange in which the currency of information makes understanding possible. [...] Imagology involves a second naivete in which the figural, which has too long been repressed by the conceptual, returns as the medium for understanding and communication. The return of figure disfigures the disfiguration of concepts by reinscribing the imago in the midst of the logos. A paradox of the imaginary register: the proliferation of images is iconoclastic. “5

Elements of display

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Figure 1. Renzo Piano apparently sketched the building on a napkin while in a restaurant in Berlin with property developer

Irvine Sellar. Renzo Piano, 2000.

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Figure 2. Drawing was done during an interview conducted on the 18th of May by Dezeen editor in chief Marcus Fairs. Renzo

Piano, 2012

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Figure 3. Images commissioned by Sellar Property Group in order to promote the building. AVR Lodon, 2009.

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Figure 9. The Shard from Tower of London, contrast in materiality. 2013.

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Figure 10. The Shard behind St George The Martyr Church, photograph taken by Jeremy Selwyn used by The Evening Standard..

Jeremy Selwyn, 2012.

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Figure 11. St. Paul’s Cathedral no longer dominates the skyline as the Shard grows behind. Lewis Whyld/PA Wire, 2012.

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Figure 12. The Shard towering its surroundings. 2012

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Figure 13. A panoramic view from the top of the Shard. The View from the Shard, 2013

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Figure 14. View up the spire. 2013

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the

hyper-realityrequired by

industrial capitalism

to create its

spectacle

is never simply a process, but involves the

inescapable

world of

signsin their

semiological form

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Elements of semiology

“Disillusion is impossible when the real is imaginary. Illusion gives way to illusion to create hall of mirrors in which there is no exit. To survive in simcult, one must learn to live the impossibility of dis-illusionment.“6

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They broke up communities, so we have to break them up.7

Southwark’s vertical city.8

London’s third business district.9

The Shard is an iconic addition to the capital’s skyline and will be one that all of London can access and enjoy.10

It will become as essential a part of a visit to London as going to the top of the Empire State building is for visitors on a trip to New York.11

Stop Staring Up. Start Looking Down.12

It’s happening! 13

The building will be atmospheric. It will play with the city. It will be a symbol of lightness.14

Will open up the views of places like St Paul’s that have never been seen.15

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A shard of glass through the heart of historic London.16

Aggressive distortion of London’s skyline. 17

It’s obnoxiously domineering, lording it over the ’30s council estates nearby.23

This tower is anarchy.20

The new tower, similarly rudimentary in form, conveys very little except uncurbed greed.22

...unequivocal, major and detrimental impact on protected views. 21

Southwark deserves investment but it should not come at the expense of one of London’s most precious, and finite, assets — its heritage.24

If any tall buildings are to be planned, these then should not exceed the height by which they would become visible above the on-site historic buildings that are part of the Tower complex.19

Certainly downgrades their status and that is very bad news.18

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3. How it came into Being?

“I think we will demolish the Shard in a few years’ time and build it even taller.”25

“It will be here long after I’m dead and buried and Ken Shuttleworth is too.”26

“I foresee the London Bridge Quarter as a vertical city, for thousands of people to work in and enjoy, for hundreds of thousands more to commute to from all over the region, and for millions to take to their heart.”27

While there are many examples in London, this chapter will

concentrate on the .What follows below is a brief mapping

of the development of the project, presented as a controversy

of the important issues surrounding the debate. For some, it is

an expression of the new, of energy and of technology. While

for others, it is a symbol of greed and arrogance. Although for a

few, it is an icon, for the vast majority, it dominates and spoils its

context and immediate surroundings. Nonetheless, no matter

what the different opinions allude to, it has been widely

recognized that the is indeed a very tall building, especially

when London is being looked at from the 70th floor.

It all started in April 2000 when Irvine Stellar expressed his

disappointment towards the quality of office spaces but more

than that, he announced his plan for a new skyscraper that would

change the current situation. Soon after, in March 2002, there

were no objections during the meeting of Southwark planning

committee, who approved his project. What he proposed was

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soon to be, but not for long, Europe’s tallest skyscraper situated

at the symbolic birthplace of London28 claiming to regenerate

London Bridge station. This would involve demolishing the

existing Southwark towers and building apartments, offices, a

hotel, and shops.

Cabe, Southwark Council and Greater London authority have all

praised the proposal. However, English Heritage was concerned

about views of St Paul’s being affected and dominated by the

tall buildings, which meant that in July of the same year, the

government ordered a planning inquiry causing a setback to

the project. Although, English Heritage can complicate and slow

down the process, ultimately they have no power to directly affect

the final decision. Because of London’s multi-layered system of

planning, even though borough councils make decisions, the

mayor can over-rule them.

The enquiry that started in April 2003 brought face to face Irvine

Sellar and the main opposition, English Heritage and The Royal

Historic Places. After 4 months of enquiry, English Heritage

expressed their profound disappointment with John Prescott’s

approval, calling the building

In 2004 the question of empty office spaces was raised.30 Looking

at ‘The Gherkin’, it seems that the demand of office spaces

was highly misjudged, because now the building is half empty.

Developers of the have stated that they are unable to go

ahead unless 40% of the building is pre-let. The end of 2006

“inappropriate”.29

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saw Pricewatershouse Coopers leave Southwark headquarters,

allowing the construction to start on site. In May 2007, Ken

Livingstone, a supporter of tall towers called for world architects

to design world class architecture, i.e. tall buildings for Waterloo

and Kings Cross transportation hubs.

During these years, it appears that semiotic fluxes were

increasing the project’s acceptance level, which proved to be

difficult to battle against. One example that clearly states this,

is the claim that being a mixed-use building over the busiest

transportation hub would add to its green credentials. On one

hand, if the building does come to a point when it is fully used,

then being on top of one of the busiest transportation hubs in

London will definitely have a favourable impact. However, it is

clear that a holistic approach, especially when a building of this

size is involved, needs to be taken into consideration.

In September 2007, demolition finally started on site. Worries

were mainly inclined towards the fixed limitations of the building

site and how much the construction would affect the hospital,

the train station and several busy roads. Twenty other towers

over 300ft high were planned to rise within the half mile south

of Thames, and twenty more further out. This vision involved a

radical new London, for which no public enquiries have been

made and none of it was carefully planned. The building policy

states that the mayor will approve tall towers where appropriate.31

It could be argued that there are no rules, and the excitement for

wealth and height acts as a blinding factor.

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While Renzo Piano was thinking of the church he was going

to build on top of the ,UN was accusing Britain of failing to

protect Tower of London from suffocating new developments.

Meanwhile, a last-minute funding from Qatari investors sets

Renzo Piano on top of his game with a £425 m price agreed. By

the end of 2009, steelwork was up to the 6th floor. By mid 2012

the building was finished. Renzo Piano seemed to have tried to

draw attention upon the Roman history of South Bank, and the

connection between what could have been the beginning of

London and the .However, history doesn’t seem to play a

critical role for Piano.

“I don’t have time to think about a silly thing like legacy. The important thing to me: Is it going to be loved in London or not?”32

In light of these events, it could be articulated that even though

external forces have tried to stop the project from happening

through different approaches, most of them being concerned with

either views affected, or maximum height allowances, ultimately

the critiques stood up against the economical power of private

investors, which proved to be the determining element.

Furthermore, the was built out of an extreme desire for

investment and not out of the need for more office space. This

could be further seen in the fact that it doesn’t provide the

40% requirement of affordable housings33 that could replace

the shortage of council housings. However, the definition of

‘affordable’ prices out all council tenants.

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Despite the controversy and reasons behind its completion,

the has indeed become part of everyone’s identity: the tourist,

the business man/woman, the local resident, and the passer by.

It is valuable to notice the differences between the acclaimed

identity of the and the identity of everyone who is in contact with

it. Whereas for many Londoners, it represents a city that

embraces the new, the different cultures coming together into one

gesture, for many others it is a symbol of excess and domination.

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4. Of Images and Words

Victor Hugo anticipated in 1831 in his famous novel The

Hunchback of Notre Dame the crisis of architecture caused by

the printing press. He wrote:

where ‘this’ meant the printed book and ‘that’ was the cathedral.

If we were to judge his statement in the socio-political context

of that time, the sentence becomes a metaphor for the fear and

terror experienced in front of a new power- the printing press.

Hugo talked about theocracy being dethroned by human thought,

opinion ruling belief and intelligence destroying faith. The printing

press had an incognito consequence: it facilitated an infinite

reproducibility of any written document. Soon after, photography

developed a similar process when images started to be produced

and reproduced in different fields. In other terms, at the end of

the 19th century, standardisation was taking over most of the

production line. In an attempt of rewriting Hugo’s punchline under

contemporary light, ‘this’ will probably refer to the production of

images, and ‘that’ would be architecture. The language of the

built environment climaxes in the production of images. Hugo

argued in 1831 (2004) that until that moment, the symbolism

on architecture and of architecture was the primary means by

which a society communicated to itself, but after that moment,

communication was done through books.

“This will kill that”34

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It will be argued that within the current architectural discourse,

not only images benefit from being political acts but also along

with them, language and semiology has reached a point of being

unfolded as a determining element in the built environment. They

are both considered to be means of representing architecture.

The following paragraphs will attempt to explain the context in

which representation will be used throughout this dissertation,

its socio-political connotations and definitions that most clearly

support this paper.

London is a city built largely by property developers where there

seems to be a shortage of coordination and a lack of a greater

concept when it comes to planning. The concept though, was to

open up London to profit making by international capitalism and

hide that behind the spectacle. Since the abolition of old building

regulations its skyline has suffered many changes, gentrification

being at the heart of these so called ‘regeneration’ projects.

Southwark more specifically, is dominated by regeneration

projects, each claiming to inject new life in the poorly developed

area by stacking the new buildings on top of the old, which

ultimately are greedily abandoned underneath. These projects

have all been approved under Ken Livingstone’s agenda. The

schemes are interestingly being encouraged through illusions of

a better living standard, making use of the need for improving

social space.

“But certainly for the present age, which prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, representation to reality, the appearance to the essence... illusion only is sacred, truth profane. Nay,

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sacredness is held to be enhanced in proportion as truth decreases and illusion increases, so that the highest degree of illusion comes to be the highest degree of sacredness.”35

Capitalist production doesn’t simply make objects but a surface

of images that obscure the way objects are produced, owned

and perceived. It creates an illusory layer that misleads and

confuses based on different kinds of methods of inventing money

through speculative investments. This world of images is actually

a reflection of the world of capitalism, in which these processes

keep it alive.

The new layer of urban development has proposed, through

its urge to innovate and claims to regenerate, sculptural

extravaganzas, buildings that remain at facade level. What is

being implied by facade level lends itself to translation into a

set of formal spatial arrangements of transforming architecture

into icons of the city, into symbols produced to bring back

life. Architects are legitimising the emergence of this mode of

approaching buildings as innovative, especially if read through

the prism of Deleuze’s philosophy (1983).

What is being coined as Deleuzian influence, in this paper, is a

shared interest in progressiveness and emancipatory agenda,

lacking though, a critical view on spatiality. Their concepts have

been reframed to mirror an urge to innovate that actually, if

broadly observed, builds a homogenous layer across cities or

architecture that is failing to connect communities, or to create

identities. Doug Spencer (2011) points out that

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Deleuze, in his most well known writing, Difference and Repetition,

developed a concept, which characterises contemporary society

at its core, based on the replacement of substance and essence

by multiplicity and virtuality. A better understanding of these

concepts could be drawn from Deleuze and Guattari’s view on

philosophy (1983) as the invention of concepts. 37

They argue that philosophy has to create concepts, which would

enable one to become aware and conscious of processes

and forces at work, which one might agree or oppose to.

Virtuality has been extensively used in advertising the .

Images and metaphors have a created a world meant to be

illusory, a virtual world that will respond to needs and create a

new identity.

Zaera Polo (2008) in The politics of the envelope emphasizes the

importance of the façade in producing the image of novelty and

innovation, which has deep cultural and political implications.

The manipulation of the façade is the technique used to distract

attention from mere extrusions. Yet, these graphic and iconic

representations fall into a grid of sameness, abusing the concept

“Something new is always sought to avoid boredom with the old. But as new is sought only because of its newness, everything turns identical because it lacks all other properties but newness” 38

“architecture [is] seeking to establish for itself an image of novelty as its very raison d’être”. 36

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“The envelope is the result of an act of violence on both [interior and exterior] spaces. “ 39

of original to a point where they become already old.

The envelope has definitely been a core concern for Renzo

Piano when designing the . It engaged several political forms:

economical, social and psychological, through an extensive use

of images and semiotic acts. Consequently, it will have an impact

not only on the inhabitants and workers but it will also engage the

“Junkspace pretends to unite, but it actually splinters. It creates communities not of shared interest or free association, but of identical statistics and unavoidable demographics, an oportunistic weave of vested interests. Each man, woman and

public and passer-by in a conversation.

Despite the field’s failure in producing a theoretical framework

involving the envelope, architects are using it as a tool for power,

a s a mere image of utopia.

The is being defined by global developments rather than local

ones, by the competition between cities to gain a title rather than

regenerate the local areas, and more so through the increased

importance of media. Zaera Polo argues (2008) that the envelope

of the building is the first political act that imposes a separation

between the inside and the outside, it encloses a property and

defines social space. When it becomes a facade more than an

envelope it starts acting as a representational device. Therefore,

this political ideology reinforces the idea of the image being

used as a tool in order to influence architecture and the built

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child is individually targeted, tracked, split off from the rest. Fragments come together at ‘security’ only, where a grid of video screens disappointingly reassembles individual frames into a banalized, utilitarian cubism that reveals Junkspace’s overall coherence to the dispassionate glare of barely trained guards: videoethnography in its brute form. Just as Junkspace is unstable, its actual ownership is forever being passed on in parallel disloyalty. Junkspace happens spontaneously through natural corporate exhuberance - the unfettered play of the market - or is generated through the combined actions of temporary ‘Czars’ with long records of three-dimensional philanthropy, bureaucrats (often former leftists) that optimistically sell off vast tracks of waterfront, former hippodromes, military bases and abandoned airfields to developers or real estate moguls that can accommodate any deficit in futuristic balances, or through ‘default preservation’ (the maintenance of historical complexes that nobody wants but the Zeitgeist has declared sacrosanct).” 40

environment.

The arguments and theories presented above fall into

suggesting that the lack of a powerful planning system along

with an attachment to surface and beautifully rendered images

could easily resume into a fragmented spatial act encouraged

by opportunistic interests and claims to philanthropy. The built

environment becomes a spectacle. For thinkers of the spatiality

of contemporary capitalism, social space has been reduced

to flexibility, mobility, and connectivity, which are designed to

function in a built environment defined by shopping, business

and imagery. Architecture seems to have decayed into a game

played by computer generated images, trying to seek attention

[ ]45

through the so called iconic buildings which will supposedly bring

life to certain areas, sometimes in places where communities

have already existed for centuries. However, this is a point

that will be discussed later on. Everything is meant to have a

quick effect in order to attract investors and politicians, in order

to feed gentrification and with a shared interest in international

plutocracy.

The intensification and demand for new as an expression of scale

and size also augment the changes taking place at a psychological

and social level. What is being described as social space is seen

through the prism of Lefebvre’s critique on architectural space

(1991), which is being repetitively produced as part of economic

development in disfavour and loss of social progress. Lefebvre

points out how social space cannot be reduced to an object, to a

mere representation or an idealized concept, but implies a great

variety of knowledge, and moreover there is not one single social

space but innumerable sets of social spaces with no definite

boundaries. This concept is of great importance because it is

fundamentally necessary to understand that social space is not

a limited, self-contained object but an organism produced over

time.

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[ ]47

5. Metaphors of Space

Lefebvre (1991) in his exceptionally fascinating book The

Production of Space, questions almost everything that has been

said about space until then. He begins by pointing out that there

is a level of neglect by philosophy and other sciences to what

space means conceptually, physically, ideologically, and socially.

To be noted that social space stands at the core of his theory.

What he defines by social is not a product or something in itself,

but rather the space where culture takes place, where human

relationships are built, because

“space is never produced in the sense that a kilogram of sugar or a yard of cloth is produced” 41

Regarding architecture, he distinguished between

“manipulators of consciousness”43

“architectural space” and “the space of architects”.42

Architectural space is a factor which influences social space

whereas the space of architects is the manipulation of architecture

space as a profession.

In light of these considerations, Adrian Forty (2000) points out

how architects claim authority over the production of space,

becoming in this way

[ ]48

Forty’s analysis is based on the techniques practiced by

architecture, and even more by the entire field of architecture,

i.e. drawing. Drawing stands at the roots of the profession by

“privileging the eye above all other senses and sustaining the tendency for image, and spectacle, to take the place of reality, a tendency manifested throughout modern capitalism.” 44

It could be argued that architecture in order to come into existence

has to pass through a process of reducing itself to a plan, section,

or drawing. It becomes an image of itself, a representation of a

future reality.

The neglect of social activity and human form from these

representations had separated mental space from real space,

alienating human subjects from the experience of it and putting

them into what Lefebvre (1991) calls

“abstract space”,45

where it all becomes homogeneous and uniform. Repetitious

spaces are the result of repetitive actions associated with

instruments that are designed to duplicate. It is worth noting that

what Lefebvre coins as ’abstract space’ is part of the discourse

of economical power ruling over contemporary architecture.

If architecture has come to be part of this discourse centred

on economical power then it could be argued that the built

environment is actually replaced by products designed to be

exchanged, traded, and reproduced to infinity.

[ ]49

For Marx and Engels, humans as social beings are said to

produce their own life, their own consciousness, and their own

world. 46 Lefebvre (1991) also points out that a particular time or

space has never come into being through the growth of forces of

production.

Moreover, the political discourse is taking place globally since the

contemporary city had ended up being ruled by big corporations

and multinational stakeholders who most of the time refuse a

basic understanding of the community that already belongs to

the city. This top down approach, almost a deductive approach,

predicting the behaviour of the area has reduced the city to a

monotonous and sterile environment, destroying neighbourhoods

and communities, a concept found also in Jane Jacobs book

(2000) first written in 1961 on American cities. Failures within the

city are ultimately failures with globalised economy.

Jane Jacobs builds up her famous book, The death and life of

Great American Cities, as an attack on planning, looking at the

reasons behind community failure. Jacobs suggests that the

misunderstandings of the systems and complex phenomena that

occur in the city are the main factors of failure. A good example of

misunderstanding the mechanism of a city would be the increased

number of automobiles that are seen to be a cause, but actually

they are a consequence of our incapability to plan a city.

It seems important to note that this limited understanding

played a decisive role in the overcoming opposition and finally

being built. Whether the opposition did not put the right

[ ]50

reasons across or whether the developers purposefully failed to

understand the issues involved in the debate, these decisions

will eventually turn the city inwards, converting it into small self

contained units, where the relationship between people and

neighbourhoods becomes meaningless, even non existent.

Peter Rees told BD during an interview:

“It’s cobblers. The south bank of the river Thames has been ruined by a row of demented telegraph poles. Tall buildings should be built in clusters. Architects like tall buildings spaced out so everyone can admire them. The planning approach is to like clusters to maximise the benefit and minimise the impact. […] It’s very helpful having a cap because it stops the ego thing, otherwise we become Dubai. If we didn’t have it, it would be like having a party for young children where they eat until they’re sick.”47

Jacobs’ critique (2000) could also be applied to the new

regeneration plan in Southwark, London. There seems to be a

lack of consideration towards street level dynamics, pedestrian

movements and local networks. There is regrettably no emphasis

on a horizontal development.

This area started being dominated by tall towers since

Ken Livingstone supported building high around the main

transportation hubs, in order to encourage the inhabitants of the

buildings to use public transport. This plan was part of his vision

where the future of financial services in London was endlessly

booming.

[ ]51

On the opposite side of Southwark regeneration project’s approach

stands the Bankside Urban Forest proposal by Witherford Watson

Mann Architects, which is intensifying the patterns already found

on site through an ecological approach to urban regeneration.

The project increases the opportunities for sharing through local

networks and creates an urban habitat by softening the border

between the old community and new developments.

Closely considering the locals, the streets, the hidden places, the

institutional players, the land use, and the pedestrian movement,

this bottom up approach reinforces and supports places of

exchange already existing and creates new connections and

streams of relationships. Needless to say, the above proposal

looks at a horizontal development being in antithesis to what

Koolhaas coins as ‘Masterpiece’.

Most of the militants of regeneration projects are known to

purposefully mistake them for gentrification. The fact that

Southwark is actually on a prime location in London would attract

a considerable amount of money and investors, making way for

a new community while displacing the old one.

“Funded by bonds, lottery, subsidy, charity, grant: an erratic flow of yen, euros and dollars it creates financial envelopes that are as fragile as their contents. Because of a structural shortfall, a fundamental deficit, a contingent bankruptcy, each square inch becomes a grasping, needy surface dependent on covert or overt support, discount, compensation and fundraising. For culture, ‘engraved donor bricks’; for everything else: cash, rentals, leases, promises, chains, the underpinning of

[ ]52

Private companies are the only ones who benefit from this

scheme. They want access to high value land, close to the City,

they do not want the old community there, and they want to inject

their own selected inhabitants. Although private companies have

a lot to gain from these projects, the process of displacing an

entire community to make space for a new one can only have

negative effects on not only the inhabitants, but also the wider

context of the social metabolism.

The old community is prevented from coming back due to the

high property and retail prices. Jacobs (2000) in her street study

of American cities from 1961, which could be easily applied to

any city, explains how the social structure of side walks unveil

the metabolism of the entire community and speaks about public

character.

The skyscraper is the embodiment of the 20th century cities,

the expression of consumer and corporate culture. The 1976

towers blocks, which were demolished to make way for the ,

were advertised to offer spectacular views across London and

used innovative glazing technology.

It seems that there is a repetitive grid of actions taken in order to

bring a project to life, which appears to affect communities on a

psychological level. No other type of building had influenced the

urban condition and received so much attention as the skyscraper.

brands. Junkspace expands with the economy but its footprint cannot contract... when it is no longer needed, it thins.“48

[ ]53

It is an expression of size, structure, scale and function and

resembles the changes taking place at a psychological and

social level. Having said this, one can begin looking at the as a

reminiscence of the 1980s glass towers, an image of what was

supposed to be a utopian London.

[ ]54

[ ]55

6. A Shard of Spectacle

The vertical envelope’s geometry almost directly channels the

building towards an iconographic connotation. This is extremely

visible in London through a series of image driven high-rise

buildings situated in the square mile searching to become the new

icon. A lot of them have been built in the area of Southbank but not

only. The following are just a few that are a recent addition to the

skyline: ‘The Gherkin’ by Foster completed in 2003, ‘Helter Shelter’

by Pedersen also known as ‘The Pinnacle’ whose construction

started in 2008, ‘The Walkie Talkie’ by Vinoly which was

recently accused of being poorly designed as it melted vehicles

parked on the street, and last but not least, Renzo Piano’s .

“The loss of quality so evident at all levels of spectacular language, from the objects it praises to the behaviour it regulates, merely translates the fundamental traits of the real production which brushes reality aside: the commodity-form is through and through equal to itself, the category of the quantitative. The quantitative is what the commodity-form develops, and it can develop only within the quantitative.” 49

Claimed to have taken inspiration from London spires and the

ships that moor on Thames, most of the images depict the

next to St. Paul’s Cathedral- one of the latest reminders of

Wren’s architecture when the city was built up to a maximum

height, or as seen from the river.

[ ]56

A shard signifies a fragment from a broken piece of glass, or a

piece of ice. The shards from the actual building are though, a

blatant reminder of a digital production that follows a repetitive

grid of steel and glass extrusions. Most renders and images

portray the building as a sublime addition to the skyline, slowly

changing according to the weather. Being asserted to disappear

into the sky due to its high transparent glass, and blend in with

the London weather, it is actually visible from most places.

Consequently, one of the arguments English Heritage used, in

their desperate pursuit of trying to stop the from being built,

was related to St Paul’s corridor views being affected. While for

some, the views concerning St. Paul’s are of high importance,

for others the new view is breathtaking, making the building a

welcoming addition to the skyline.

Therefore, under these circumstances, ideals of identity are much

harder to defend. Within the rising tendency of using metaphors

to project an ideally shaped future, opposing thinkers and writers

are faced with the question of how identity can sustain its legacy.

Meanings cannot be invented, points out Pallasmaa (2012)

because

“they are unconscious existential re-encounters of primal human experiences and emotions”50

Needless to say, when a work only expresses the person who

created it, it immediately fails to establish a connection outside

itself. As said before, communities end up facing an inward

looking city.

[ ]57

Given the avid pretensions to a higher meaning through its

pyramidal shape and an unfinished top searching for infinity, one

cannot fail to note its relation to one of the most despotic forms.

It is significant to understand that its identification comes, not

through denotative communication, but it is deeply rooted in the

physiognomy of its architectural form, which is intended to relate

to historic London.

Learning from Las Vegas, when it appeared in 1972 created

a controversy around the authors’ findings on symbolism and

iconography in Vegas. Venturi, Scott Brown and Izenour’s critique

on architecture talked about a message system that characterises

an architecture of signs and physiognomic form (1977). They

separated Vegas’ architecture into two, 51The Duck and The

Decorated Shed, metaphors used to describe two

types of building styles. If we are to compare the with one

of the categories presented in the book, the Duck would be the

most appropriate one as it is being described as an architecture

of expression, creative, unique and original, heroic, which looks

expensive and has a tendency towards a megastructure. The

adjectives used refer to an implicit symbolism of the content,

although the substance is ordinary and conventional.

With the rising of the architectural discourse that promotes the

spectacular and praises quantity, a certain detachment from the

building could be witnessed, which has a direct effect on cities.

The facade does not appear to articulate the relationship between

the building and humans as it is displayed as pure media.

[ ]58

Having traced back the envelope of a building to the oldest and

most primitive architectural element, it can be observed that even

in the past the facade never had such a political and economical

function but has been portrayed as a mere representation.

Though, it is well known that even great cathedrals are in the end

political acts, it was never a case of the façade solely defining

the architecture. Past theories have touched upon the issues

of representation in architecture. Writers and theorists have

addressed problems of composition, materials, the relationship to

the inside and more recently environmental concerns, however,

only now can it be talked about as an expression of scale, size

and an embodiment of corporate culture.

How does the contribute to the understanding of these

philosophical concepts presented above?

How has representation helped understanding the ?

[ ]59

There is an irrepressible movement towards complex naming of

buildings in order to acquire public acknowledgement and also

social attachment. A new name that acts like a symbol along

with the idea of novelty are the two basic factors behind a good

advertisement campaign. The stands almost like a billboard,

like a carefully considered advertisement speaking for itself

not only through its name but also through its shape.

The title of this sub chapter has been borrowed from Roland

Barthes’ book (1968) that shares the same name. Barthes argues

in Elements of Semiology that this society is as much image

based as language based, being extremely difficult to conceive

an image system independently of language. Therefore, in order

to perceive an image as a signifier, a linguistic system needs

to be applied. Felix Guattari’s (1983) approach is comparably

similar with Barthes’:

“semiotic fluxes are just as real as material ones, and in a sense the material fluxes are just as semiotic as the semiotic machines”52

However, semiotic fluxes are non-narrative, non-representative

and non-illustrative in relation to material ones. Usually the

semiotic signs applied do not refer to a reality out there, but they

are aiming to simulate one, a more dominant one.

6.1 Elements of semiology

[ ]60

A shard of glass through the heart of historic London. 16

[ ]61

Surprisingly, its name was coined by the English Heritage.

However, it was an insult to the building cutting through the

skyline, being arrogantly negligent towards its context. However,

the name stuck and it reinforces the building as a symbol of

architectural space, an emotional association with the 17th

century architecture.

[ ]62

They broke up communities, so we have to break them up. 7

[ ]63

This was one of the slogans used in demolishing the 1960s

council estates to make space for the new reorganisation of

South London. Southwark towers, which previously stood on

the site of the , completed in 1976 by T P Bennett Architects,

were part of a movement of optimism in the ideology of modernism

and the vision to build a new London after the devastation of

the Blitz and Second World War. The new London that emerged

was a product of utopia, an urban vision that shares the same

ideological values as today’s regeneration projects, which are

taking place in South London, and that is to inject new life into

abandoned places.

New tenants relate in a different way to the area compared with old

tenants who have built up relationships and social connections.

Harvey (2012) calls this process

“urban restructuring through creative destruction”53

pointing out how it is the poor and underprivileged who have to

suffer in the end. The community spirit is slowly degrading, as

the old community is made somehow invisible when the new one

is coming. It is being proclaimed how the old is bad and the new

is good, bringing benefits to everybody involved. More generally

speaking, communities cannot withstand consumerism’s ethics

and be dismissed as mere works of production, but rather have

to be looked at as an organically growing organism, which is

constantly influenced and challenged by social dynamics.

[ ]64

Southwark’s vertical city. 8

[ ]65

Another extensively used metaphor, especially by the

Southwark council planning committee, referred to the

as a vertical city, when talking about the variety of opportunities

in terms of jobs that will arise from this mixed used building-

residential flats, hotel, restaurant, viewing platform. Although it

has many different uses that could facilitate greater access to

jobs for Southwark residents, it is difficult to see how well the

building will be anchored in Southwark life given the gentrification

scheme. It is subsequently a poor reference to the sustainable

and eco friendly skyscrapers designed around an ecosystem

to sustain and enrich the building, which become part of the

discourse advocating a dialectical ecology. Despite this, it seems

important to note that technology is advancing at an accelerating

rate and standards of sustainable buildings are increasingly

higher. Ken Shuttleworth (2012) suggests in a discussion on tall

buildings how

“each generation thinks it has designed the ultimate building only to see many of them bulldozed when technology moves on”54

whilst alluding to the and its finite life in the current highly

competitive environment.

Paradoxically, the concept of a vertical city inclines more towards

a disconnection from the ground rather than a life injector

proposal as it is often talked about. In light of these conditions, it

appears that the building stands solely as a self-contained unit,

turning inwards and behaving independently and irrespectively

of its surroundings. These new developments are reducing the

[ ]66

city to a sterile environment. It is worth noting how the idea of

neighbourhoods has almost lost its meaning and reached a

sentimental point. It might be that the metaphor of a vertical

city is used as a response to the existential and highly debated

concerns around ecological discourse, however it is important

to point out how it disappointingly fails to overcome its semiotic

status.

[ ]67

“Junkspace thrives in design, but design dies in junkspace. There is no form, but proliferation…Regurgitation is the new creativity; instead of creation we honour, cherish and embrace manipulation…superstrings of graphics, transplanted emblems of franchise and sparkling infrastructures of light, LEDs and video describe an authorless world beyond anyone’s claim, always unique, utterly unpredictable, yet intensely familiar.”55

The perfectly fits in Deleuze’s philosophy (1983), as it longs

to emerge as an innovative piece of architecture. It reinforces

itself in an abstract world, in an abstract space designed as a

representation of an altered reality. Virtuality seems to stand at

its core.

6.2 Elements of display

[ ]68

Most images depict the building from far away, both to strengthen

the idea of domination and to reveal the contrasting character in

scale, size and imagery compared to other buildings in London,

which supposedly builds up the argument of an icon. None of the

images commissioned by the promoters of the building portray in

any way the idea of regeneration from a social point of view. The

pressure this new development will have over the already heated

area manifests itself through promoting a hyper futuristic living

environment.

(Figures 3, 4)

[ ]69

Images have been reduced to a play of transparency levels of the

façade, where space is seen as a continuous and homogenous

layer. They perform a critical role in re-mythologizing the character

of the city. The glass façade, for Mies, was giving back something

to the city through its reflections and play in transparency. It

made the building grounded and secured its architectural

possibilities. The ’s façade reflects back the sky, which makes

it even more disconnected and selfishly detached from the city.

(Figures 6, 7, 8)

Figure 15. View from Embankment Pier, Raluca Cirstoc, 2013.

[ ]70

It is important to note that there were no images commissioned

during construction phase showing the connection to the ground.

Furthermore, all other buildings in Southwark are ground

based, allowing for people to stop and walk in. The doesn’t

allow for this with ease as it stands on top of London Bridge

station, which is a pin-point, a transitory place characterized by

movement. One comes, one leaves.

Figure 16. View at ground level. Rob Telford, 2013.

[ ]71

Other set of images will depict the view from the up its spire

revealing the structure or the view across London. ( F i g u r e s

13, 14) It is breathtakingly fascinating to get a panorama

view across London at that height, however it does seem like

looking at a miniature city fading away at the bottom of the

One can get a view across London from the overly advertised

viewing gallery, situated at level 68, 69, and 72 reaching above

244m. It was meant to be a public space, which it still is, giving

something back, however its high entrance fee makes it rather

inaccessible. Who is it for, then? It almost implies that it has to

be seen from planes or helicopters of private investors or media

bodies, and it is not meant to be for the locals. This idea of

displacement could be easily connected with the fact that its real

context might not even be Southwark, but through its private

funding by international bodies, it is actually part of a global city

along with Dubai, New York or Seoul.

Figure 17. A collage of skyscrapers that don’t relate to each other or to the context. OMA, 2012.

[ ]72

There are as well images that convey a mere nostalgic character,

most of them showing St. Paul’s in the shade of this gigantic

glass structure. The cathedral is one of the last reminders of

religious iconography, a masterpiece of its time. Whether the

will indeed become a masterpiece and gracefully stand up in 400

years like St. Paul’s, evoking its time, shall remain enigmatic.

If we are to see this through Victor Hugo’s eyes, conceptually

speaking, we come to the conclusion that the production of

images has ‘killed’ the cathedral. (Figures 9, 10, 11, 12)

English Heritage only raised concerns about the corridor views

being affected, its scale, and strategically placing tall buildings by

not crowding them next to important landmarks. In response to

their concern, Sellar Property guaranteed that the building

“will open up the views of places like St Paul’s that have never been seen”56

It can be observed that preserving the views has been highly

controversial especially when the policy regulating heights lacks

clarity and consistency. There have been concerns of certain

historic parts of London being in danger of loosing their world

heritage status due to the impact of the new developments.

[ ]73

In order to reinforce the argument above, it is worth noting that

its symbolic imagery has been used in a Greenpeace protest on

the 11th of July this year concerning the extensive drilling in the

Arctic undertaken by Shell. The building was chosen for its

position between Shell’s headquarters but most importantly for

its resemblance to a piece of ice. The perception of the

would probably change accordingly. On one hand, the building is

being associated with the fragile ice that is being shattered by a

big company, but on the other hand, for some, it represents itself

the piece of ice that splintered London skyline.

Taking the above into consideration, it is worth noting that

language, but more specifically semiotic elements do not reflect

a pre-existent reality, but it is through their use that different

perceptions come alive. By scaling a building that resembles

a piece of ice, which almost has an uncanny feel to it through

its smoothness and deadly clean cut, a question of money and

power has been raised seeing the human body in comparison to

the scale of this immense object.Figure 18. Scaling the Shard. Greenpeace, 2013.

[ ]74

Another form of its symbolism has been used by a group of people

developing a game of chess. Skyline Chess came on the market

this year, proposing a game of chess played with 3D printed

buildings from the London skyline. This could be correlated

with Koolhaas’ image of two New York skyscrapers in bed

as a paradigm for bigness, drama, and the excitement and

tension of congestion. The as well does stand for the same

principles. Whether the game alludes to the planning

system or to the economical situation through its choice of

representing pawns as terraced houses and the queen as the

will remain an interesting question to be answered.

Figure 19. A game of chess. Skylinechess, 2013.

[ ]75

With regard to the true bearing of the building, it can be

confidently said that the is part of everyone’s lives. For

architects and cultural theorists opinions vary from a pyramid,

a one liner, a statement of power, a triumph of commercial

optimism to a despotic form, a landmark or a misplaced building.

It all depends whether the person speaking is Piano’s ex-partner

or whether it is the chairman of the National Trust expressing his

disapproval.

Therefore, what is it that the images of the building signify?

Judging the through Barthes’ theory (1968) of signifier, signified

and sign, the relationship between images and metaphors

concerning the building can be easily understood through the

semiological orders. Both Images and language representing the

building are the signs when looking at the first order. They become

for the second semiological order a signifier, something that gives

meaning. What they signify is what is being evoked in mind, and

that is money, power, wealth, perfection, icy cool, slipperyness,

untouchability. The second order carries a mythological function

that wants to reinforce itself as a sum of signs, a global sign, a

system of communication, which is not defined by the content of

its message but by the way in which it conveys the message.

[ ]76

[ ]77

7. Final Notes on the Spectacle

Representation plays an important role and those who use it, are

trying to be unique and revolutionary. The constant pursuit for

novelty is seen as being a continuation of the 20th century desire

for emancipation and radical shift. The images are intended

to proclaim a specific reading, and that is innovative, stunning

appearance, and unique look. However, the ceaseless efforts

of giving shape and life to an always-original architecture have

actually declined into a repetitive action of building the same that

has seemingly defeated uniqueness.

In order to reinforce the role representation plays, I would like

to take the example of Zaha’s Galaxy Soho building in Beijing

of which a leading Chinese developer builds an exact copy

but in a different part of China. Copying could be seen as both

fundamental for development but as well a threatening device to

originality. However, in the context of praising the image more

than the content, this seems to be a fair choice. On one hand,

Zaha has been copied for what she represents, and that is an

image of power, innovation and originality, consequently this falls

under the second semiological order- the myth. On the other

hand, she has been accused by the Beijing Cultural Heritage

Center for the fact that her designs are destroying the cultural

heritage and old town. 57

[ ]78

Figure 20. Laser show marks openoing of the Shard. 2013

[ ]79

Figure 21. Laser show marks opening of the Shard. 2013

[ ]80

Contemporary architecture seems to have converged into

promoting icons, concentrating on the expression of architectural

elements themselves, and even more, being inclined towards a

self-expression of the architect.

“If a work only expresses the person who created it, it wasn’t worth doing it.”58

By limiting the work to a pure embodiment of an image, today’s

architecture has become a dry indication of sameness and

boredom.

“Commodities even in their singularity wield an extra-sensory power capable of subverting human rational and spiritual capacities. Abstracted from their original context as a product of human labour, such commodities take on, for Marx, a power fully analogous to the religious fetish. When they work together in networks, the commodities that arise under industrial capitalism ‘talk to each other’, shaping a totalising environment … a manmade environment that appears to be natural while remaining wholly illusory. Humans move through such networks of commodities as through phantasmagoria, unable to exert control over themselves or their environment.” 59

On the other hand, FAT Architecture have explored, through their

Villa Rotunda model at the Venice Biennale in 2012, ideas of

copying in architecture as a positive and often misunderstood

concept. Copying requires an in depth understanding of the

source and in the same time embodies the concept of re-writing

meaning. However, if a copy is made in order to just represent

ideals of greatness it becomes a reminder of the spectacle.

[ ]81

The image orientated, superficially socially concerned, and sign

driven content of architecture today, as seen by studying

t h e , has been discussed before by critics and historians. My

argument here is that, this is not a matter of simply good approach

or bad approach, or good architecture and bad architecture, but it

is unquestionably a reflection and a product of our consumerism

based society. Today it is the spectacle of an image-saturated

and mediated society that appears to be driving the production

of space, representations otherwise proven unable to sustain

c o m m u n i t y orientated aims and principles of identity.

Therefore, the becomes an embodiment, a consequence of the

spectacle, but in the same time, it is through the Shard that the

spectacle creates the inescapable world of signs.

In a culture of the simulacrum60, the spectacle orientated society

is a product of the sophisticated socio-cultural, political and

economical dynamics of the post industrial capitalism.

[ ]82

[ ]83

Endnotes

1. Guy Debord, 2009. Society of the Spectacle, paragraph 1, p.24

2. Rem Koolhaas, 2001. Junkspace, p. 184.

3. Henri Lefebvre, 1974. The production of space, p. 44

4. Actors refers to all bodies involved in the debate, for example English Heritage, CABE, Prime

Minister, community, but it also implies a certain falsehood regarding roles that had to be played in

order to achieve a desired response.

5. Mark C. Taylor, Esa Saarinen, 1994. Imagologies- Media Philosophy, p. 13

6. Mark C. Taylor, Esa Saarinen, 1994. Imagologies- Media Philosophy, p. 18

7. Justification for the clearance of 1960s council estates in Owen Hatherley, 2013. The Shard: beacon

of the left’s skyline, The Guardian [online].

8. Selllar Property Group cited in Andy Dangerfield, 2010. Shard Lodon Bridge Skyscraper splinters

opinion, BBC News [online].



10. Irvine Seller chairman of Sellar Property Group cited in Anon., 2012. The Shard opens with laser

light show, The Telegraph [online].



12. Promotional Campaing from M&C Saatchi cited in Jennifer Faull, 2013. The view from the Shard

launches promotional campaing from M&C Saatchi, The Drum [online].

13. WSP’s lead structural engineer cited in Thomas Lane, 2007. Imagine that you are on level 80 and

you want a sandwich. How long will that take you?, Building.co.uk [online].





[ ]84

16. English Heritage cited in Rashid Razaq, 2011. St Paul’s in the shade of the Shard- still climbing [online]

17. Jonathan Jones, 2011. Shard attack: why don’t we rise up against this monstrosity?, The Guardian

[online]

18. DCMS spokesman cited in Anon., 2011. Unesco concern at Tower of London and Westminster

Buildings, BBC News [online]

19. Historic Royal Palaces report cited in Martin Bailey, 2013. Battle lines drawn to protect views of old

Lodon, The Art Newspaper [online].

20. Simon Jenkins, chairman of the National Trust, 2012. Skylines: Opinions on Renzo Piano’s Shard,

Lodon, The Architectural Review [online]

21. English Heritage cited in Ross Lydall, 2011. It’s not quite what Wren had in mind. Shard towers over

St Paul’s [online]

22. Christopher Woodward, 2012. Skylines: Opinions on Renzo Piano’s Shard, Lodon, The Architectural

Review [online]

23. Owen Hatherley, 2012. Skylines: Opinions on Renzo Piano’s Shard, Lodon, The Architectural Review

[online]

24. English Heritage cited in Ross Lydall, 2011. It’s not quite what Wren had in mind. Shard towers over

St Paul’s [online]

25. Ken Shuttleworth cited in Elizabeth Hopkirk, 2012. Shuttleworth says Shard won’t survive, bdonline.

co.uk [online]

26. Ken Livingstone cited in Elizabeth Hopkirk, 2012. I was right champion the Shard, says Ken Livingstone

[online]

27. Renzo Piano cited in Steve Winston, 2013. The Shard reshapes London’s skyline [online]

28. The Romans built a bridge across the city in 50AD at what is known today as London Bridge.

29. English Heritage cited in Anon., 2003. Tallest skyscraper given the go ahead [online]

30. Gillian Lacey- Solymar, 2004. Pretty vacant skyscrapers [online]

31. City of London: Evidence Policy, 2010. p. 11-12

32. Renzo Piano cited by Elizabeth Hopkirk, 2012. Shard a link to south London’s history, says Piano

[online]

33. The London Plan 2004, 3A.9 Affordable Housing targets, Mayor of London, The Greater London

[ ]85

Authority.

34. Victor Hugo, 2004. The Hunchback of Notre- Dame, ch II.

35. Feuerbach, Preface to the second edition of The Essence of Christianity cited in Guy Debord, 2009.

The Society of the Spectacle, p.23

36. Doug Spencer, 2001. Architectural Deleuzism, p.11

37. Giles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, 1983. Anti Oedipus Capitalism and Schizophrenia.

38. Lars Svenson, 1970. A philosophy of boredom, p.75

39. Alejandro Zaera Polo, 2008. The Politics of the Envelope, p.3

40. Rem Koolhaas, 2001. Junkspace, p.184

41. Henri Lefebvre, 1991. Production of Space, p.85


43. Adrian Forty, 2000. Words and Buildings: A vocabulary of Modern Architecture, p. 18

44. Adrian Forty, 2000. Words and Buildings: A vocabulary of Modern Architecture, p. 18


46. Peter Rees in a BD interview cited by David Rogers, 2012. Peter Rees: Rogers view on towers is

cobblers [online]


48. Guy Debord, 2009. Society of the Spectacle, paragraph 38, p. 36.

50. Juhani Pallasmaa, 2012. Human Experience and place sustaining identity, p. 19

51. Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown Brown, Steven Izenour, 1977. Learning from Las Vegas, p. 90.

52. Giles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, 1983. Anti Oedipus Capitalism and Schizophrenia. p. 87.

53. David Harvey, 1990. The condition of postmodernity, p.16

54. Ken Shuttleworth cited in Elizabeth Hopkirk, 2012. Shuttleworth says Shard won’t survive, bdonline.

co.uk [online]




57. Rose Etherington, 2013. Chinese Heritage Group “offended” by Zaha Hadid’s RIBA Award for

GalaxySoho [online]

[ ]86

58. Klossowski cited in Paul Brieslin, 2012. Human experience and place sustaining identity, p.17

59. Michael W Jennings, 1995. Invisible Cathedrals (penn State University) p.92

60. Jean Baudrillard’s theory on simulation

[ ]87

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Journals accessed through a database

Zaera Polo, A., 2008. The Polotics of the Envelope: A political Critique of Materialism. Volume Magazine [e-journal] issue 17 (76-105). Available through: Columbia Laboratory for Architectural Broadcasting at: http://c-lab.columbia.edu/images/0128.pdf, [Accessed 16th Jun 2013].

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