Architecture Watch: London's Shard Is Bigger Than Ours

Renzo Piano, the international starchitect responsible for our very own California Academy of Sciences, has envisioned a 72-story skyscraper in London that looks like a glassy big brother to the Transamerica Pyramid. (And we thought ours was tall.) "The Shard" will be a "vertical city" that paradoxically welcomes the public while maintaining an air of exclusivity and luxury, for residents, shoppers, and offices alike. Hitting London Bridge in 2012. And here we were thinking the era of lavish skyscrapers had ground to a halt! [Inhabitat]