A Design Flaw Is Turning The London Shard Hotel Into A Voyeur’s Dream

A Design Flaw Is Turning The London Shard Hotel Into A Voyeur’s Dream

You’d think staying in the tallest skyscraper in London would afford you some privacy. But visitors at the newly opened hotel inside of the Shard are being creeped out by the bizarre effects of a simple design flaw — which reflects the view inside of certain rooms directly onto the windows of nearby guests at night.

According to The Guardian, a mistake in architect Renzo Piano’s detailing means that visitors to the Shangri-La Hotel are getting a perfect view into other rooms. And this isn’t your average Rear Window-type of situation you might find at hotels like the Standard in Manhattan, where guests knowingly show off inside of their glass-walled rooms. Because, in this case, visitors don’t realise they’re on display.

You see, the edges of Piano’s Shard jut out past the flat planes of the building’s facade — it’s a formal flourish that gives the building its crystalline appearance. But when the lights are on in any given room, the projecting glass edges act as mirrors beaming a reflection of one room’s interior onto the windows of another.

The hotel’s manager, presumably in a state of extreme panic, had the following to say about the little issue: “In some rooms, due to the unique shape of the Shard, guests may be able to glimpse into a neighbour’s room. For this, blinds are available for guest privacy.” That’s a sadly earnest comment — after all, here in New York, hotels actually use exhibitionism as a sales pitch. [The Guardian]

Picture: mikecphoto/Flickr


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