'walkie Talkie' Skyscraper Melts Nearby Parked Cars

[thecrashingisles]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2409073/Walkie-Talkie-building-melts-car-reflecting-sunlight-concentrated-spot.html

A £200million skyscraper has had an undeniably dazzling effect on passers-by – but not, unfortunately, the one intended by its architect.

20 Fenchurch Street, better known as the Walkie Talkie due to its distinctive shape, is reflecting blinding rays of light onto the street below, damaging the panels and wing mirror of a Jaguar XJ.

The car belongs to Martin Lindsay, the director of a tiling company, who parked his Jaguar in central London's Eastcheap on Thursday afternoon.

Are we due for a re-run of the great fire of London thanks to flawed skyscraper design?

[EMac]

Could be an opportunity if you bought an electric car. Stick some panels on the roof and park up on that street for a quick top-up

[thecrashingisles]

http://www.cityam.com/article/1378168613/walkie-scorchie-sets-carpet-fire-cracks-tiles-and-melts-paint

Carpets and doors being burnt too.

[Errol]

I find it hard to believe that nobody building this realised what would happen.

[ubuntu]

do Land Securities own the building? Hope they get done for it

[The Knimbies who say No]

I find it hard to believe that nobody building this realised what would happen.

Agreed, a terrible design flaw. It doesn't take much concentration of sunlight to get unbearable conditions.

[interestrateripoff]

Been on BBC news, reporter said the owners blamed the position of the sun at certain times of the day. I think he did well to keep a straight face.

Fixing this could could a few million as they'll probably need to replace all the glass with something that doesn't reflect the sun.

[EMac]

I guess it's cheaper than finding a way to move the pesky Sun which had the audacity to be in the wrong position

[RentingForever]

"Concave mirrors concentrate sunlight at a focal point, shocked architects discover!"

What with this and the "wobbly" Millennium Bridge, maybe it's time architects got some in-house physicists in on their major projects?

[RentingForever]

Are we due for a re-run of the great fire of London thanks to flawed skyscraper design?

Rather amusingly, the Walkie Talkie is only a few hundred meters from Pudding Lane!

[Travisher]

And of course there is the 'hair dryer' south of the river with its noisy wind turbines. Who would have guessed that funnelling the wind would cause turbulence through which the blades can't fly? Don't architects fly on planes? Wind turbines are wings, they need a smooth laminar flow of air to work. Deflecting wind off the building into the blades was doomed from the start.

Still they probably still get a FIT subsidy for having put them on the building so that is all right.

[billybong]

Apparently most if not all of the building's tenants will be from the financial sector.

Maybe the architects just did their best.

Such a prestigious building with the aim to be as near to the financial centre as possible should have been on Threadneedle Street near to the BoE Headquarters.

[GloomMonger]

Apparently most if not all of the building's tenants will be from the financial sector.

Maybe the architects just did their best.

Such a prestigious building with the aim to be as near to the financial centre as possible should have been on Threadneedle Street near to the BoE Headquarters.

A building full of bankers with a deathray firing down on the plebs. Sounds like a design masterpiece.

[Bemusedmover]

In my experience architects are only interested in "design kudos"

both the actual build costs and results of "daring" to build are of no interest whatsoever................

................how many TV programs have demonstrated this theory?????????????????

[billybong]

A building full of bankers with a deathray firing down on the plebs. Sounds like a design masterpiece.

and the architect would know the majority of pedestrians etc in that area would be from the banking and financial sector as well.

Bankers raying bankers from the "City" - neat.

[Sledgehead]

Architect : "So cool ; look, the reflection turns everything upside - down!"

I'd call the consequences a lucky escape. Odeillo Font-Romeu produces temperatures of 3000 celsius.

[SpewLabour]

I did laugh when I saw this. I'll pop round there tomorrow afternoon and see how hot it gets.

[chronyx]

Architect : "So cool ; look, the reflection turns everything upside - down!"

[juvenal]

Would wearing Ray Bans solve the problem?

[FreeTrader]

"Interviewed in front of the towering concave structure this afternoon, a smiling Mr Viñoly insisted the design was not an issue."

[MattW]

Is the Walkie Talkie hot property in the real estate market?

*grabs jacket and leaves*

[billybong]

If they put the building on a rotating bearing it would be even more effective.

[Self Employed Youth]

Fixing this could could a few million as they'll probably need to replace all the glass with something that doesn't reflect the sun.

I'm pretty sure they could just apply a sprayable coating to the glass to change it's properties and avoid reflection of sunlight to the degree it is now.

[billybong]

.

[macca]

I'm pretty sure they could just apply a sprayable coating to the glass to change it's properties and avoid reflection of sunlight to the degree it is now.

Or better still knock the eyesore down and stop cramming pointless corporate trophy buildings into the city and build affordable housing or a library.