Sometimes your car can feel like an oven when you open it on a hot summer day, but for a few unlucky drivers in London, parts of their cars were melted after they were hit by concentrated rays of sunlight from the new skyscraper on 20 Fenchurch Street.
The new skyscraper, being designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, features a concave face. At certain times of the day, this face of the building concentrates sunlight onto one section of Eastcheap Street. The temperature from this death ray warped part of the mirror and bodywork of a parked Jaguar and melted plastic parts of a nearby van. Fortunately, the contractors will pay for the damages.
Although Viñoly is an accomplished architect with a large body of work, another building of his has faced a similar problem. The Vdara hotel in Las Vegas has a concave face also, which focuses a death ray of sunlight onto the hotel’s own pool deck. While the most hardcore, sun-dried, leathery-brown sunbathers may love it, it has proved a dangerous, super-hot nuisance to most. Architects, please design responsibly! (unless, of course, you’re Doctor Doom)
Source: dailymail.co.uk
