Accidental Archimedian Death-Ray Partially Melts Cars

[Alyrium Denryle]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23930675

A new London skyscraper dubbed the "Walkie Talkie" has been blamed for reflecting light which melted parts of a car parked on a nearby street.

Martin Lindsay parked his Jaguar on Eastcheap, in the City of London, on Thursday afternoon.

When he returned about two hours later, he found parts of his car - including the wing mirror and badge - had melted.

Mr Lindsay said he "could not believe" the damage. The developers have apologised and paid for repairs.

The 37-storey skyscraper at 20 Fenchurch Street, which has been nicknamed the "Walkie Talkie" because of its shape, is currently under construction.

'Dangerous'
Mr Lindsay, director of tiling company Moderna Contracts Ltd, said: "I was walking down the road and saw a photographer taking photos and asked, 'what's happening?'

"The photographer asked me 'have you seen that car? The owner won't be happy.'

"I said: 'I am the owner. Crikey, that's awful.'"

The wing mirror, panels and Jaguar badge had all melted, Mr Lindsay said.

"You can't believe something like this would happen," he added. "They've got to do something about it.

"It could be dangerous. Imagine if the sun reflected on the wrong part of the body.

"On the windscreen, there was a note from the construction company saying 'your car's buckled, could you give us a call?'"

In a joint statement, developers Land Securities and Canary Wharf said: "We are aware of concerns regarding the light reflecting from 20 Fenchurch Street and are looking into the matter.

"As a precautionary measure, the City of London has agreed to suspend three parking bays in the area which may be affected while we investigate the situation further."

Mr Lindsay said the developers had apologised and agreed to sort out the £946 repair costs.

What more can be said, really?

[Broomstick]

England gets direct sunlight? I thought it was supposed to be under perpetual overcast and fog...

Wasn't there a building somewhere in Florida with similar problems a few years back?

[Alyeska]

This has happened repeatedly with new buildings having super reflective coatings. One museum was covered in stainless steel. After construction finished the neighbors power bill doubled. AC had to work over time to keep buildings cool. In Dallas a building was renovated and included super reflective windows. Neighboring buildings suddenly had all plant life facing the renovated building dying from being burnt to death by the massive increase in sunlight.

This shit needs to be regulated and covered in building codes.

[Zed Snardbody]

One of the casinos in Vegas was doing something similar to the pool area and burning people.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

How do they even get permits for that? Do they think they will be invaded by Romans in wooden ships?

[Broomstick]

I suspect it's more a matter of unintended consequences than anything else.

[Zaune]

England gets direct sunlight? I thought it was supposed to be under perpetual overcast and fog...

That's climate change for you.

[Grumman]

How do they even get permits for that? Do they think they will be invaded by Romans in wooden ships?

They get permits because they aren't putting enough thought into the consequences of an "artistic" design. An ordinary, flat-walled skyscraper, even if it's a perfect mirror, simply creates an equally sized area of equal brightness. A concave skyscraper like this one reflects the same amount of light, but instead of focusing a skyscraper's worth of light on an area the size of a skyscraper, it focuses the same amount of light on a smaller area.

[Tsyroc]

England gets direct sunlight? I thought it was supposed to be under perpetual overcast and fog...

Wasn't there a building somewhere in Florida with similar problems a few years back?

I think the building in Florida was a hotel in Miami and it tended to cook patrons who were by the pool at certain times of the day.

[Jerry the Vampire]

Also it's something that happens in cartoons therefore whoever approved it wouldn't think it possible.

[Ahriman238]

I suspect it's more a matter of unintended consequences than anything else.

Yes. Yes! Zee giant heat ray is meant, how you say? For peaceful reasons. Yes.

In all seriousness, I've heard even of houses melting the plastic siding of other houses, though I can't imagine what they did to the first house. So it probably really is people not thinking things through or seriously believing their pet project could really do that. Kind of awkward to swap out your $30 million skyscraper design halfway through because you've discovered it can damage nearby cars. Far more reasonable to ban parking in the areas most likely affected.

[Purple]

I suspect it's more a matter of unintended consequences than anything else.

Yes. Yes! Zee giant heat ray is meant, how you say? For peaceful reasons. Yes.

In all seriousness, I've heard even of houses melting the plastic siding of other houses, though I can't imagine what they did to the first house. So it probably really is people not thinking things through or seriously believing their pet project could really do that. Kind of awkward to swap out your $30 million skyscraper design halfway through because you've discovered it can damage nearby cars. Far more reasonable to ban parking in the areas most likely affected.

It's far more reasonable to punish what ever rich investors are making money of building said project than to cause permanent inconvenience to a myriad of average people. They had the benefit of forethought, planing and modern science on their side. Your post is like saying that it's better to ban people playing in mine fields than to tell people who are half way done with their work that they really should not lay landmines in the middle of the city.

[Ahriman238]

Oh, I'm sorry. Sarcasm poorly expressed over the internet.

Obviously, if you've spent millions of dollars on a project it will seem far more reasonable for other people to rearrange their lives around it or for someone else, anyone else, to pay to fix your mistake.

[Purple]

Oh, I'm sorry. Sarcasm poorly expressed over the internet.

Obviously, if you've spent millions of dollars on a project it will seem far more reasonable for other people to rearrange their lives around it or for someone else, anyone else, to pay to fix your mistake.

I did not catch that. My bad than.

[Zaune]

This sort of thing happens quite often, it seems. Notice the building in Leeds that's been linked to one death and one hospitalisation.

[Highlord Laan]

This has happened repeatedly with new buildings having super reflective coatings. One museum was covered in stainless steel. After construction finished the neighbors power bill doubled. AC had to work over time to keep buildings cool. In Dallas a building was renovated and included super reflective windows. Neighboring buildings suddenly had all plant life facing the renovated building dying from being burnt to death by the massive increase in sunlight.

This shit needs to be regulated and covered in building codes.

but muh freedum

[Borgholio]

Happened to the Disney Concert hall here in L.A. They had to roughen up the polished stainless steel panels on the outside to keep the reflected heat down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disne ... n_problems

[Crossroads Inc.]

And wasn't the Disney building designed by a certain Frank Gehry? Hack of Hacks?
Making something that fries bystanders is the least of his problems, many of his buildings have had structural issues.

[Borgholio]

It's still standing as far as I know. Perhaps he just got lucky with this design...