Building in London that focuses the sun's rays and melts cars

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jpoc

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#129168 5-Sep-2013 17:54

I am sure that you guys will all have seen the news items this week about the new building in London that has been melting plastic parts on cars unwittingly parked in the way of the light focused by the buildings concave surface.

Some of you may even have remembered the hotel in Las Vegas with the selfsame problem and wondered if stupid architects will ever learn.

Well, at least one clearly did not learn the first time.

The guardian newspaper reports that it was the same architect on both jobs.

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/sep/04/walkie-talkie-screen-death-ray

The guy clearly has a problem.

andrewNZ

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#890481 5-Sep-2013 18:18

In his defense, it's the UK, no one could have predicted the sun would come out...

kiwifidget

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#890504 5-Sep-2013 18:53

I was in England in June/July and I was truly surprised when the sun came out and stayed out for several weeks. I even had to buy sunscreen! But that building is butt ugly, and it has completely ruined my photo of Tower Bridge.

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

langers1972

1039 posts

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#890526 5-Sep-2013 19:12

I never cease to be amazed that kiwis seem to think the weather here is better than the UK, from my 9 years of being on the Kapiti Coast it's no better and if anything slightly worse.

Granted I'm from Poole on the South Coast but still

LazyDr

262 posts

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#890571 5-Sep-2013 20:17

langers1972: I never cease to be amazed that kiwis seem to think the weather here is better than the UK, from my 9 years of being on the Kapiti Coast it's no better and if anything slightly worse.

Granted I'm from Poole on the South Coast but still

I'm kiwi and biased, no problem admitting that, but I know a lot of people who have moved here from the UK and I would say 90-100% of them think the weather is better here.

Of course there's some selection bias there with all of them having chosen to move here instead of stay in the UK..

Kapiti coast while a nice place, doesn't exactly epitomise typical kiwi weather either in my opinion

PaulBags

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#890687 6-Sep-2013 00:04

"This solution should minimise the impact on the local area over the next two to three weeks, after which time the phenomenon is expected to have disappeared," they said in a statement, blaming the problem on "the current elevation of the sun in the sky" – rather than the design of their building.

But, err, what about next year? Isn't the sun always at that elevation at that time of year?

Too funny.

Asmodeus

1015 posts

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#890790 6-Sep-2013 10:55

langers1972: I never cease to be amazed that kiwis seem to think the weather here is better than the UK, from my 9 years of being on the Kapiti Coast it's no better and if anything slightly worse.

Granted I'm from Poole on the South Coast but still

Well Auckland certainly has better weather than London for starters

It rains twice as much (in mm) in Auckland as it does in London, but Auckland gets 500+ more sunshine hours per year, I know which I'd rather have.

It is also warmer on average here in summer and in winter, doesn't freeze, and has less extremes.

PaulBags

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#891010 6-Sep-2013 16:44

I've lived all of my life in Christchurch. I've never been to London, but I was in Auckland in summer about 8 years ago. I never knew what +30c 100% humidity was until I stepped out of that airport, and frankly I never want to know again. It was like a giant had a fever, and I was trapped in it's armpit.

Then I went to big day out without any sunblock on. Derp.

So I guess it all depends on what you define as 'better'.

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Fred99

13684 posts

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#891299 7-Sep-2013 14:31

I've lived all over the place - you acclimatise to where you are quite quickly, within limits. Early in the monsoon season in equatorial asia is over my limit - when it hits 40 deg and 99% humidity, doesn't drop below 30 at night, and stays like that every day for weeks...
I realised that I had to leave Auckland when I bought my first motorcycle. It rained on Saturday and Sunday for 8 consecutive weekends.

ScuL

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#893093 11-Sep-2013 09:52

Asmodeus:
langers1972: I never cease to be amazed that kiwis seem to think the weather here is better than the UK, from my 9 years of being on the Kapiti Coast it's no better and if anything slightly worse.

Granted I'm from Poole on the South Coast but still

Well Auckland certainly has better weather than London for starters

It rains twice as much (in mm) in Auckland as it does in London, but Auckland gets 500+ more sunshine hours per year, I know which I'd rather have.

It is also warmer on average here in summer and in winter, doesn't freeze, and has less extremes.

You're quite correct. London is a lot less rainy than people are made to believe, in general the south of the UK is quite "dry" compared to the North / Scotland.
The hours of sunshine are 2007 for Auckland vs 1480 for London but the rainfall is about 1240mm for Auckland and only 592mm for London :)
Conclusion: Auckland is wetter but generally warmer/hotter.

I'm yet to visit the street where this building is located I may check it out, but people have been known to get blinded by the sheer beam of light coming off of it so better be careful :)

Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.

PaulBags

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#894388 11-Sep-2013 17:45

ScuL: ... The hours of sunshine are 2007 for Auckland vs 1480 for London but the rainfall is about 1240mm for Auckland and only 592mm for London :)
Conclusion: Auckland is wetter but generally warmer/hotter. ...

Sunshine doesn't necessarily make a place hotter*, look at how sunny winter can be. Heck, overcast days in winter can be warmer than sunny ones. Sunshine does make things brighter. Personally I'd prefer not blind and not wet, to blind and wet.

*Althrough probably true in this case.

mattwnz

20141 posts

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#894409 11-Sep-2013 18:41

jpoc: I am sure that you guys will all have seen the news items this week about the new building in London that has been melting plastic parts on cars unwittingly parked in the way of the light focused by the buildings concave surface.

Some of you may even have remembered the hotel in Las Vegas with the selfsame problem and wondered if stupid architects will ever learn.

Well, at least one clearly did not learn the first time.

The guardian newspaper reports that it was the same architect on both jobs.

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/sep/04/walkie-talkie-screen-death-ray

The guy clearly has a problem.

It would unlikely be the architects fault, as they would have designed for that not to happen, as obviously a concave building would do that. It is similar to using a magnifying galss to concentrate light on something , which generates enough to start a fire. So it is likely to be a glass reflectance problem or not enough fins on the surface, as they should have calculated for that sort of thing to reduce it's reflectance. The article i read is that it was likely cost cutting that led to it, which was likely some bean counter thought they could save some money. Blame the bean counters.