[Closed] Parabolic office block melts car

Haha! That'll teach 'em..
Wouldn't necessarily like to come back to my bike being melted to be fair.. 😯

[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/walkie-talkie-melts-a-car ]Ooops[/url]

How did they get a multi-storey Archimedes' Death Ray through planning?

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

Typo? Or, I think all journalists should add some letters rather than *s!

Bucking hell.

It's such an ugly building, too. I quite like the Gherkin, but it's now being overshadowed by three ugly rectangular blocks.
I'm not sure that it would have been possible to forecast this happening, but my sympathies lie with the poor bloke coming back to find that damage.
I [i]think[/i] the note should have said 'buckled', but you can never tell with builders... 😉

The 'walkie talkie'.
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[/url][url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_furnace ]The rather famouls Odeillo Solar Furnace.[/url] (BTW its ace, go an visit it.
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What kind of sheltered and unscientific life the architects of this building must lead. 😕

I'll see your solar furnace and raise you this...

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I work for a company that makes bits for them.

From this angle, the building looks flat, and it's actually further away from the three behind than I'd thought.
Still ugly, though, and looking at it, I've realised that that curved face is looking south, so it has the sun on it all day.
You would have thought that they might have considered how reflected sunlight might behave with that curved face...

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Our new office that. Moving in March. Walked past it today without combusting. Luckily.

If I built something on my house that melted cars in the street I'm pretty sure that Building Control would make me remove it...

I'm quite impressed by the response of the developers though. Seemed to have owned up without any prompt and paid up. They should market the marking spot as a recharging point for solar powered cars 😀

I'm quite impressed by the response of the developers though. Seemed to have owned up without any prompt and paid up.

Well, it was either them or the big spherical place over the road.

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Ive visited the Odiello solar furnace, they have a big block of stone that was melted to form glass as an exhibit. Beats frying ants with a magnifying glass.

Well, it was either them or the big spherical place over the road.

Alan Sugar as seen earlier today in his new office block in London...

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Could you make a Solar Death Ray Tower out of wood McM?

I used to work for the architect who designed that and helped make some of the early concept models. Bearing in mind the lack of anonymity on a public forum I best keep my trap shut... 😉

I am reading this book at the moment.
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He is pretty scathing about these buildings in London which get nicknamed by the architect/builder (and not the people. IIRC the Gherkin is a genuine nickname, the other recent ones are fabricated) and then 'marketed as such: "Oooh look, our building is like a giant shard, we're like sooooo quirky!".

From this angle, the building looks flat,

It looks like a giant dropped an old Nokia.

Believe me, Rafael didn't want it called the 'walkie talkie'!

The Shoe Horn?

TBH honest I thought that the fact the gent was driving an obviously new(ish) car that still used wing mirrors was more shocking. Come on Jaguar, get with the program, mount the mirrors on the DOOR, not the wing.

Impressively pedantic!

There's a hotel in Vegas with the same problem: [url= http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/29/vdara-hotel-death-ray-claiming-victims-in-the-las-vegas-strip/ ]http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/29/vdara-hotel-death-ray-claiming-victims-in-the-las-vegas-strip/[/url]

Wouldn't have happened if they made it out of steel.

Best Regards, UK steel manufacturer.

Not made of steel?

What is it made of then?

Cheese of course.

There's a hotel in Vegas with the same problem

Wouldn't it be hilarious if it was designed by the same architect as the 'walkie talkie'... 😉

I quite like this in the Vegas story:

A totally unforeseen and unpredictable consequence of building a 57-foot curved mirror in the desert

13,000 tonnes of structural and reinforcing steel

That not enough for you, UK steel manufacturer?

The steel frame was made in UK at factories in Bury, Scarborough and Wetherb and was installed by Bury-based William Hare Structural Engineers.

Or did you want it clad in steel too, with arrow slits?

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Same thing happens with the new front of the Colston Hall in Bristol to a lesser extent. First thing in the morning there's a spot on the pavement out front which is incredibly hot to walk past/through. The metal has started to weather now though so not so bad.

Not made of steel?

What is it made of then?

Its a Jag XJ no? Aluminium.

13,000 tonnes of structural and reinforcing steel

That not enough for you, UK steel manufacturer?

The car! But no, more steel use please.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if it was designed by the same architect as the 'walkie talkie'...

Only a complete ass-hat could design two buildings with the same fault... 😀

Well, there's a right media scrum converged on a bright patch of pavement on Eastcheap at the moment. The great and the good of the world's media are assembled, filming an egg in a frying pan.

As we all know, frying eggs are to tempertature as Wales is to area.

Only a complete ass-hat could design two buildings with the same fault

a friend has been to see it today, its quite a tourist attraction....

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I'm quite impressed by the response of the developers though.

I'm more impressed at the response of the owner:

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

"Crikey" - yep that's exactly the word I would use if I'd just discovered someone had melted my Jaguar! 😆

I like the fact that it's now called the Fryscraper which sounds far less endearing than the walkie-talkie. I hope it sticks.

http://www.businessinsider.com/architect-behind-the-walkie-talkie-building-2013-9

I hope that Mr Viñolyis' PI insurance gets spanked to within an inch of its life.

Whoever said modern architecture was all smoke and mirrors?

there's a right media scrum converged on a bright patch of pavement on Eastcheap at the moment

I walked through the scrum at lunchtime, didn't know what was happening until I walked past and my beard nearly set on fire...
Interestingly, there were a lot of Asian TV crews there.
I really wouldn't be surprised if they did it on purpose for a bit of media exposure and that the aluminium car was a plant.

Oddly, even though it's just over the road, I haven't got round to heading over to have a look yet!

I did stay at the other hotel mentioned in that article above recently though, the Aria. Could only really see it from one of the pools at the back, but it sure as hell was a bright reflection! Didn't think anything about it at the time, though, no idea it was frazzling people!

I hope that Mr Viñolyis' PI insurance gets spanked to within an inch of its life.

If I was the glazing manufacturer/designer or glass manufacturer I would be hastily looking through my paperwork as well. The only people who are going to do well out of this one are the contractor and the solicitors

They say the phenomenon is only going to last 2 or 3 weeks, but surely as the sun gets lower in the sky, the point of focus will just move up the buildings opposite?

If I was the glazing manufacturer/designer or glass manufacturer I would be hastily looking through my paperwork as well

They will have nothing to worry about if they have followed the spec (assuming non D&B).

Am i the only person that thinks the building looks absolutely nothing like a walkie talkie?

no, I've never heard it referred to as that either.
we call it the upside down cheese grater at work, but I like Fryscraper a lot.

Lolz @ fry scraper

*goes back to looking at the blonde* that bloke behind her is staring at her arse!

Houns, quite glad that wasn't me! There are some eye-catching bums around!

There are some eye-catching bums around!

It's certainly been a bit of a Black Iridium week so far, hasn't it? 8)

so, did the egg actually fry then?

Black Iridium week

normally I race home on my bike, but sometimes it's nice to take in the scenery at a more leisurely pace...

Fryscraper! Genius, I wish I'd thought that one up. 😀
It is a really ugly building, though; it has no real redeeming features that I can see. Nor do the others surrounding the Gerkin. Bloke in the paper today reporting on it measured the temp at nearly 98?!
Pity it isn't right on the river, could have done an Archimedes, and fried waterborne invaders.

I like the fact that it's now called the Fryscraper which sounds far less endearing than the walkie-talkie. I hope it sticks.

More to the point, how are those Jags going to survive places like Oz and Middle East?

It might be a non-stick fryscraper.

More to the point, how are those Jags going to survive places like Oz and Middle East?

Architect would appear to be yet another title that means 'pay me lots to do splendidly unintelligent stuff.'

They say the phenomenon is only going to last 2 or 3 weeks, but surely as the sun gets lower in the sky, the point of focus will just move up the buildings opposite?

I've a meeting across the street next week - best get my man to pack the sunnies & slap!

we call it the upside down cheese grater at work

Is that to go with the actual cheesegrater at Leadenhall?

I too went past it today - I was in Maplin at about 10 and it was in shade, but come lunchtime the whole area was packed.

Nottingham had / has got a death mirror that could incinerate pigeons

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/mar/07/paulkelso1

Designed by Anish Kapoor

I rode around the fry scraper today as it happens, nice building that, no jags in sight though 😆

So that must be how Pinnarello give their bikes their 'unique' shape.

Well, it was either them or the big spherical place over the road.

I go past it every day and I've heard a few people refer to it as the 'Deathstar'.

so there's a bicycle chained up in the beam of the death ray and the saddle is smouldering so they're throwing water at it. about 150 people down there now...