Building Melts Car

eionmac writes "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."

Talk about a sensationalist headline

[Anonymous Coward]

If you say "Building melts car," I expect to see a photo of an entire car melted. Seriously.

Firies will tell you

[mynamestolen]

that it's not uncommon for plastic bottles of water to cause fires when the sun's rays are focussed through them. Don't leave your bottles in the sun.

Re:Don't build big convex glass buildings

[Zontar The Mindless]

I'm pretty sure you meant "big concave glass buildings".

Re:Don't build big *concave* glass buildings

[ab8ten]

Yep. That hotel in Vegas, The Vdara, was designed by Rafael Vinoly. The London building was designed by..... Yep. Rafael Vinoly. No joke.

Re:Prior art in Las Vegas

[ab8ten]

Same architect as the London tower :-D

Re:Happened in L.A., too...

[RabidReindeer]

Locally, I worked in a building that had an IBM mainframe on the 9th floor. A large building erected across the river had an an angled base and reflective sides and about 4 in the afternoon, the focal point was right on us. Had to install solar film to keep from overheating.