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Walkie Talkie tower, Fenchurch St crackles into life

editor said:
I have to say that close up I kind of grew to like it a bit.
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Apostate. :mad:

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” 2 Peter 2:1-3.
 
Here's what the article said:
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.
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Crispy said:
It also makes the mistake of having a concave, reflective south-facing facade. Here's a simulation of the focused "hot spots" that will result:

burn.jpeg


Compare how the flat-faced buildings give much fainter reflected light.
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This is not a trivial problem.
 
OMG, remember this?

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39403349/...y-vegas-hotel-pool-heats-guests/#.UiUDGDabN6J

Las Vegas has a new hot spot — but it's not a nightclub.
Guests at the new Vdara Hotel & Spa have complained that the glass skyscraper can magnify and reflect the sun's rays onto an area of the pool at temperatures hot enough to singe hair or melt plastic. It's a phenomenon that some hotel employees jokingly call the Vdara "death ray."
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Guess who the architect of the Vdara Hotel was?
Rafael Vinoly, also architect of 20 Fenchurch Street :D
 
Manter said:
do these people never do reviews of their buildings once they're built? Or even read their own press cuttings??!!
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Apparently not - as long as they've already been paid, it's no longer their problem.
 
Greebo said:
Apparently not - as long as they've already been paid, it's no longer their problem.
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Not true. When buildings have defects after completion and nobody fesses up, the court cases to apportion blame are often very strongly contested, with all the consultants and contractors fighting their corners. If the fault is found to lie with the design, rather than the implementation, then the architect (or structural engineer or services engineer, or whoever was responsible for the incorrect design) can be liable for correcting the fault.
 
Crispy said:
Not true. When buildings have defects after completion and nobody fesses up, the court cases to apportion blame are often very strongly contested, with all the consultants and contractors fighting their corners. If the fault is found to lie with the design, rather than the implementation, then the architect (or structural engineer or services engineer, or whoever was responsible for the incorrect design) can be liable for correcting the fault.
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Thanks for that - how often does the architect have to put it right though? There was that stainless steel clad Disney building (in LA?) where some of the outside panels had to be sanded to stop it creating a hotspot, I only heard of that this morning.
 
Greebo said:
Thanks for that - how often does the architect have to put it right though? There was that stainless steel clad Disney building (in LA?) where some of the outside panels had to be sanded to stop it creating a hotspot, I only heard of that this morning.
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I was about to mention the same building. No idea who was found liable for that one. I also don't know how it works overseas.

However, it's common these days for the contractor to be liable regardless, as many contracts are of the "design and build" type. This means that the chain of command goes client->contractor->architect. The architect is contracted by the builder to provide design services, but it is the contractor's responsibility to finalise the design and make sure that it is correct. This sort of contract is beneficial to clients, because a contractor will happily cut corners in the design to save money, whereas architects tend to insist on all their expensive niceties.

In this case, however, the design flaw is so gross, no contractor could reasonably be expected to alter the design to fix it. I predict a complicated court case.
 
Crispy said:
However, it's common these days for the contractor to be liable regardless, as many contracts are of the "design and build" type. This means that the chain of command goes client->contractor->architect. The architect is contracted by the builder to provide design services, but it is the contractor's responsibility to finalise the design and make sure that it is correct. This sort of contract is beneficial to clients, because a contractor will happily cut corners in the design to save money, whereas architects tend to insist on all their expensive niceties.
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Are novated agreements still common? I.e., client employs architect, architect designs the building to such a point that contractors can price up and submit a tender, successful contractor then becomes the architect's employer (at which point, the contractor tries to cut costs on everything and the architect gets upset at all their lovely detailing being thrown out on grounds of cost).

There were/are problems with the Shard; at certain times of day, the sunlight reflects off the glass straight into the eyes of train drivers approaching London Bridge - it can be really blinding! There were meetings between the developers, Network Rail, the TOCs and the unions, but I'm not sure what the outcome was.
 
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_pH_ said:
Are novated agreements still common? I.e., client employs architect, architect designs the building to such a point that contractors can price up and submit a tender, successful contractor then becomes the architect's employer (at which point, the contractor tries to cut costs on everything and the architect gets upset at all their lovely detailing being thrown out on grounds of cost).
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That's exactly the terminology used in such design & build contracts.
 
Crispy said:
That's exactly the terminology used in such design & build contracts.
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I've worked on a couple designing the landscape element - a right pain in the arse when the client is happy with the outline design work then the contractor pressures you to change half of it because they screwed up the QS in their bid.
 
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