As well as sunlight, the building also focused the wind downwards when it blew onto the concave side, turning the street below into a wind tunnel with gusts powerful enough to knock people over. The fact that Vinoly pushed ahead with this design when a previous concave building of his had already demonstrated the heat ray problem says a lot about the mindset of architects like him.
And for that matter, the total lack of oversight towards said architects - nobody watching and going "hmmmm, this Vinoly character really likes his giant death traps, eh? Maybe we should ask him *not* to do it again."
Mr. Viñoly managed to pull a similar stunt with the Hotel Vdara in freaking Las Vegas, which has significantly more sun hours than London. He has a habit of building ugly Death Ray Skyscrapers. I always wanted to check out the Death Ray Skyscraper in London. Didn't get around doing so so far. Hopefully when I visit London again in the future.
@Főfasírozó How many useful facts have you learned from them and are able to recall? I'm not talking about how many miles an aussi treefrog walks a day, or the average hight of some canadian tree, nor Hitlers favorite chocolate.
@@theuselessboii9751 if it's london it's more likely "yo blud what is that building doin firing lazers at me mums ford K.A ima hav to stab him GANGWAY"
A building, or edifice, is a structure with a roof and[1] walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory.[1] Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for a wide number of factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, land prices, ground conditions, specific uses, and aesthetic reasons. To better understand the term building compare the list of nonbuilding structures. Various examples of buildings throughout history Buildings serve several societal needs - primarily as shelter from weather, security, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical division of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) and the outside (a place that at times may be harsh and harmful). Ever since the first cave paintings, buildings have also become objects or canvasses of much artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable planning and building practices has also become an intentional part of the design process of many new buildings.
The British are never particularly inspiring when it comes to nicknames. When the Millennium Bridge had a frequency problem and wobbled a few weeks after construction, it became infamously known as “The Wobbly Bridge”.
Something similar happened in The Netherlands when they build the new Rotterdam Central Station, it has a aluminium roof that, at several days in the year at a specific stand of the sun, created a "flash" of sunlight which blinded the train drivers when they drove near the signals of the station... The architect of the station knew it might happen but had no idea that it would be classified as a high risk. That's why the station has nowadays a lot of dents in the roof, to prevent drivers being blinded by the sunlight when passing the signals... And at least, I can say I had a very important role in the design of the building (I was the safety-investigator who ordered the roof had to be changed).
Low sun blinding train drivers or reflecting off signal aspects can also be a problem; the latter may even have helped cause the Ladbroke Grove disaster.
I'm from Pakistan faisalabad, one of the most driest and hottest cities in the world and a building melting cars and shop floor mats in London seems quite offensive to me cause nothing that awesome happens here despite roasting under 50c every summer. Quite an awesome documentary! Do share more!
The design also addressed a commitment by the developers to provide more public space than the footprint of the building by making it bigger at the top than the base and including a free to visit public garden at the top
"... and the current owner is Lee Kum Kee..." Me, sarcastically: Ha, that name sounds just like the maker of my soy sauce! What a silly coincidence! "... a company that makes sauces ..." Me: *surprised Pikachu face*
But if you intend to execute the guy by heat rays (so you _want_ to get sunshine), you're not going to get any sunshine, as explained in 2:18. So, tying him there solves the problem altogether. That's really smart, actually.
"It directed sunlight with a concave shape, there's a legend that archaemades built something similar to burn ships... nothing to do with this video related to a concave shape burning things of course."
@@wisico640 It's ugly by design. I don't know what architects think to themselves building such atrocious structures. What about the Dildo skyscraper in the UK?
Yes. Some of his previous designs did exactly the same thing, which makes his comment about "unexpected sunshine" much more a sign of incompetence or arrogance than anything else.
Not expecting sunshine in London is a bit silly but I can maybe understand how someone would make that mistake. Not expecting sunshine in Vegas, however...
Especially as this isn't even the first building designed by this architect which had _exactly this problem_ . A previous building designed by him in Las Vegas (which imho is a lot less ugly; it's apparently called the Vdara hotel and Spa, more info on it (and the focusing problem) here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vdara ) had *already had this problem* in 2010, but that didn't stop him from running headlong into the same issue again. Even if the design/planning/approval/construction process had advanced too far to significantly change the structure, you'd have thought that the developers might want to take some proactive steps _before_ they risked accidentally starting fires and/or hurting people.
@@harbl99 True, however their intention to make it stand out could of been done differently other than making the structure look like a mini fridge but that's my thought on it yours might differ
As a foreigner I do not intend to interfere in home affairs but I wish to express my gratitude to this masterpiece of british/english humor or/and nonsense. Especially @:2:17
London is so massive it doesn't make a difference. Also the most the skyscrapers near it are taller than it so it doesn't stand out that bad and has never bothered me, although it is of course quite ugly
@@eruno_ I am fond of Brutalist structures for no discernable reason. Maybe I just like how the *solid raw concrete, glass and steel* ease my insecurities.
Also known as the "Fryscraper", The architect who designed it, Rafael Viñoly, has previous for death ray buildings, he had previously designed the Vdara hotel in Las Vegas which was capable of scorching the guests using the pool and the patio area. The owners called it "Solar convergence", the staff called it "Death ray."
I would never imagine I will ever listen over a 6 minute documentary of roasting a building in many level I never could have imagine. But I'm glad it happened, nice video!
Apparently the architect DID learn from this, and specified a certain type of glass be used in Fenchurch Street. Unfortunately the builders then decided they could save money by ignoring this, and the problem resurfaced.
I love the City of London and its huge mix of buildings. I think it works because generally, the modern buildings have been constructed with a sizable budget and even if they're ugly (a matter of opinion), they're strikingly so, rather than just being a thrown-up concrete lump.
they look really cool but also just as soulless if they all have the same designs and little passion. I can only really compare it to a city like New York which has, in my opinion, the best mix of both possible. Until you look at those central park monstrosities.
failtolawl I think the architect companies don’t really care and invest much on how the building will look like on the outside ,its more of what is inside ,unless it is skyscrapers that have a goal to be a Tourist spot
I’m from Canada but this channel has me more interested in some of the most specific architectural features of London than in many parts of my own country or city. Well done!
Yes , the myth is that it is always raining ! Actually we have 4 definite seasons, with the appropriate weather for each. Though sometimes it does mix around a bit.
The number one rule of english weather is that it never does what you want or expect it to do. The sunny corollary of english weather is that there are sunny days in Britain but only when you don’t want them.
I've been working in this area since April. Pretty much every day I'm there I'll wander up to Eastcheap to buy a sandwich. I'm profoundly conflicted by this building like no other. The sweep of the curves is dramatic, the impossibility of it being wider at the top that at the bottom is something to marvel at. It carries its self with poise and dignity when viewed from some angles. The trouble is from others it glares down at the Victorian Neo-Gothic in Eastcheap (themselves a vision inspired by laudanum and tertiary syphilis) like the administrative HQ of a repressive techno-state.
Odd that the designer didn't realise it would become a death Ray when it's older sister building was already having these issues before the Walkie Talkie was built
The architect did (realise) and made allowance for it. But the developers decided that London isn't Las Vegas, there wouldn't be enough sun, and it would be cheaper to do without it. So it cost them about three times as much to retrofit as it would have done in the first place.
I love this style of video. Informative yet riddled with British humour with the dry delivery that it's so famous for. Never ceases to be good for a nice chuckle.
