It should be a posh, new office building in the bank quartier of London, with a platform giving a view over the whole city. But now you are forced to avoid the environment of 20 Fenchurch Strees, because the skycraper „Walkie Talkie“ which is still in construction reflects the sunlight in the way that there are heat exhaustions on the other side of the road. Responsable for that situation is the concave form of the 160m high building, which truss the shafts of sunlight like a burning glass and makes plasters of the road burst, floor mats and cushions burn and pieces of a car like the car dashboard and a mirror of a londoner businessman‘s Jaguar melt. Journalists jokes with hat and fried eggs on a pan on the street.
The architect from Uruguay Rafael Viñoly gives responsability to the climate change, because when he came to London years ago it wasn‘t that sunny. Furthermore he complained about the missing of the right technique for calculating the development of heat through the glass of the building. However the Walkie Talkie Tower isn‘t his only buidling with the sneering named „death race“. At his Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas, built in 2003, the same phenomenon can be observed. The pool became ardent and the sunbeds melt.
To bridge the time of the high standing sun and the danger of the race, the owner put frames and black nets to protect people and shops. Also the parkings in front of the building have been closed. How to resolve the problem permanently, isn‘t known yet.