

The Las Vegas "Death Ray" - cwan
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/las-vegas-death-ray.html

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cyunker
The Disney Concert Hall in LA had similar problems.

"Some residents of the neighboring condominiums suffered glare caused by
sunlight that was reflected off these surfaces and concentrated in a manner
similar to a parabolic mirror. The resulting heat made some rooms of nearby
condominiums unbearably warm, caused the air-conditioning costs of these
residents to skyrocket and created hot spots on adjacent sidewalks of as much
as 60 °C (140 °F). After complaints from neighboring buildings and residents,
the owners asked Gehry Partners to come up with a solution. Their response was
a computer analysis of the building's surfaces identifying the offending
panels. In 2005 these were dulled by lightly sanding the panels to eliminate
unwanted glare."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_Concert_Hall>

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famousactress
Bummer. When I first saw the graphic I assumed it was a really clever
architectural trick designed to heat the pool efficiently... So yeah, let's do
_that_.

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btilly
If you think the pool needs efficient heating during the day, I suspect you've
never been in Vegas. Particularly not during summer.

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zb
For all those here complaining that they could have done better:

"Designers foresaw the issue, and thought they had solved it by installing a
high-tech film on the south-facing glass panes, according to Gordon Absher,
the MGM spokesman. The film scatters more than 70 percent of reflected rays.
But that's not enough, Absher acknowledged, as some pool guests are still
uncomfortable."

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Groxx
Anyone know what these "strange pavilion-like stands topped with polished
reflectors" they mention might be? I'm not finding anything via Googling, as
that's pretty vague.

edit: as to the main meat of the post, I'm amazed that this sort of thing
isn't checked prior to building a _gigantic mirror_. To the degree of "can
they get sued for this?". It strikes me as near-gross negligence on the part
of the people who approved the design.

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huhtenberg
The office tower I used to work in had similar problem. There were two mirror-
glass walls that met at 90 degree angle facing each other and the resulting
sun reflection heated up the asphalt at the ground level to the point when it
deformed into a wave pattern with about 1' wave length and 1/4' amplitude.

Admittedly it led to few very cool "AHA" moments when new employees (on a
smoke break) realized what was going on :)

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VladRussian
"wave pattern with about 1' wave length and 1/4' amplitude."

Any idea why this length/amplitude?

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VladRussian
remind me again - what is the purpose of huge (and powerful and expensive)
building permit departments and long waits for a permit?

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imgabe
Building codes are reactionary, not proactive. Almost every code is there
because at some point there was a problem in the past, usually something
involving one or more deaths due to a fire or collapse that could have been
prevented. Someone's drink cup melting is not really a concern for the permit
authorities.

~~~
mechanical_fish
A friend of the family just passed away, in her eighties. In her youth, she
happened to be across the street during the following famous incident, after
which she tried to help the injured:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire>

 _As is common in panic situations, many patrons attempted to exit through the
main entrance, the same way they had come in. However, the building's main
entrance was a single revolving door, immediately rendered useless as the
panicked crowd scrambled for safety. Bodies piled up behind both sides of the
revolving door, jamming it to the extent that firefighters had to dismantle it
in order to get inside. Other avenues of escape were similarly useless: side
doors had been bolted shut to prevent people from leaving without paying their
bills. A plate glass window, which could have been smashed for escape, was
instead boarded up and unusable as an emergency exit. Other unlocked doors,
like the ones in the Broadway Lounge, opened inwards, rendering them useless
against the crush of people trying to escape. Bartender Daniel Weiss and
entertainer Goody Goodelle both survived in the Melody Lounge; by dousing a
cloth napkin with a pitcher of water and breathing through it, Weiss was able
to escape by crawling through the kitchen and other subfloor areas, while
Goodelle and several other employees were able to escape by crawling through a
barred window in the kitchen. Five survived by taking refuge in a walk-in
refrigerator. Fire officials later testified that, had the doors swung
outwards, at least 300 lives could have been spared. Many young soldiers
perished in the disaster, as well as a married couple whose wedding had taken
place earlier that day._

And that, boys and girls, is why we have building codes.

(It's also why many professional engineers in the US and Canada take an oath,
like doctors. Proper engineering is a serious business. Lives are at stake.)

~~~
Misha_B
Safety is probably the original reason for having building codes, however
today the very significant majority of these rules (measured by both quantity
and design time required for their impementation) has nothing to do with
safety. Codes dictate building masses and building areas, building lines,
requirements for parking, facade design, choise of materials, form of the
roof, floor heights etc. etc. Some of those don't cause very much damage since
they are useful and most architects would implement them anyways. As to the
others...

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Hoff
Low-E window glass is reportedly triggering problems.

Press reports include melted house siding resulting from reflections.

<http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/24342726/detail.html>

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hugh3
_However, the question here would be: could you deliberately design an
architecture without walls, using only thermal gradients—defining areas of
public use and congregation solely based on heat?_

I'm pretty sure there's something called "night"

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dylanz
I was standing outside the Portland Convention Center this year at OSCON and
noticed the wood bark around one of the trees was smoking profusely. Needless
to say, the glass awnings had the death ray effect as well.

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maeon3
This just in, huge concave structure lined with reflective materials causes
unexpected strange heating effect from the sun, says engineers. News at 11.

