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drops ISSN 2175-6716

abstracts

português
Um novo edifício, atualmente em construção no panorama da “City” de Londres, está sendo acusado por danificar edifícios e derreter componentes veiculares de carros estacionados ao longo de Eastcheap.

english
A new building, currently under construction, on the City of London's skyline has been blamed for damage to buildings and for melting components on vehicles parked kerbside on Eastcheap.

how to quote

GUERRA, Helena. Sunlight reflected by London office building gets hot. Enough to fry an egg. Drops, São Paulo, year 14, n. 072.01, Vitruvius, sep. 2013 <https://vitruvius.com.br/revistas/read/drops/14.072/4861/en_US>.



This was apparently due to the intense sunlight reflected from its fully glazed southern façade. Sky News broadcast a reporter frying an egg for his lunch, using the reflected sunlight at street level to heat a frying pan.

The 37 storeys of offices at 20 Fenchurch Street, dubbed the Walkie-Talkie, designed by the New York based Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly, is a joint development by Land Securities and Canary Wharf Group. The tapering rectangular design by Viñoly, with larger office floors at the top of the building, creates a curved silhouette that bulges upwards and outwards. The rectangular office floors also have façades that are curved in plan, creating a concave double curvature to the building’s southern elevation.

The glazed southern façade appears to act like a large parabolic mirror, focusing, concentrating and reflecting the sunlight down onto the surrounding buildings and streets. A temperature of 91.3°C has been measured at street level on Eastcheap.

The developers say they are working to rectify the problem, created by the sun’s angle in the sky for several weeks during the year, stating that the phenomenon only happens at certain times of the day. As a temporary measure, screens of black meshing on temporary scaffolding have been erected over the pavement to Eastcheap to protect people and buildings from the extreme glare and heat from the reflected sunlight.

However, Viñoly has already reportedly encountered difficulties of melted poolside furniture and burnt guests at the 57 storey Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada; three towers with glazed south-facing concave crescent façades. In 2003, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, designed by Frank Gehry, encountered similar problems due the stainless steel cladding covering the building.

[translation Aline Scudeller and Caio Guerra]

about the author

Helena Guerra is a filmmaker has graduated in FAAP and correspondent portal Vitruvius.

“Walkie-Talkie”, London. Architect Rafael Niñoly
Foto divulgação

"Walkie-Talkie"
Foto divulgação

 

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072.01 paisagem urbana
abstracts
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original: português

outros: english

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072

072.02 crítica

Flores raras e equívocas

Alfredo Britto

072.03 história

Lá longe, no Ibirapuera

Carlos Alberto Cerqueira Lemos

072.04 arquitetos

Censo do CAU e os desafios na formação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo (parte2)

Érico Masiero

072.05 crítica

Estadio "Doha Port", que será construido para una península artificial para el mundial del Qatar del 2022

Humberto González Ortiz

072.06 artes visuais

Speech: há tanto que eu queria te dizer

Paulo Miyada

072.07 história

Artacho Jurado: polêmico visionário

Laura Belik and Maria Pia Carmagnani

072.08 patrimônio

Teatro Oficina

Manifestação dos conselheiros do Condephaat em apoio à presidente

Conselho do Condephaat

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