The Building That Set A Car On Fire Also Nearly Set A Reporter On Fire

[Initech]

London’s skyline has a new addition this week: the Walkie Scorchie. Joining the crowded group of glass protrusions, such as the Shard, the Gherkin, and the Cheesegrater, is 20 Fenchurch Street, which had previously been known as the Walkie Talkie, on account of it looking vaguely like a gigantic two-way radio.

But the 37-storey office block, due to be completed next year, has gained a new sinister reputation: the death ray, the fryscraper, the Walkie Scorchie.

Its south-facing concave facade conspires to concentrate and reflect the sun’s rays into an intense beam of shimmery light, hitting the buildings on the opposite side of the road. Along a 30-yard stretch of pavement at Eastcheap – just a Molotov cocktail’s throw from where the Great Fire of 1666 started – London’s burning.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/architecture/10283702/Whats-frying-at-Walkie-Scorchie.html

Note to self: Don't go anywhere near the vicinity of this building.

[In_The_Wind]

1. *Note to Initech* Wear sunblock

[Initech]

2. I think I would need SPF 9,000,000 for that!

[Ilsa]

3. It warped and melted a Jaguar.

The architect and owner are going to have to fix this. It's too destructive.

[csziggy]

4. Maybe they should use the building to concentrate that solar power

And collect it to generate power or for sea water desalination.