Londons Accidental Hideous Steel And Concrete ‘Death’ Ray 2013 | Plainly Difficult

[@NomicFin]

I find it hilarious that the same architect did the same thing twice. Turning one building into a death-ray I can believe being an accident, but do it twice and you're just a super-villain in denial.

[@problemsfan4132]

One building in vegas, the other frying a dude's luxury car... maybe he's just playing the long con against rich people? XD

[@1224chrisng]

If I had a nickel every time my building turned into a death ray, I'd have 2 nickels

[@chrisd1746]

Good thing nobody could afford to build the skyscraper sized turntable required to aim the thing

[@prcervi]

the vegas building permit office gets some blame for approving such a thing in a goddamn desert

[@mumenRhyder]

​@@1224chrisng I understood that reference

[@lairdcummings9092]

It's a hidden-in-plain-sight supervillain lair, complete with heat ray.

[@anteshell]

Environmentally conscious supervillain because the death ray is solar powered.

[@Darkshadow64540]

​@@anteshellpower is expensive, solar isn't

[@chrismaverick9828]

: Dr Evil pinky:

[@christophersanders3252]

🎶Doofenshmirtz Accidental Heat Ray!!!!!🎶

[@Darkshadow64540]

@@christophersanders3252 once is an accident, twice is intended

[@arifhossain9751]

You'd think an architect would understand the consequences of a concave structure made entirely of glass.

[@Acidfunkish]

Genuinely confuddling.

[@LRM12o8]

Nepotism...

[@deptusmechanikus7362]

That's why he's an architect and not an engineer

[@elizabethsohler6516]

​@@AcidfunkishNice word!

[@paulbarnett227]

To be fair his original design had mitigations in place that were then removed by "committee" to cut costs.

[@thebaccathatchews]

The Mythbusters tried to make a mirror death ray. Turns out they didn't make it *big* enough.

[@Alkaris]

That experiment failed because they were trying to use people to direct and focus the light on to a singular point, and in their other attempt they didn't have enough mirrors to focus enough heat, on top of that, the mirrors weren't angled to a center point, they were all placed flat on a surface, if they had done a bowl-shape of mirrors that focuses to a center point it would of done a lot better.

[@subduedreader5627]

They had trouble coordinating the volunteers for one of the tests, and in another the mirrors were poorly mounted and fell off of the frame they were using for the other.

[@hermanrobak1285]

@@subduedreader5627 Their challenge was to start a fire, to be fair. And their target was moving.

[@NinoJoel]

You can start fires and burn stuff with a parabolic mirror the size of a printer paper.

[@henke37]

@@NinoJoel At distance?

[@captainroyy21]

Cost cutting feels like a Free space on the bingo card. Such a staple for almost anything going wrong in one way or another.

[@rvdb7363]

In the earlier videos that mainly dealt with nuclear exposure incidents cost saving was less of an issue.

[@bradsanders407]

Not remotely true

[@NerdyTransformed]

​@bradsanders407 have you been following the same channel?

[@26wrld]

the one major commonality shared between communist & capitalist systems... funny (not literally) how both just seem to incentivise corruption and corner cutting for the sake of maximising profits

[@KaladinVegapunk]

Seriously, almost every major incident or avoidable accident with theme parks and civic projects, greedy bastards trying to save a buck and cutting corners or skipping steps. It isn't as atrocious as Dubais nonsense projects though haha, building giant skyscraper without plumbing and needing poop trucks, just a dictators ego project

[@tncorgi92]

The 6 story building I worked at in Florida got a facelift, they installed less reflective windows on the west side to cut down glare that was affecting the nearby street. However, energy has to go somewhere, and instead of reflecting, the bright sunlight heated up the windows and their frames. Once we got into full summer, the window frames failed to hold the glass in and the windows started popping out of their frames, tumbling to the parking lot below. My favorite part was that the parking closest to the building was reserved for company executives so their cars were the most damaged.

[@leonb2637]

Likely the same executives who approved the design of the building.

[@lindalumae]

I’m sure that resulted in a quick fix.

[@cronobactersakazakii5133]

"Energy has to go somewhere" yup, you can’t fool thermodynamics

[@Dr.BenDoverMD]

And how did those executives wrong you, exactly?

[@Ken-er9cq]

@@cronobactersakazakii5133 Yes what you need is to have a surface that spreads the reflection. With metal panels they probably just have lots of bumps.

[@lenrussell2424]

Trying to fry an egg while reporting on really hot weather/heat wave building/etc. is such a reporter thing to do, lol.

[@leonb2637]

That is/was often done in places with extreme temperatures like Phoenix, Airzona - 'Hot enough to fry an egg'.

[@fffrrraannkk]

Where I live reporters like to get a towel wet and show it freeze instantly in the winter.

[@PunishedDad]

​@@fffrrraannkksome hard hitting journalism there to discover that cold is in fact, cold

[@pilotman012]

Bingo card; Warning Signs ignored? "Louvers were part of the plan, but cut as cost cutting measure" Tells me that a designer had some of this in mind but was silenced.

[@paulbarnett227]

Yep - was burned before in Vegas.

[@pilotman012]

@@paulbarnett227 ha "burned" very punny

[@efnissien]

And 'Company blames victim'

[@sanchoodell6789]

The developers were clearly blinded to the architect's suggestion of glare reducing louvres but he didn't want to turn the heat up so remained somewhat aluf.

[@comettamer]

Probably did, but "it's too expensive" seems to be a common issue with these. Because who wants to spend money on stuff that could make the building safer, am I right? 😂

[@michiganmaxedout6248]

Don't worry, it wasn't their fault. An enormous, and totally unexpected, blazing ball of fire jumped into the sky and sabotaged the entire project. Could happen to anyone.

[@alexc4300]

Well, it is in England, where it rains 390 days of the year …

[@davemccage7918]

Oh you’re talking about the sky fire, I hate that thing! It comes from the east every day and makes me miserable by heating my land and burning my skin. Glad to know I’m not the only one being attacked by a god ball!

[@absolutechaos13]

World militaries: spend billions of dollars and years on R&D on death rays - no results. Some random architect: accidentally builds a death ray. Twice.

[@silentlyjudgingyou]

I guess the problem is militaries like being able to aim

[@heroic_antagonist759]

​@@silentlyjudgingyoubut that's so boring!

[@reginal.898]

It's nice to get the occasional vid where no one died. Greetings from sunny and warm Hamburg, Germany, and have a great weekend, John!

[@JohnnyAngel8]

That is such a nice post. 🙂

[@Titan604]

Missed out my favourite nickname - Walkie Scorchie !

[@sebastianthomsen2225]

😆😊👍

[@michaelbuckers]

Oi mate you do have a loicense for that pun?

[@leonb2637]

Some called it 'The microphone' like those used in the 1950's-1970's.

[@ideadlift20kg83]

"You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe, when it knocked down our buildings, it didn't replace them with anything more offensive than rubble." - Prince Charles.

[@ddunfuh9239]

Mabye they could come back and add a few billion pounds of city improvements

[@ceu160193]

@@ddunfuh9239 They could do it American way and leave just nice flat area + some radiation.

[@6yjjk]

@@ceu160193 Look at all that parking!

[@rebelgaming1.5.14]

​@@ceu160193In some cities it'd probably be an improvement.

[@comettamer]

​@@6yjjk They nuked paradise and put up a...well, a radioactive parking lot.

[@ligmasack9038]

I bet the Architect hated the Building where his "Death-Ray" just so happened to focus.

[@coyote16able]

actually wasn't his first Death ray building I think he has one in Vegas.

[@arifhossain9751]

Bro is exclusively hired by supervillains.

[@Isurusish]

🤣 his ex wife probably works where it's aimed

[@Irobert1115HD]

@@coyote16able correct. the same guy designed the vdara hotel in las vegas. the death ray of that hotel is focused on its pool area.

[@anthonydefreitas6006]

Architects are never wrong, they shift the blame on to the client "they should have checked the plans"

[@brunomunoz2089]

Fellow uruguayan here! Can confirm that vignolli is a big meme here. Every time we heard from him in the news was for something he fuked up somewhere. He even had a big (and polemic) project here, installing two blocks of concrete that looks like a jenga in a small town near the sea side. Even his death was a big joke in uruguay because he couldn't keep ruining buildings

[@TXnine7nine]

8:04 Only £900 to fix the damage caused to a Jaguar by a death ray? Such a bargain!

[@CoryRwtfyt]

Sounds like something Doofenshmirtz or Dr. Evil would build.

[@arifhossain9751]

THE HEAT-RAY-INATOR-INATOR!

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

@@arifhossain9751 🙂

[@moosemaimer]

Are the neighbors... ill-tempered?

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

@@arifhossain9751 🙂 AND FU YT for deleting my comment

[@paulkornbluh6303]

(Doofenshmirtz sees dodgy cartoon) "Difficult?" (Cartoon gains speech bubble saying "Balls") "Plainly Difficult?!?"

[@GBOAC]

9:00 as per the explanation that follows this statement, it has nothing to do with a magnifying glass, but instead being a parabolic mirror. Both are ways to concentrate solar energy, but they work in different ways.

[@brianhull2407]

You know what? Kudos to the company for immediately admitting fault and ponying up to those harmed as a result. No trying to evade responsibility on their part whatsoever.

[@Alaryicjude]

It's almost like that architect didn't play with mirrors and the sun as a kid. 😂

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Or he did too much?🤔

[@Alaryicjude]

@@thing_under_the_stairs, lolol! Devious! 😝

[@dickottel]

I didn't 😜 do you burn something during that play?

[@pleasekillyoursef]

On the contary, hes doing that rigth now, this is all part of his masterplan

[@JeffBilkins]

I refuse to believe this was a design accident, it is too perfect of an oopsie.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Plus the architect had done this before in Vegas? You know he was that kid who fried ants with a magnifying glass.

[@paulbarnett227]

It had mitigations in the original design that were later removed to cut costs.

[@JeffBilkins]

@@paulbarnett227 That could've been the sneaky plan

[@fontheking5]

It also had another good nickname : The walkie scorchie :) A bit suprised it wasen`t mentioned in the video :)

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Great point!

[@twocvbloke]

Designer versus engineer, the latter being overruled because the designer had more power over the building's construction apparently, and I'd definitely add "Ignored warning signs" to the bingo card given that it had happened before with the same designer, with curved glass turning into what essentially is a satellite dish for the sun making for a big burny thing that could have set fire to some probably very expensive bits of that there london place, and they don't like great fires there... :P

[@nlwilson4892]

There needs to be a "ignored the laws of physics" square on the bingo card.

[@user-td4gh6kj2z]

John I just wanna say thanks for holding to a consistent format at a time when people are always trying to be more entertaining and ending up losing the informative aspect of their channel. These incidents and events are always a great watch because they contain so much information without the fluff.

[@ferretyluv]

They have to change because of the algorithm.

[@armorer94]

The Disney concert hall in SanFran had the same problem. They ended up sandblasting it to make it duller.

[@jimtaylor294]

...in more ways than one 😂

[@avsystem3142]

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is in LA. The same county as Disneyland.

[@armorer94]

@@avsystem3142 I stand corrected. I got it mixed up with the Disney family museum.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Congrats on not being melted by a death ray! Some days this summer that's felt like a major accomplishment.

[@TinkSalsa]

i was like "90 degrees isn't that hot, what's the big deal?" then heard centrigrade and realized it might be. 194 F??

[@Gaaaaaame]

Roasty toasty

[@OutsideTheTargetDemographic]

"Fryscraper" is maybe the most British insult that could be made at this thing, and it gets me every time you say it. 😂

[@Mrs.Silversmith]

For the Americans 90C is 194F.

[@margaretthatcher6828]

Thank you...

[@traildoggy]

I know 0 is freezing and 100 is boiling. The further away from either of those the more I feel lost in a no man's land of unknown weather conditions...

[@reachandler3655]

​@traildoggy If it's any consolation, that's how we Brits feel with Fahrenheit.

[@WhiteWolf-lm7gj]

Hot damn

[@WhiteWolf-lm7gj]

​@@reachandler3655 🤝

[@BHuang92]

When will eveybody learn about reflective curved panels and thermodynamics!?

[@eduardoaguilar1550]

Ikr? And now some arab prince wants a gigantic mirror in the middle of the desert and put a city inside of it.

[@jacekatalakis8316]

Well if we are doing lethal buildings, I'll point to Leeds and specifically Bridgewater Place, Because while a death ray is warm and worrying, a wind tunnel building is less comedic, more terrifying, but on the comedic end of the scale, the Walt disney Concert Hall in LA was doing this on a bigger scale some ten years ago, uh, whoops... Oh and this is hilarious in a darkly comedic. Wasn't there a controversy over London's sight lines as well or am I thinking of a different building? Also wow,the owners fessed up and took responsibility as well, I didn't expect that one... EDIT: Well this is more common than you may think about focusing heat into one spot

[@TDurden527]

Ya surprise on the owners fessing up. In the good old USA, people with a lot of money can get away with almost anything, especially when they are a large corporations. Corporations in the USA shield murderers a lot.

[@NikeaTiber]

I'm sorry you felt compelled to go into London for this one. I'm glad you made it back safe.

[@ferretyluv]

He lives in South London.

[@TheCraigy83]

@@ferretyluv thats terrible, he should move somewhere nice

[@ferretyluv]

@@TheCraigy83 Do you have any idea how expensive real estate in London is? He’s better off if he has a house already paid off.

[@TheCraigy83]

@@ferretyluv safety before finance . not to mention ridiculous council tax , over population ,numerous protests happening 24/7 .

[@ferretyluv]

@@TheCraigy83 I’ve been to South London many times. I have friends who live there. It’s really not that bad. I felt fine walking around at night, even in Croydon.

[@TechOne7671]

Not all that bad, it didn’t collapse and kill everyone 😂. A much better problem to deal with than cracks and failing joints. All the best John.

[@arifhossain9751]

You could get a WICKED sunburn standing under that thing A fate worse than death for some residents of that area

[@jimtaylor294]

That, and for ages it was alleged to have roasted live Pigeons 😂

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

@@jimtaylor294 Think of the smell!😂

[@casbyness]

"It didn't collapse and kill everyone...so far." - Homer Simpson

[@TechOne7671]

@@casbyness as of time of writing😂😂😂

[@tocsa120ls]

Frank Gehry had this problem with the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

[@vanessaa7602]

Living in LA, I'm still shocked that building did not achieve max supervillain powers.

[@phils4634]

I miss Maplin too. I'm ancient enough to remember when they were a mail-order only business, and were a really great source of PCBs for the projects featured in Practical Wireless, Everyday Electronics, etc.

[@qdaniele97]

I'm pretty sure the maximum temperatures in some places could've reached away more than 90°C: The most used plastic in cars is ABS and it starts to melt only above 200°C. And even admitting it would maybe only need to soften without fully melting for that side mirror to fall off, that would still be likely at least 140-150°C or so🔥

[@EChan-eu2co]

Concave like a lens? That was what I thought of when I heard of it.😂

[@johndemeritt3460]

Archimedes' Heat Ray . . . I KNEW this story rang a bell!

[@Twelveinchpianist]

Gotta add something...the song at the end, coupled with that 1950s looking vid of a couple kids looking out the window of a tram. Those went together soooooo well dude. It was an absolute.... 🤌

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!!

[@SA-bc6jw]

It is indeed perfect. The clip is the Monorail built for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair "The Century 21 Exposition" celebrating a vision of the future.The "Space Age" Space Needle is seen in the background.

[@peterharper3861]

Weirdly it reminded me hugely of this "unofficial" video of Tycho from 10 years ago. I guess "retrofuture" would be an appropriate name! It uses the same World's Fair footage, but with a huge amount more. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qmSxZnapoLhkms0

[@nerdmusc1e]

​@@PlainlyDifficult Would you be interested in covering the PH&E Humboldt nuclear power plant events perchance?

[@Digitalsurfer265]

I swear almost everything designed in the 2000s was weird. Buildings, cars, clothing…

[@jokuvaan5175]

And my sister

[@anteshell]

@@jokuvaan5175 I don't think this is the right place to be talking about your weird relationship with your sister.

[@matsv201]

That is pretty typicall for every tale and of every golden age. The 90s was the golden age in europe, not only for fall of the wall but also due to internet and a cultural dominance that time

[@nix1059]

The millennial generation lol

[@NinoJoel]

​@@matsv201nah the 80s where the golden age here in Europe. The 90s where the start of the downfall

[@justsayen2024]

It kind of reminds me of electric shaver.

[@JustBasicGuy]

It is kind of like a shaver, just more permanent like laser hair removal.

[@wolf2965]

That name was already taken by Strata SE1 on the other side of the river, also constructed during the roughly the same time frame.

[@Tatjana-_-]

Thank you algoritme for giving me a fresh vid for my breakfast

[@Cryodrake]

Omg ive seen this building, its amazing you can mess up that badly to accidentally make a heat ray. XD

[@charaznable8072]

Looks like one of those mini portable fans lol.

[@Shiestey]

Feels strange watching a plainly difficult video where nobody dies

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Enjoy the non deathyness!!

[@linnylinehan1841]

If the phrase you were struggling with was "brise soleil", it's pronounced "Breeze so-lay" and it's French for "sun breaker". Hope this helps!

[@eaglescout1984]

This also happened in Los Angeles when they built the Disney Music Hall, although a much smaller scale with the building being smaller and the curves being tighter and closer to the ground. But, it was polished aluminum, so although the "death ray" was smaller, it was more intense.

[@avsystem3142]

That building was clad in titanium panels.

[@PaulinesPastimes]

I have never liked the look of this building. It looks like it about to fall over. Such and ungainly looking thing and almost deadly too! That's quite an achievement 😄

[@aaax9410]

The globil warming excuse lol

[@Ragetiger1]

I can see it somewhat, some areas have been use to the smog/fog/overcast all the time. Even in my part of the world, LA and SF are starting to complain about the glass skyscapers being "too hot". Less smog means more sunlight and those structures love to absorb all the sun delicious rays and focus them around.

[@100SteveB]

That building, along with the 'gherkin' make the city skyline look ridiculous.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

I know it does look silly!!

[@applejuice5272]

@@PlainlyDifficult ...and along with The Shard, it does make it unmistakable!

[@allisonb8912]

I actually like the gherkin, I think it's kind of iconic now. The shard is pretty bad though.

[@mbvoelker8448]

I swear there's some secret society awarding architects with bonuses for sheer weirdness. They can't seem to do anything simple, graceful, functional, and practical. It all has to look strange.

[@marksc111]

All three buildings are gross. The gherkin is also known as 'The Dildo'. The shard is uninteresting and the walkie talkie looks like it's meeeeeelting

[@jimtalbott9535]

10:35 - for Vegas, however, stuff just melts no matter what. People are used to being melted.

[@DoggosAndJiuJitsu]

Fun fact: Nike WHQ in Beaverton, OR has the same issue along Walker Rd.

[@palmspringsmarythomson6354]

YES! THE VDARA DEATH RAY!!! I was just going to add that but you got it! I can't believe this was the same guy. We called that casino the Death Star after the melts started -- pool furniture, SHOES (flip flops) melted literally onto the pool decks, people getting weird sunburns too.

[@tessiepinkman]

This is one of my all-time favourite "random facts" to throw out when the room gets quiet and I, inevitably, panic. Loved this video! :D

[@eddiehimself]

There was also a building in Leeds that ended up creating a really bad wind tunnel effect on the street underneath.

[@jaybee4118]

It’s really common tbh. I remember a story about the Flat Iron building in New York, though it was told as a cute story, it’s a bit icky really. Men would congregate near it when it was built because the wind tunnel it created would lift even the heaviest ladies skirts so the men could get a glimpse of their ankles. That was quite sexually exciting for them (but, wrongfully, shameful for the women and the blame was still put on them of course).

[@martentrudeau6948]

IMO, Prince Charles was right, I have always thought this was an ugly building. A lot of modern architecture doesn't have the craftsmanship, beauty and harmony that lifts our spirits and inspires we the common people.

[@mbvoelker8448]

It's like they get bonuses for weirdness.

[@S-T-E-V-E]

Imagine if they'd built it in somewhere like Arizona or Dubai? It would have been lethal!

[@AltoidJTP]

Same guy made a building in Vegas that melted pool furniture. Maybe he thought the sun worked differently in London?

[@SteveBueche1027]

Looks like a Gear Shifter knob.

[@jamesmercer3693]

❤Throw some solar panels on it and call it a day😂😂😂 As always well presented😊

[@rvdb7363]

Well given the average weather in the UK is it really so surprising that they didn't think to take the sun into account?

[@jimtaylor294]

Given it has been known in the past (for example in 1975) for UK sunshine to (on its own) melt road tarmac... the architect was just lazy in his research 😂

[@data_abort]

Apparently they freak out if it's 90 degrees.

[@rvdb7363]

@@data_abort Are you American? 90 decrees Celsius is 194 degrees Fahrenheit. That's quite uncomfortably warm.

[@jimtaylor294]

@@data_abort 90°C is 27°C more than fast food joints legally require to cook their food 😆

[@JimmyJames10-k7v]

yes

[@MervynPartin]

Nice touch at 7:47- "I miss> maplin". So do I 😞

[@efnissien]

Interestingly John, there's a series of preserved 'sightlines' across London, (actually called 'London protected views') where it is prohibited to build buildings that obstruct the line of sight between certain areas. There are two sites- St. Paul's Cathedral, there are protected views of it from Henry VIII's mound in Richmond park, Greenwich Park, Primrose hill, Alexandra palace and several other vantage points. While the other is the Palace of Westminster which is visible from Primrose hill and Parliament hill.

[@AJ_the_Dragon]

‘I miss maplin’ same….

[@lotusasche4183]

I heard about this one years ago on history channel, Engineering Disasters. Lots of great engineering fails.

[@wrongfootmcgee]

1:25 A deaf ray?

[@imxploring]

Only if it melts your ears off!

[@darthderp8066]

1:22 😂

[@airspeed_alive]

Pardon?

[@Konghammer1]

I don't know what's worse, them building basically a death beam in the middle of a city, or my highschool dropout brain knowing it was coming when their super high class and expensive education seemingly didn't prepare them for the how the basic functions of light and heat work...

[@WeldinMike27]

That architect must have had some serious BALLS to design a second deathray shaped building.

[@nicmaz37]

The Walt Disney Concert Hall has the same issue but with stainless steel panels

[@avsystem3142]

The offending cladding on that building was titanium.

[@18robsmith]

I lived in London from the 1950s through into the 1980s, and we had some long periods of hot days and sunny days (the summers of 1959 and 1976 come to mind). I guess the architect visits in mid November when the sun rarely makes an appearance for more than a few micro seconds a week.

[@oldschoolman1444]

Yes, let's make a giant parabolic mirror! 😅

[@CruiserZone]

This building always reminds me of a slightly dated looking giant PC tower

[@tin2001]

I've always assumed that's where the guy got the idea from. Gateway and HP had some funky cases back in the early 2000s, so it's not even like it had to be a "gaming" PC to have a weird case.

[@youcanonlypretend]

If anyone is familar with the Toothpick building bordering Central Park in NYC, this guy also designed it. He really made some of the most hated buildings in the world!

[@AntonyStrus]

Since you are a musician yourself, you may appreciate this. I went to that exact branch of Maplin in 2008 or 09 to buy a phono cable for my band's live set that evening. Maplin was the best and most reliable for audio cable of all kinds, and I also miss it!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

It was great! The table top mic stand I use for voice overs on this channel was a maplins jobby!!

[@kelandryyemrot1387]

There were a lot of awkward/misplaced pauses like you didn't have the breath to finish what you were saying or were having a hard time reading the script?? It was kind of distracting. Don't recall it happening in your other videos I've watched so idk. It was weird. Hope you're not sick!

[@BH-rx3ue]

stupid modern architects. hate modern buildings. WE MUST RETURN TO THE DAYS OF GLORY

[@alanaldpal950]

I would say that the topic for this video was……. BRILLIANT

[@sergiom9958]

OooooH the old trust worthy excuse of Global Warming...

[@RaveDave871]

It don't look attractive, it dont look run of the mill. It looks weird but not good weird. Failure !

[@dimmenmakker7038]

'Fry scraper' was all I needed to read 😂 I really like watching your content! Greetings from a currently wet and windy Antwerp 😁

[@foowashere]

Lovely shout-out to Joolz guides there. ❤ Thanks for making and sharing!

[@arron-92]

Congratulations for the 1 million subs 🎉

[@LegoAnimations6370]

10:07 In the name of biscuits and crumpets, a rather peculiar claim by the Bri'ish who blames the sun when it shines more than twice a year. I say downright outrageous bold move by the chap architects!

[@p4ngolin]

I remember people calling it the walkie scorchie too. I wasn'T far at the time it happened, I checked the hot area. Low key proud to have witnessed it

[@MaoRatto]

The architect should have been sued heavily as building such things should not be at the expense at of their neighbors.

[@DitherPlus]

Awful looking skyscraper is awful, but also melting things, neat!

[@GalootWrangler]

“On the one hand, she’s not good-looking. On the other, she has a dreadful personality.”

[@cherryssoup]

The fact that the architect did this not once, but *twice* makes me think he had some… ulterior motives

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Some very melty ones

[@roxyamused]

Seattle's World's Fair! My mom and dad both went to that World's Fair as kids. Western Washington is where my heart is. Part of me wishes I never moved to Oregon. I guess Portland isn't that far but I miss the Salish Sea and Puget Sound. Whenever I see my home state I get so gushy. Great video. Love the death ray. I guess some sun farms do that too. Birds fry in the sky.

[@cmc2550]

Cooking an egg is nothing! Wait till they turn it on! Right now the building is in standby mode. You guys don't know but this is for Zombie Apocalypse defense

[@jonwhite191]

The wind tunnel issue has been fatal before! I lived in Bridgewater place in Leeds, which is famous for having killed a man by channeling wind onto a passing lorry, tipping it and crushing him! The engineering solutions have been interesting, the glass shields break almost weekly still to this day!

[@The-Ent1ty]

5 views, 2 comments in 1 minute? Hemakinganameforhimeself

[@GLASSB182]

Who would've thought London ever got sun?

[@detritiv0re144]

Toasty!

[@scallopohare9431]

Those names, "Fryscraper, "Death Ray," are hilarious and scary at the same time.

[@jsnsk101]

iconic skyline? does that mean ugly, because all those buildings are eyesores

[@rabidrabbitshuggers]

London and Boston are in a serious neck-and-neck competition to see who can make the ugliest city skyline in the English-speaking world.

[@karachaffee3343]

Architects work overtime to make their building look stupid. Sometimes an architect really lucks out and the building can also act stupid.

[@ENNEN420]

Oh, sure. Whenever THEY make a 1000ft cartooney death ray in the middle of the city, they get SO MUCH news coverage and they get to carry on about their day! But whenever I make a 1000ft cartooney death ray in the middle of the city that melts everything I have to share a cell with The Joker and The Penguin. There is no such thing as justice anymore.

[@leonb2637]

Gee, a 'PD' video where no one died and some humour. Still, it showed a major design mistake and costly to remedy. There was another building with a similar problem, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Shortly after completion in 2003 the mirror like reflective metal skin caused serious glare problems to drivers in the area and very hot conditions for residents of a luxury condo building across the street. After consulting with its designer, the surface of the metal skin was slightly dulled so not as polished ending its 'death ray' affects.

[@solandri69]

There's a lot of this pointless design solely for the sake of stylish appearance. Back in the '70s and early '80s, car body panels were mostly flat (with a few folds to strengthen the sheet metal). Late '80s was when the modern rounded design started to become popular. With the flat panels, you only occasionally got sunlight reflected into your eye when the angle of the sun and body panel perfectly aligned. The rounded body panels OTOH pretty much guarantee there will always be a sun glare spot on every car you're looking at (sometimes multiple such spots). Designers like it because the flare spot appeals to their artistic sense. The fact that it makes it harder for drivers to see doesn't carry any weight with them (for them, appearance trumps practicality). It just doesn't stand out in people's minds anymore because we're so used to it and conditioned to think that's just the way it is. The picture at 5:27 is a good example. All these buildings and there's zero sunlight reflecting and blinding you. Excpet for the one rounded building. Unfortunately, every car today is like that rounded building.

[@oneminuteofmyday]

Perhaps “Easily Preventable” could have been marked on the Bingo card. He knew the design had a problem, so maybe don’t use that design.

[@Adam-rt3pc]

Hey, Can you make your videos longer? I think aiming for 25 mins would greatly improve the quality the video and will make it more informational.