page_title: Rafael Viñoly
section_title: Sun Glare
hierarchical_section_title: Rafael Viñoly / Criticism / Sun Glare
caption_attribution_description: English: The Sky Garden atop the "Walkie-Talkie"
context_page_description: Rafael Viñoly Beceiro is a Uruguayan architect. He is the principal of Rafael Viñoly Architects, which he founded in 1983 and has offices in New York City, Palo Alto, London, Manchester, Abu Dhabi and Buenos Aires.
context_section_description: Two of the skyscrapers designed by Viñoly, the Vdara in Las Vegas and 20 Fenchurch Street in London, have experienced unusual sun reflectivity problems due to their concave curved glass exteriors acting as respectively cylindrical and spherical reflectors for sunlight.  In 2010, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported that sunlight reflecting off the Vdara's south-facing tower could make swimmers in the hotel pool uncomfortably warm, as well as melt plastic cups and shopping bags; employees of the hotel referred to the phenomenon as the "Vdara death ray". In London during the summer of 2013, sunlight reflecting off 20 Fenchurch Street melted parts on a parked automobile and also scorched the carpet of a nearby barber shop.
caption: The Sky Garden, at 20 Fenchurch Street
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