A building in London wasn’t even finished when it started melting cars around it. The culprit was solar convergence, which happens when too many glass windows reflect solar heat onto the same spot. Fix the spot? That’s not feasible, since the angle of the sun changes both daily and yearly. Fix the building? That’s an expensive proposition.
Surely the building's designer was mortified by the results of his creation, right? Well, no. When architect Rafael Viñoly was questioned about his flawed design, he heartily deflected, blaming consultants, global warming, cost-cutting developers, and the sun's elevation. This was an especially galling disavowal of responsibility because the science of solar reflectivity analysis has been gaining traction for several years. There are many tools, firms, and even apps available to architects and developers to help avoid just this problem. Especially damning for Viñoly is that the "death ray" issue was not actually unprecedented. And the last time a high-profile building had had problems of this nature, it was also one he'd designed.
Solar convergence from modern architecture is not a new problem. The phenomenon is so well-known that there’s even a generator on the French-Spanish border that harnesses its power. Read about how solar convergence problems happen again and again at Atlas Obscura.
(Image credit: Flickr user Luc Mercelis)
It was, I think, published in "Analog" magazine, but I cannot remember any other particulars.