[CliffordK]

RD, excellent suggestion spread out the reflective angles.

You'd be safer with a compound curve as is done with skylight windows (usually plastic).


Perhaps you could give it the bomber look.



I'm sure the window washers would love it!!!!  They did design the window washing equipment to deal with the overhang, right?

Depending on whether you turned your bubbles inward or outward, you would get either a golfball effect, or bumpy ball effect.



I see no reason why one could not develop the technology to put compound curves in glass windows.

It certainly would change the appearance of the building, but might be one of the easiest updates to incorporate.

Thinking about this, concave panes might make the problem worse.  You would have to use all convex panes for the bumpy look.  It still should work.

[Lmnre]

a curved building with solar reflection problems


Hmm.....

Eliminate the curves — too difficult

Eliminate the building — far too difficult

Eliminate the Sun — infinitely too difficult

Eliminate the reflectivity — sounds reasonable *

* "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible more difficult solution, whatever remains, however improbable undesirable, must be the truth reasonable solution?" — Sherlock Holmes

[CliffordK]

As mentioned, there does need to be an analysis of novelty vs how severe the problem truly is.  But based on the claim that there has already been a fire started by the reflection, it may well need remediation.

RD's suggestion of replacing all the windows with simple curvature, or compound curvature panes may well be the best solution (vs installing horizontal pigeon roosts).

However, I don't think I would rule out requiring the construction company to replace the curved facade with a flat or convex facade.  Or even tear the building down to the ground.

This was a preventable "mistake", so why shouldn't the owners/developers be required to fix it?

I suppose one could also install porticals across the street, which may also have winter benefits in London.

[CliffordK]

What about building a glass, complex curvature mural on a massive scale so that internal distortion would be minimized, but it would significantly break up the light reflections on the outside, with few parallel surfaces (but perhaps creating a few linear bright spots of lower intensity).

 [ Invalid Attachment ]
Sorry for the simplicity of the drawing, it was done free-hand in a couple of minutes on my computer.

I have no doubt it could add several million to the price tag on the building, and might take a few years to complete (periodically disturbing tenants). 

But I have no doubt that one could develop the technology to make the custom glass panes, even multi-paned safety glass windows, and it could well be popular for future architectural design.

One could used slightly different shades of glass, and perhaps some leading, again with minimal effect on the inside due to the scale, but giving an interesting image on the outside.

[alancalverd]

Perhaps you could give it the bomber look.

Yes, good idea. Call in the Luftwaffe - solves all sorts of architectural problems.

[RD (OP)]

... complex curvature mural on a massive scale

not a good look IMO ...


http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/08/30/7524993-scottish-castle-covered-in-graffiti?lite

[Lmnre]

Coat the windows with a material that would disperse the reflected sunlight.

[CliffordK]

Coat the windows with a material that would disperse the reflected sunlight.

The best way to disperse the light would be to frost the windows.  Which would damage the usability of the building (no longer able to see out of the south windows).

One option might be to incorporate a Fresnel type cutting of each pane to direct the majority of reflected light in a specific direction for each pane, with only a moderate decrease in visibility.  One could even either magnify or reduce the view if desired.

Cutting the outer pane may be a pain to keep clean.

[Bored chemist]

Eliminate the reflectivity — sounds reasonable *

Not to anyone who understood this
"The real solution isn't to try to reduce the reflectivity of the glass (which isn't possible over a really wide bandwidth) but to educate designers and architects so they don't do stupid things."


Bowing the glass (preferably in two directions) would be the best solution, but would still require replacing all the glass which would be expensive.

[CliffordK]

What about simply building another bigger, taller building to the south of the Walkie Talkie building. 

Of course one would loose some of the stunning views, but what are good neighbors for?

[Bored chemist]

Or build a huge negative lens (plano concave, of course) in front of the walkie talkie to cancel out the curved mirror effect.

[CliffordK]

There are coatings that will increase the reflectivity of the glass which are often used for privacy, or perhaps UV and IR coatings.
If that is the case, then replacing the privacy glass with clear glass would help significantly.

If they are already using clear glass, then there may not be a lot one can do.

Looking at the solar panels, there are apparently anti-reflective coatings.  Note, the texture of the glass doesn't make a big difference in the amount of sunlight reflected, but it would change the angles of reflection.

According to the website, the "normal" glass is reflecting about 8-9% of the sunlight.  The anti-reflective glass drops that down to 5-6%.  It doesn't list how clear the glass actually is for visibility, but obviously that would be an issue, especially as the glass ages.

It means the coating could potentially reduce the intensity of the hot spot by as much as half.  While there still would be glare, it may be enough to reduce the number of things that get melted or burnt. 

The interior of a car, or perhaps the dashboard could still get to be quite hot, but cutting the sunlight by half might at least keep exterior parts from melting, as well as reducing the fire danger.