The World's Most Legendary Living Architect Once Designed Building That Heated Up Neighboring Houses

WikimediaIt may seem like architect Rafael Viñoly, the man who designed the London skyscraper currently melting cars and cooking eggs across the street, has a monopoly on designing buildings-turned-death-rays.

As we just discovered, he's already designed at least two.

But he may find some solace knowing that arguably the most famous architect in the world also once put up a "fryscraper."

When it opened in fall 2003, Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall was the most important to addition to L.A.'s architectural and cultural landscape in a generation.

But by winter of 2004, nearby residents began to notice that it wasn't getting any colder.

It was soon discovered that one of Gehry's trademark enormous abstract geometries was concentrating solar radiation into its concave gut and redirecting it onto nearby structures, heating them to as much as 140 degrees.

"You couldn't even see and then the furniture would get really hot," Jacqueline Lagrone, 42, who lived on the fourth floor of an apartment complex across the way, told AP. "You would have to literally close the drapes and you'd still feel warmth in the house."

Lucky for Gehry, the solution was pretty simple: sandblast the surface of the offending structure into submission.

But that option likely won't be available for Viñoly in London , since the glare is coming off of windows, not an ornamental element.

Yikes.