New Vegas Hotel Comes Equipped With Death Ray

One of Las Vegas’s newest resorts, the Vdara is an architectural marvel that towers 57 stories over the famed Strip. Located within mere blocks of some of the world’s best-known casinos, the Vdara was built as part of the new CityCenter development project that many hope will provide a boost to a sagging Vegas economy. Envisioned as a straight luxury resort without a theme, a nightclub, or a casino, the Vdara was built with a unique concave design and highly reflective bluish windows that give it a distinctive look. Each of its 1,495 luxurious suites and condos come fully equipped with their own gourmet kitchen, there is a fabulous spa that adjoins the Strip, and the building is fully outfitted with its very own death ray.

What?

Despite what Vdara's bartenders, pool attendants and visitors mockingly call it, the problem is technically known as "solar convergence." The sun's heat is amplified as it reflects off the curved building, creating areas of increased heat that, during a midday Monday visit by AOL News, made the metal parts of some chairs dangerous to touch.

The Vdara’s curved architecture and highly reflective windows actually have a similar effect to a magnifying glass when exposed to the sun’s rays – the building creates areas of extreme heat that are unsafe for hotel patrons to inhabit. Naturally, hotel patrons are less than pleased.

"It was fine here a little while ago, but then all of a sudden I felt like I was frying," said pool patron Danielle Civello, visiting from Dallas. "That's weird."

This seems like a somewhat large oversight that has the potential to impose large external costs on the patrons of the Vdara as well as anyone unfortunate enough to wander into the death ray’s danger zone. Despite the fact that solar convergence is a well-known phenomenon in architectural circles, currently circulating documents have confirmed that while MGM Resorts International was aware of the potential problem, they decided to go ahead with the Vdara’s construction and even turned down offers from architectural firms to coat the windows with anti-reflective film. Now that the hotel’s construction is complete and it is open for business, the problem is proving to be exceedingly difficult to fix due to the danger zone’s propensity to migrate throughout the day. This means that for the foreseeable future, visitors to the Strip might want to be mindful of the potential of 57-story death rays to ruin their day.