Las Vegas Strip resorts vie to be the hottest place in town, but Vdara, a recently opened hotel, literally can scorch those visiting the pool deck during certain times of the day. The 57-story, 1,495-room hotel is one of six towers at the $8.5-billion, 67-acre CityCenter complex, which opened last December.
On Sept. 16, Vdara condominium owner and personal injury lawyer William G. Pintas complained to local media that the hotel’s south facade concentrated noon sunlight into a “death ray” onto the 40,000-sq-ft pool deck at the tower’s base. The 578-ft-tall crescent-shaped building’s concave surface acts a parabola resulting in solar convergence, Pintas says, transforming daylight into a hot ray across a 10-ft to 15-ft area.