You see, the glass in the window of the building's attractive curve happens to form a parabolic mirror. You may remember the power of the parabolic mirror from a "fan participation" episode of Mythbusters, where fans of the show built their own Greek weaponry.
The parabolic mirror is thought by some to be a weapon wielded by the ancient Greeks against seafaring enemies. The Mythbusters dubbed it the "Archimedes Death Ray." (N.B. at the end of the episode, they declared this myth "Busted.")
You may also be familiar with the concept of a parabolic curve from having used a magnifying glass. A magnifying glass also uses a parabolic curve to focus light. As you might have heard, certain young children often use this property to focus sunlight on, for example, ants.
Pretty much the same thing happens at the Vdara's pool, for about an hour a day, depending on the season (and thereby the tilt of the planet). One recent sunbather experienced scorched hair, and witnessed the Vdara's death ray burning through a plastic bag. Wait staff at the poolside bar have confessed that they have seen plastic drink cups melt before the power of the death ray.
There are a few obvious conclusions here. The first is that there is NO REASON ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH why the entirety of Las Vegas shouldn't be covered with solar panels. With that kind of solar intensity, I should think that the Vdara could practically power itself with solar panels, if they were installed in an angle above each window.
Consider this: the death ray phenomena is happening even after the designers (having foreseen this problem) applied a film to the windows which scatters 70% of the sunlight. In other words, this death ray is powered by Las Vegas sunlight at a mere 30% intensity!
And since solar panels ABSORB light instead of REFLECTING light, this should solve (or at least dramatically mitigate) the death ray problem as well.
The obvious answer is to change the angle of the building so that it faces a different direction, or to change the curve so that it doesn't focus the light. Unfortunately the Vdara is already built, and it's not going anywhere. This building project has been an expensive boondoggle, one which is much ridiculed by Las Vegas residents. It broke ground just as the housing bubble burst, and its doors opened to one of the worst economic situations Las Vegas has ever seen.
Las Vegas has our country's highest foreclosure rate, with one filing in every 28 households in the first quarter of 2010 alone. Houses in Las Vegas are being foreclosed five times faster than the national average. This is a city that's hemorrhaging money, tourists, and talent.
Will the last person to leave Las Vegas please turn off the death ray?