Update from Candy, Sunday evening: Spoke with City Councilman Lee Kleinman late Friday afternoon, and he told me that the film covering as a “solution” to Museum Tower’s glare problem was not yet a done deal, but he was pleased about the collaborative spirit he is seeing between the Pension Fund and the Nasher family. He was pretty optimistic.
Director of the Nasher Jeremy Strick has also released a statement saying that the Fund has committed to potential changes of the Tower’s facade, including some that could be better and more effective than the film. The film only reduces the glare by 50%. However, there may be better products out there and the Fund wants to find them, test them, and then adopt them.
Original story:
He mentioned that building materials of the future might include unique glass for highrise buildings, including a glass that gets darker as the light shines on it. An entire glass wall or building could in essence become a giant solar panel. This could lead to some legal issues down the road if your building, for example, blocked someone’s sunlight and view as you would also be blocking their source of energy.
Immediately we thought of Museum Tower in Dallas, and all the gleaming glass towers struggling with reflectivity issues from building with energy efficient glass. I tracked down Johnson briefly, who told me that Hines is working with Museum Tower to find a solution. His associate, George C. Lancaster, a Hines senior vice president, told me he was confident they would be able to find a solution to the glare issue.
Well, lo and behold, Robert Wilonsky reported today that Hines has come up with a solution for Museum Tower — a film that will reduce the reflectivity significantly.
“It isn’t a done deal,” says Dallas City Council member Philip Kingston, one of four council reps on the pension system’s board of trustees. “But the board had do to do something to continue with the testing.”
Kingston’s council colleague Lee Kleinman says the fix, which was proposed by Texas-based international development firm Hines, will not “take out 100 percent of the reflectivity” that led to the three-year-long dispute with the Nasher. But, he says, “it will reduce it by 50 percent, and that’s significant.” He says he’s “optimistic” this solution will satisfy the Nasher.
“I think people are ready for a degree of certainty and resolution here,” says Kleinman. “Will this resolve those concerns? I am optimistic it will.”
Other solutions to the glare issue will be studied as Hines continues to test and develop the film, but it looks promising. What do you think of this as a solution? And even though it will reduce reflectivity by about 50 percent, should this be acceptable to the Nasher?
Us? We’re ready for the healing to begin.
