The glare from a new 42-story residential building into adjacent buildings in the downtown Dallas' art district is pitting the $3.3 billion Dallas Police & Fire Pension System against the Nasher Sculpture Center. The Museum Tower, in which the pension plan has a $200 million investment, opened in January.
Built to LEED gold environmental standards, the construction called for energy efficient glass to be used on the building's exterior. But unbeknown to all parties until the exterior of the building began to go up in 2011, the glass reflected sunlight directly into Nasher's galleries, potentially causing harm to its artwork.
Pension fund executives have worked over the last year and a half with engineers, scientists and optical experts to come up with a solution. On April 26, a plan was presented to the Nasher board of trustees that would rotate sunscreen panels on Nasher's roof to remediate the reflection, similar to a proposal presented and rejected last year.
“They looked at every conceivable idea, even outrageous ideas,” said pension fund spokeswoman Rebecca Shaw.
Nasher executives are balking at the solution, claiming the Museum Tower affects the entire arts district, not just Nasher.
“Recycling the same grossly inadequate and deeply flawed idea in another publicity stunt is not a way to address the problems. ... The bottom line is that the owners of Museum Tower need to fix their building,” said Kristen Gibbins, spokeswoman for Nasher, in an e-mailed statement.
