Museum Tower issued a press release this morning to announce that after having a “team of experts” examine 20 possible fixes to the reflection problem that’s causing the Nasher Sculpture Center to overheat, they’ve found that the only solution is to reconfigure the sunscreen system of the museum’s glass roof. It will provide “100 percent remediation of reflected light into the galleries.”
Museum Tower says it will pay for the testing, installation, and fabrication of new “oculi” to reorient the light.
“We know the newly designed oculi work. This solution has been peer reviewed by the best experts in the country,” said Dr. Cyrus D. Cantrell, Ph.D., P.E. “It only requires a slight adjustment to the oculi system of about 45 degrees to completely eliminate unwanted light and any view of the surrounding buildings. This is a beautifully engineered solution.”
So that’s what they’re offering for the effect in the galleries. But what about the outdoors portion of the Nasher? Well, they’re still claiming there’s no problem for the garden at all.
The impact of reflected light on the Nasher’s garden has been carefully observed for over one year and according to Scott Ogden, a nationally known horticulturist and garden designer, “Reflections from Museum Tower have no demonstrable effect on the vegetation in the Nasher garden, there is no damage from sunlight reflected by the Tower, that the garden is doing well and will continue to do so.”
You can read more about their proposal on a website they’ve set up: oculisolution.com
UPDATE, 1 p.m.: The Nasher has released the following statement about the proposal:
The glare from Museum Tower is a problem for the entire Arts District, not just the Nasher Sculpture Center. Recycling the same grossly inadequate and deeply flawed idea in another publicity stunt is not a way to address the problems Museum Tower is causing for the people of Dallas. The bottom line is that the owners of Museum Tower need to fix their building.
