The Negative Impact of Solar Reflections Caused by Reflective Buildings’ Facades: Case Study of the Nasher Museum in Texas

Abstract

Large reflective facades in buildings can cause severe visual discomfort due to the reflection of sunlight falling on buildings' surfaces. These intense reflections can cause a intolerable glare and contribute to overheating the interior of surrounding buildings. An example of reflective building materials causing glare is experienced in Dallas, Texas, where a residential tower, which was fitted with a fully glazed façade, has caused intense specular reflections into the Nasher sculpture museum. The problem has caused glare and overheating of the interior spaces in the museum, thus leading to the damage and deterioration of the sculptures on display. In order to examine the negative impact of the Museum Tower's reflective façade on the visual comfort inside the Nasher museum, glare simulations are carried out at different times of the year. Additionally, to examine a possible solution to the glare problem, a proposed solution of using a less reflective material on the tower's facade is examined via glare simulations. The initial set of simulations confirmed that tower skin contributed to blinding glare particularly at 12:00 and 15:00 on the summer and winter solstice, and the spring equinox. Use of less reflective material on the tower façade concluded that the tower façade still contributed to glare and that is due to its convex geometry.