Museum Tower, a "Shaft of Light"

The view from Museum Tower in, give or take, three yearsBack in June, you no doubt recall, Brook Partners announced that the long-in-the-works Museum Tower would finally sprout in the Arts District, courtesy the Dallas Police & Fire Pension System's $200 million investment in the 42-floor condolith. Just one week...

By Robert Wilonsky

October 19, 2010

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Back in June, you no doubt recall, Brook Partners announced that the long-in-the-works Museum Tower would finally sprout in the Arts District, courtesy the Dallas Police & Fire Pension System's $200 million investment in the 42-floor condolith. Just one week later, ground was broken in hopes of a 2013 open house.

Over on The Architect's Newspaper, which insists Museum Tower brings to that part of downtown "much-needed residential space," you'll find more about the tower's design courtesy Scott Johnson, half of the namesake firm Johnson Fain out of Los Angeles:

"I was interested in doing something pure, because the neighborhood is full of a lot of architectural testosterone," said Johnson, who compares the tower to a shaft of light.

Balconies along the structure's flanks will be huge: measuring 12 to 16 feet deep, erasing what Johnson calls the "fear factor" often associated with overhangs at such heights. The completion of any tall building also has its own fear factor in the current economy: "I'm sure everyone will be watching it with beady eyes," joked the architect.

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