Too much light

When the Nasher Sculpture Center opened in downtown Dallas in 2003, it was hoped that its presence would be a spur to neighborhood development. According to The New York Times (“Dallas Museum Simmers in a Neighbor’s Glare”, by Robin Pogrebin, May 2, 2012), that development has come– but at the museum’s expense. Among the new structures going up near the Nasher is a 42-story building with a glass skin that reflects so much light that artworks within the museum’s galleries are threatened, plants in the museum’s garden are being destroyed, and museum visitors are blinded by the glare. The Nasher and the building’s developers are in a heated battle over who should do what to rectify the situation. As arts institutions are more and more being used by cities as “engines of economic development”, will other museums’ collections be threatened by new construction?