Project Profiles

Glass Renews Historical Residential Hotel in Dallas

Now reimagined, the original seven-story, U-shaped building has been filled in and expanded to 150,000 square feet of office and restaurant space capped by two new floors

Reviving the century-old Maple Terrace Apartments in Dallas, 5G Studio’s adaptive reuse of the historic landmark features Solarban^® R100 Solargray^® glass from Vitro Architectural Glass on the building’s new windows and two-story curtain wall addition.

Originally designed by famed English architect Sir Alfred Bossom in 1925 as a residential hotel, in its heyday, Dallas’ tallest residential building served as a premier address for famous Hollywood and fashion visitors including Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Elvis Presley and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Over time, the building fell into disrepair. Now reimagined, the original seven-story, U-shaped building has been filled in and expanded to 150,000 square feet of office and restaurant space capped by two new floors. The office tower, which features Solarban^® R100 Solargray^® glass by Vitro, stands in the foreground of a new GFF-designed 22-story Maple Terrace Residences luxury tower with 345 units and amenities featuring Solarban^® 90 Acuity^® glass by Vitro.

A neutral reflective low-e glass, Solarban^®R100 glass provides privacy for office occupants and reduces glare while delivering a clean, crisp exterior aesthetic. When paired with Solargray^®glass in one-inch insulating glass units (IGUs), the combination provides visible light transmittance (VLT) of 21% and a solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of 0.17.

The industry’s first quad-silver low-e glass, Solarban^® 90 glass looks like clear glass in both color and reflectance whether viewed from the interior or exterior of a building, making it ideal for the residences in the luxury tower. When paired with Acuity^® glass, it provides visible light transmittance of 53% and a solar heat gain coefficient of 0.23.

“The remaining sections of the original building’s south façade act as bookends to the new addition, enveloping the new within the old,” explains Christine Robbins-Elrod, AIA, LEED^® AP BD+C/ND/Homes, WELL AP, principal, 5G Studio, Dallas.

Placing the new space inside the U-shaped building maximized the team’s ability to preserve and restore the historic façade. The new volume contains three levels of office space with 17-feet high ceilings. New levels eight and nine cantilever over the existing roofline to create an open-air rooftop lounge and terrace with expansive views of the Dallas skyline.

While a variety of glazing options were considered, an energy model helped inform the final selection, Solarban^® R100 Solargray^® glass by Vitro on the second surface.

“The aesthetics of the Solarban^® R100 Solargray^® glass combination were a contributing factor, and the resulting low solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of 0.17 allowed the team to achieve energy efficiency goals for the entire project,” says Robbins-Elrod.

Solarban^®R100 glass provides a neutral reflective appearance with reduced glare while Solargray^® glass enhances the cool, crisp exterior.

“The new curtain wall addition was designed to complement the original building design, but it was done in such a way that creates a unique contrast between the modern building addition — and the building’s new office use — and the Mission Revival style existing building with its iconic residential history,” she says.

Combined with the high-performance glazing, the building’s long front façade faces the northeast, which minimizes direct solar heat gain, and its proximity to the new residential tower lends additional shading.

“The southwest-facing curtain wall receives full shade from the new residential tower for approximately 65% of the time during daylight hours, and it is only in full direct sun for less than one hour per day,” relates Robbins-Elrod.

5G also specified a large northeast-facing moveable glass wall system on the eighth floor to maximize indoor/outdoor connectivity. Public and private roof terrace spaces span over the existing roof and wrap around three sides of the curtain wall.

On the ground floor, an extensively glazed double-height entrance helps connect the building’s lobby to the redesigned pedestrian-oriented open space. Maple Terrace Office Tower provides two levels of underground parking and two new street-facing restaurants which help reframe the public-facing open space and activate its public use.

For more information about Solarban^® R100 glass, Solarban^®90 Acuity^® glass, Solargray^® glass and the rest of Vitro Glass’s full line of architectural glasses, visit vitroglazings.com.

Project Credits: