| Reunion Tower | |
| Location: | Dallas, Texas 75207 |
| Coordinates: | 32.7753°N -96.8089°W |
| Completion Date: | 1978 |
| Building Type: | Observation tower |
| Roof: | 561feet |
| Floor Count: | 3 |
| Elevator Count: | 10 |
| Material: | 259 LED Fixtures |
| Architect: | Welton Becket and Associates |
| Main Contractor: | The Beck Group |
| Ren Oth Designers: | Wiedamark |
| Owner: | Ray Lee Hunt |
| Known For: | Defining iconic Dallas skyline with LED lighting |
| References: | [1] |
Reunion Tower is a 561feet observation tower in Dallas, Texas, United States and one of the city's most recognizable landmarks. The tower is located at 300 Reunion Boulevard in the Reunion district of downtown Dallas, which is named after the mid-nineteenth century commune La Reunion. A free-standing structure until the construction of an addition to the Hyatt Regency Dallas and surrounding complex in 1998, the tower is the city's 15th tallest occupiable structure. It was designed by architectural firm Welton Becket & Associates.
Reunion Tower, also known locally as "The Ball," was completed on February 2, 1978, along with the Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion,[2] as part of an urban redevelopment project that also renovated the historic Union Station, which today services Amtrak, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, and the Trinity Railway Express to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Fort Worth.
Henry C Beck Company was the tower's prime construction contractor.[3] [4]
When it first opened, the tower included radio station KOAX-FM, now KRLD-FM 105.3 FM, once owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting ("Live twenty-four hours a day from five-hundred feet above the city"). Because it is not used as a broadcast tower, it is not listed in the FCC Database.
Reunion Tower reopened its restaurant level on February 9, 2009, after it was closed for major renovations on November 16, 2007.[5] The observation deck reopened October 5, 2013, just in time for the Tower's 35th anniversary.
The tower is located about 1,000 feet from Dealey Plaza and the site of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
The tower contains three floors with circular floor plans on top of four shafts of poured-in-place concrete. A central cylindrical shaft houses both stairs and mechanical equipment. Three rectangular shafts, featuring elevators, rise parallel to the central shaft. Each shaft's outfacing wall is made up of glass panels, providing tourists views of the city during the 68-second elevator ride to the top. Before renovations in 2008, the first level housed the observation deck, the second a revolving restaurant called Antares, and the third level a club called The Dome.[6] The top three floors are encased in an open-air sphere, which is a geodesic dome formed with aluminum struts. Every one of the struts' 260 intersections is covered by aluminum circles with lights in the center.
At night, the globe at the tower's top is illuminated with 259 custom LED fixtures, manufactured by Altman Lighting and Color Kinetics, a division of Philips Solid State Lighting. Wiedamark, a Dallas-based LED lighting company, led the development, installation and programming of the lights. The original lighting fixtures were conventional incandescent and every unit used 130 watts of electricity. The new LED lighting system with all of its color and animation capabilities requires less than one fifth of the electricity of the old system.
Every fixture has a collaboration of several RGB LED lights that are diffused behind a 3/4-inch thick opaque glass cover. While each fixture is very large at nearly 16 inches in diameter, they function in exactly the same way as a pixel on a screen. By varying the intensity of red, green and blue, the system is able to create every visible color from pinks and purples to white. By moving these colors around the globe at a fluid rate, animations and movement are perceived. All 259 fixtures are controlled by Color Kinetics hardware to execute various computer-generated patterns and colors along the surface of the sphere. The DMX512 lighting protocol is used to communicate with the fixtures. Each fixture is manufactured from solid cast stainless steel and weighs over 20 pounds.
The tower is an iconic landmark on the Dallas skyline, the lighting on the globe is often used for special events and holidays across the city. For example the globe is illuminated with festive animations during the winter holidays, lit green for St. Patrick's day and red white and blue for patriotic events. The globe was lit up in rainbow colors on June 26, 2015 to celebrate the supreme court ruling which legalized same sex marriage.[7]
Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck opened the finedining revolving restaurant Five Sixty on the tower's rotating top level on February 11, 2009. The name is a reference to the restaurant's elevation. The middle floor of the tower is used for special events managed by Wolfgang Puck Catering, which is based at nearby Union Station.[8] After 11 years, Five Sixty closed permanently in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9]
The Observation level is called the "GeO-Deck". The interior facility includes an interactive digital experience featuring information about Dallas landmarks, Reunion Tower itself, the events of November 22, 1963, live view high-definition cameras and more. The exterior of the observation deck features telescopes with views in every direction.
The Cloud 9 is accessible from the observation deck, serving a 360-degree view from behind glass while the floor slowly spins.
The gift shop, Kaleidoscope, at the tower's base features souvenirs related to Reunion Tower, Dallas and Texas and other novelty items.