THURSDAY, JANUARY 07, 2010
by Midwest Real Estate News ReportsMinneapolis-St. PaulIt may look like a flying saucer has landed on the roof of one of the more prominent buildings in Dinkytown, a busy arts and entertainment district in Minneapolis adjacent to the campus of the University of Minnesota. But that otherworldly sight is actually the glow from the completely refurbished dome atop the building known as the Dinkydome.
The Dinkydome, a University of Minnesota landmark, is in the process of a complete renovation by its new owner, the Doran Companies. Kelly Doran, the company's principal, says the completion of the dome is an important step in the multi-phased process of restoring the original character of the historic former home of the Minnesota Bible College.
Doran says that maintenance on the dome had been ignored for decades, and, in fact, "photos dating back as far as 60 years, showed the same damaged glass panes and structural deterioration that existed today."
Mark Morehouse, owner of Inglas, the subcontracting firm that performed the glass repair, said it took four of his workers about 11 weeks to complete what he called a "very unique" project.
"Incredibly," Morehouse explained, "each one of the 240 panes of glass in the dome was a different size."
This, of course, required that each piece be carefully removed, numbered and brought back to the Inglas shop where stencils were made of every one of the panes.
"Putting it back together was a bit like watching my kids do one of those puzzles where you have to match the different pieces to the shape of a hole. Only with this puzzle, the different shapes weren't that obvious," Morehouse said.
For safety, the glass panes are actually two pieces of glass with white plastic laminated between them. The glass is then heat-strengthened -- a process that allows the glass, if broken, to crumble into tiny pieces. In addition, the white plastic provides an opaque quality that allows for a radiant glow when lit from the inside.
With the dome restoration complete, Doran plans to move on to additional interior improvements over the next few months.
Located on the corner of University and 15th avenues in the University of Minnesota's Dinkytown neighborhood, the Dinkydome is adjacent to the Doran Companies' new student housing project, Sydney Hall.
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