Window Film in Downtown Austin

Office Window Film for Downtown Austin Towers

The office floors stacked along Congress Avenue, around the Second Street District and west toward Seaholm were mostly built with insulated glass and a factory coating. That glazing helps, but a west elevation above the surrounding rooftops still takes direct sun from early afternoon until the sun sinks toward the hills. Tenants on those floors pull blinds down by lunch, and the perimeter thermostat becomes a weekly argument from May well into October.

Interior film approved for the existing insulated units brings that solar load down at the glass itself. Before we suggest a product we confirm the makeup of the panes with the building engineer, because a film that absorbs too much heat on a large tinted unit can stress it. The approval package goes to property management with spec sheets and a mounted sample they can hold up to the window.

Multi-tenant towers usually want one look from the street. If the building already has a standard film on some floors, we match it so a newly treated suite does not read as a different shade when someone looks up from the hike-and-bike trail along Lady Bird Lake.

Window Tinting for Rainey Street and Lakefront Condo Towers

Residential towers on Rainey Street and along the lake sell views of the water, the western hills and the Capitol dome. Floor-to-ceiling glass means a west-facing unit can feel like a greenhouse by four in the afternoon, and the sofa in front of it starts to fade within a few summers. Owners ask for something that takes the heat out of the room without turning the view gray or giving it a mirrored cast.

Near-clear spectrally selective film is the usual answer, and it is often the only kind a condo board will approve. We work entirely from inside the unit, book the service elevator under the building's rules, keep to its permitted work hours, and hand the association the product documents it needs before anyone sets up a ladder.

Storefront Window Film on Sixth Street and Congress Avenue

Ground-floor glass downtown has a different set of problems. Bars and music venues on Sixth Street deal with scratched, stickered and broken panes after late nights. Shops and cafes on Congress Avenue fight glare on display windows and on the tablets used at the register. Restaurants with a sunny patio want guests inside to stay comfortable at lunch without every shade pulled down.

Anti-graffiti film is a sacrificial skin on the pane. When someone etches or keys it, we strip that sheet and lay a new one, and the glass behind it is never touched. Security film holds a broken pane together after a smash. Light solar film and clear UV film take care of heat and fading while keeping merchandise easy to see from the sidewalk.

• Anti-graffiti film for Sixth Street venue glass
• Security film for lobby doors and sidelights
• Clear UV film for Congress Avenue display windows
• Frosted bands and logos for street-level offices

Austin Energy Benchmarking and Downtown Commercial Window Film

Commercial buildings in Austin Energy territory above the ordinance size threshold have to benchmark and report their energy use every year under the city's Energy Conservation Audit and Disclosure rules. Film is not a compliance item by itself. It is, however, one of the few envelope upgrades a tenant or owner can finish in an occupied tower over a handful of nights.

We supply the film's published performance data so an energy consultant can model it against the building's real glazing. Facility managers often start with the floors that generate the most comfort tickets, watch how those zones behave through one summer, and then extend film across the rest of the sunny elevation.