Triangle architecture & design

[DCMetroRaleigh]

"I don't want to sound negative, but the RBC Tower design is awful! the asymmetrical "hat" or spire is hideous in every respect. Its shape, height, placement, etc. A corporate headquarters should read as an elegant, single expression. Raleigh and RBC deserve better."

Thank you telling it like it is. We are so desperate for a tower, any tower, in Raleigh that we are prone not to criticize the unappealing look of this project. This overgrown box is an outrage and beneath the city. The city deserves towers that are shiny and elegant, not drab and literally square. Compare this to the glitzy new tower just announced in Charlotte by Wachovia.

[Durhamite]

Sad, but true. Raleigh and Durham seem to be turning the corner in re-emphasizing development in the urban core. The location for the building is premium and it served as an opportunity to make more of a "signature" statement in design. I was downtown Raleigh the other day for the first time since Fayetteville St. reopened. My first reaction was this should've been done YEARS ago.

Maybe it'll blend better in reality than what's scene in the models/pictures (it's not that BAD of a design, IMO, just could've been a lot better). It's still a bold step in the right direction and hopefully will continue to stimulate the ongoing gravitation back to the core, for both Raleigh & Durham. They could've pulled a First Citizen, so RBC should be applauded in that regard. I guess we'll have to take baby steps, unfortunately.

As Metro.m has stated in Charlotte threads, what emphasis has been placed on ground level retail in the RBC tower if any?

[ncsugrad204]

good projects. I used to live in new haven. We moved becuase of the crime spree in the late eighties early ninties. Good find

[urbanesq]

^^^ I have to agree: I don't mind the building design itself, but the "hat" is just plain silly. Given that they're working from an empty slate and can do ANYthing they want, I hope they get lots of pressure from someone somewhere to do a quick re-design of the top-off. Otherwise Raleigh's skyline will look hopelessly dippy until the next big tower project 15 years from now...

[architect77]

The Wachovia tower (Charlotte) is going to be quite fierce. The gesture is simple yet incredibly iconic, and I think it's the perfect design response for a skyline which is home to two banking rivals. Interestingly though, before merging with Wachovia, First Union hired KPF in New York to do schematics for a 100 story tower in Charlotte. The Wachovia tower's LEED (green) status will be its real claim to fame for a while.

I worked with Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart & Stewart in Atlanta and worked directly with the lead architect for the Hearst Tower in Charlotte. The BofA tower is considered a "wedding cake" design, and the flair of the Hearst tower was a result of its proximity to the BofA tower.

For years I've thought that a domed tower would be appropriate for DT Raleigh since the capitol is so small and dinky. The city of San Francisco's city hall is about five times larger! Does anyone else think a dome or a modern variation of a dome would be cool? There is a small 80's office building on Blue Ridge Rd at Wade Ave. that has really cool silver geometric "dome".

Has everyone seen the Blue Cross/Blue Shield of NC building in RTP or Durham? It's way cool. Also HOK designed the Environmental Protection Agency Bldg in RTP. Anyone been out there?

[RaleighLover]

I don't think the RBC design is bad but I don't think it's great either. I'm just happy they changed the balconies -- that was the worst part of the old design by far. The problem with the design over all is that it looks like something I used to build with wood blocks as a kid -- a box with another, smaller box on top of it and a pyramid shape block on one side of the top box.

Anytime you can show someone the basic design of a building with wooden blocks, you've got a problem.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

I want some spires, some domes, some obelisks, some glass, some steepleish, some Gothic looking towers in Raleigh that will counter the prevaling perception that the area is the headerquarters for suburban dullness.

[raleighfan]

Well, it does have a spire on top of the hat.

[dmccall]

Wachovia's design certainly has the RBC beat, although it is a bit of an apples/oranges comparison. Wachovia is actually building two towers in the 40's; one purely office, one purely condo. From a design standpoint it is tough to meld condo floors and a pool on top of an office building with a skinny, rectangular footprint. Still, though, Wachobia's condo tower is a good looking building. There's no reason those bottom floors couldn't be purely office with a stepback 2/3 to include a pool.

[sax184]

As many here know, I'm much more concerned with the bottom 4-6 stories of a high rise than the upper floors. I agree that the RBC building is a little on the cheesy side, but I this firm you extoll makes mistakes, too. I have seen and been in the midrise Wachovia building they did in Winston-Salem, and it's a crappy, anti-urban design.

The Symphony Center highrise in Atlanta and the 60-stury tower in Chicago look better. Raleigh needs good urbanity more than it needs stuff that looks good on a postcard shot from S Saunders street.

[Spatula]

South Saunders street is the main thing that looks bad on postcards from South Saunders street. I don't have too many problems with the Highwoods project, although I don't like the spire. It seems to suggest 'hey, nobody will build anything taller here for decades, so this will look great!' The materials and lighting for the building will probably make up for some of its lack in shape.

[Jones_]

As many here know, I'm much more concerned with the bottom 4-6 stories of a high rise than the upper floors. I agree that the RBC building is a little on the cheesy side, but I this firm you extoll makes mistakes, too. I have seen and been in the midrise Wachovia building they did in Winston-Salem, and it's a crappy, anti-urban design.

The Symphony Center highrise in Atlanta and the 60-stury tower in Chicago look better. Raleigh needs good urbanity more than it needs stuff that looks good on a postcard shot from S Saunders street.

[dmccall]

Yes, to win games you have to have a good offense AND defense. That's all I'm saying (and I imagine others are, too).

[Spatula]

There's nothing stopping anyone from building towers with good ground retail, although the zoning laws we currently have probably aren't helping.

[JTsaysToYou]

IMO RBC went the COMPLETELY wrong direction with their tower. Raleigh does not need GLASSY and "Iconic". It needs soft and intricate. More of an old historical building. Kind of like the First Citiznes tower that was proposed there, but never got built. Just a little bit taller, and maybe with a little bit more flare than the first citiznes building.

[plus2]

I'm sure the RBC building will be just fine, and I bet it will look better in person...

but it's problem is in proportionality. It is too wide for its height. It looks squat. The bulk of the building is as wide as the entire city block. It should be maybe 3/4 or 4/5 as wide and at least another five stories tall. That would make it look better.

[architect77]

I want some spires, some domes, some obelisks, some glass, some steepleish, some Gothic looking towers in Raleigh that will counter the prevaling perception that the area is the headerquarters for suburban dullness.

[architect77]

IMO RBC went the COMPLETELY wrong direction with their tower. Raleigh does not need GLASSY and "Iconic". It needs soft and intricate. More of an old historical building. Kind of like the First Citiznes tower that was proposed there, but never got built. Just a little bit taller, and maybe with a little bit more flare than the first citiznes building.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

oh please, JT. A city can be historic and dazzling modern at the same time, as Boston attests. And boxiness does not historic make.

[dmccall]

I agree will you partially. I love that skscraper in Houston that steps up in a steep gable shape. Gorgeous.

...All of the ridulous motifs on the tall buildings in Atlanta and Buckhead are laughable and make Atlanta look cheesy. Richmond's skyline of simple boxes is very sophisticated and beautiful to me because they function as intended and rise out of necessity.

[JTsaysToYou]

oh please, JT. A city can be historic and dazzling modern at the same time, as Boston attests. And boxiness does not historic make.

[architect77]

error, sorry

[architect77]

I agree that the top of the Houston BOA building is nice, however look at the base of it. It's a flat, faceless wall that attracts no people and no activities.

I completely disagree with your assessment of Atlanta and Richmond. Richmond's skyline as a whole is striking given the limited heights of the buildings, but they don't have a single building that is worth looking at for more than 5 seconds. Atlanta is building some fantastic towers. I'd go so far to say that One Atlantic Center is one of the great buildings in America.

I think each of the buildings in this photo are very nice. The condo tower on the right is flat out gorgeous.

The Pinnacle is very daring, and works, and so is the One Symphony Center.

Atlanta's building problem is with the bases of their buildings, not the tops. We'd be a lot better looking to take some of their tops. We need to quit building box after box after box.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

"Examples: Suspension bridges, trusses, all of the groovy toasters and small appliances at Target- they are popular because of their simplicity. Therefore, I think an office tower should reflect its purpose and thats it."

Uh, MOST bridges, toasters, appliances, trusses, don't tower over a city or region the way a 30-70 story skyscraper does. A city often criticized for being sterile and dull, should be especially careful that its most prominent buildings don't reinforce that impression.

[drewpiece]

"Examples: Suspension bridges, trusses, all of the groovy toasters and small appliances at Target- they are popular because of their simplicity. Therefore, I think an office tower should reflect its purpose and thats it."

Uh, MOST bridges, toasters, appliances, trusses, don't tower over a city or region the way a 30-70 story skyscraper does. A city often criticized for being sterile and dull, should be especially careful that its most prominent buildings don't reinforce that impression.