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Triangle architecture & design

mikeinnc

By mikeinnc
in The NC Triangle

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orulz City

orulz

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the link. BOY is that bland!

So the McDowell St. experience along that block will just be parking lot facades? Not so neat. How about making the first floor shops and the second and third floors look like apartments with fake windows? What do y'all think?

Yeah, having a parking deck cater-cornered with Nash Square seems like a crappy idea. Put something underneath it. Anything, in fact. And why have the setback along McDowell street? I think that looks stoopid. They should build it full height all the way to the curb.

There's something fishy about the photo of the model taken from the Salisbury Street side, too.

The old Raleigh Federal building (that neat 1960 blue tiled building on the corner of Salisbury and Martin) is shown as roughly twice as big as it really is, and the facade is all wrong. The Lawyers building (mid-block on Salisbury) is gone, too.

I'd much rather see both the Raleigh Federal building and the Laywers Building stay as-is. I drove by the Raleigh Federal building the other day and I was struck again by how much I like it, and how unique it is in Raleigh. The space between these buildings could be used for either a seperate building unrelated to the courthouse, or a wing of the courhouse made to look like a seperate building.

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Jones_ City

Jones_

Posted
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Yeah, having a parking deck cater-cornered with Nash Square seems like a crappy idea. Put something underneath it. Anything, in fact. And why have the setback along McDowell street? I think that looks stoopid. They should build it full height all the way to the curb.

There's something fishy about the photo of the model taken from the Salisbury Street side, too.

The old Raleigh Federal building (that neat 1960 blue tiled building on the corner of Salisbury and Martin) is shown as roughly twice as big as it really is, and the facade is all wrong. The Lawyers building (mid-block on Salisbury) is gone, too.

I'd much rather see both the Raleigh Federal building and the Laywers Building stay as-is. I drove by the Raleigh Federal building the other day and I was struck again by how much I like it, and how unique it is in Raleigh. The space between these buildings could be used for either a seperate building unrelated to the courthouse, or a wing of the courhouse made to look like a seperate building.

I agree that whole thing is awful. I thought I remembered reading that Raleigh Federal would be demolished but Lawyers would remain. I think the new building should be oriented right at the McDowell/Martin corner so that County and City government can kind of look at each other accross Nash Square. I normally don't like too much height but this is a block that instead of the squat thing they have pictured, going as high as possible on a small footprint makes the most sense...a good 20 stories pushed right up to the corner of the intersection.

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Transplant Hamlet

Transplant

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Is the cost of putting parking structures underground in Raleigh so much more than it is in other cities? It seems that the value of the land that the parking deck would be on could easily be sold with the proceeds going to dig out the site with the new building.

Another building here would be nice too so that the prison is blocked from the Raleigh 'money shot' that we all know.

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DwnTwnRaleighGuy Hamlet

DwnTwnRaleighGuy

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From what I remember reading a while back, the old courthouse has been remodeled,(somewhat), inside. So I think that they didn't want to lose that renovation money. Just like Progress Energy. They had just remodeled the old Progress Energy One,(PGN,CP&L),building. So they weren't going to add to or tear that one down either. I do wish they would take the old courthouse down to the steel beams and build better and higher though! I love the courthouse in Los Angeles...

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Jones_ City

Jones_

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From the things I've heard the old courthouse will stay and be used as traffic court.

I will have to check on this but I am pretty sure the Fayetteville site (the current court house) must forever serve as at least part of the county court. I want to say the Gales family donated the site to the county with the stipulation in the deed that if the county decided not to use the land it reverted to the decendants of the original Gales.

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Justin6882 Hamlet

Justin6882

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There was another article in the paper that I missed earlier, discussing the annunal urban development seminar that NC State puts on each year. The article discusses how important it is for the stuff we're building today last for generations - b/c basically it is the backbone of what will come later. If the backbone isn't strong, the rest will inevitably fail in the long run.

Anyway, there was also talk about the RBC building and how the city has asked the designers to tweak some things to make it look less like what we already have and less "boxy".

Here's the Link

"When you design for the center of your city, you're really on center stage," Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker told several hundred gathered at downtown's Sheraton Hotel.

"You're doing something that is expected to last," he said. "It's not just another fast food in a periphery that may come down in 10 or 15 years. It's something that's going to be there for two or three generations."

Silver said he will have discussions with the developer and architect of RBC Centura Bank's proposed downtown headquarters, which some critics have described as boxy and too similar to Progress Energy's new office tower a block away.

He said he is confident there are opportunities to improve the design by upgrading certain building materials and "tweaking" the structure to better distinguish it from other buildings.

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RaleighLover Whistle-Stop

RaleighLover

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From the article on the RBC HQ:

The building, which will rival the Wachovia Capitol Center and the BB&T/Two Hannover Square building in height, is being touted as a win for the city's skyline as well as downtown commercial and residential development.

I thought it would be bigger than Wachovia but not as big as Two Hannover?

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Beth Y Unincorporated Area

Beth Y

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Okay, I am a lurker popping in to let ya'll know about an upcoming tour you may find interesting.

I am technology-challenged and can't get the graphics to work, but here is the info:

Saturday, June 3 -- Raleigh

Modern Architecture Tour

Take a peek inside some of Raleigh's most unique modern architecture. Tour stops include The Occidental Building, Fadum House, Rothstein House, Eichenberger-Anderson House, Kamphoefner House and more! This is a self-driving tour.

11:00 am-4:00 pm

Rain or Shine

To register call Preservation North Carolina at 919-832-3652

Cost $15 per person ---- Please register by Friday, June 2

(The logo features Dorton Arena, designed by Matthew Nowicki, chair of the Architecture Department at NC State University, in 1951. An iconic work of Raleigh Modern architecture, it is owned by the State and open to the public.)

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architect77 Whistle-Stop

architect77

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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.

Check out the corporate and commercial work of www.pickardchilton.com. Their work is mouth-watering in my opinion. Imagine how sophisticated and ahead-of-its-time Raleigh's skyline could be. I'm going to try to contact someone at RBC and beg them to reconsider.

[url=http://www.pickardchilton.com

_________________________________________________________________

I'm an architect working in NYC but I grew up in Louisburg, NC. I like to find other people who are observant and interested in the built environment. Here are some random thoughts of mine in response to people's comments:

-My favorite buildings in downtown raleigh are: 1)the shorter brick Hanover 1? with the punched windows. It has a nice human scale. 2)of course Progress Energy. 3) the brick "Hillsborough Place" building- gables are well proportioned and entrance addresses corner nicely.

-If I had my way, I'd replace every traffic light in Raleigh with the cantilevered mast arm poles, but not the "east coast" style but rather like the ones in Southern Calif. that angle up slightly then out. Imagine every city intersection being neat and orderly with a big sign indicating the cross street. Imagine how awesome Atlanta would be if all of its sloppy intersections were given the California treatment. Virginia does a very good job with traffic lights.

-For all of you transplants- the reason downtown Raleigh is so tragic is because until just recently there has never been any interest in downtown whatsoever. For years and years it was purposely forgotten. My father, 73, has worked for Martin Marietta on Lake Boone Tr. his entire life and still views tiny DT Raleigh as dangerous and without hope. The neglect is surprising given its the state capitol.

-Raleigh's ban on billboards along triangle freeways is awesome. I drove the airport shuttle for the North Raleigh Hilton while in college and visitors always commented on how beautiful simply driving down I-40 was.

-I have to say I don't mind not having lights on the Beltline and I-40. I like the flowing red and white "rivers" of cars. I think only when an interstate is immediately adjacent to lots of commercial development, restaurants, gas stations, etc. would NC mandate freeway lighting. The beltline's buffer of trees probably designates it as almost "rural" interstate

-Capital Blvd used to be named "North Blvd" until about 1990.

-The Soleil Center I think is a good thing because its height will establish a big-city scale to the mall area. Crabtree Valley and the mall are a nice and attractive component of Raleigh. All larger metro areas have some tall buildings scattered around the city and almost always by a mall. It will merely house a few wealthy residents to keep them close to the mall. It's not claiming to be a high-density, walkable community. People complain that this is a developer being allowed to build whatever he wants. I would agree if the building was ugly but hey, they hired Perkins+Will-you gotta give-em credit for that.

-The new terminal at RDU is going to be one of the nicest in the entire country. People's first impression of the Triangle is going to now be that building followed by the area's natural beauty. They will be impressed.

The design for the bow-trusses/kingposts used for the curving roofs has never been done before, so rdu will be forever mentioned in engineering books from here on.

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