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RBC Plaza

NovaRaleigh

By NovaRaleigh
in The NC Triangle

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dmccall Burg

dmccall

Posted
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I agree. I like it ok, but wish that (1) it was taller, because I think the design looks a little squat right now; and (2) it was less Carolina blue-looking. Still, the amount of glass is a postive, and overall it'll be a good addition to the street.

Um... let's see. Because most of the buildings on state's campus pre-date the formation of the design school; because the design school is a small part of an otherwise engineering and agricultural focused institution, because it's a land grant university and they typically have functional, rather than ornate buildings.... should i go on?

See UVA.

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DwnTwnRaleighGuy Hamlet

DwnTwnRaleighGuy

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I think the "Carolina Blue" color will add a nice addition to the skyline. Raleigh needs the different color amongst the very "blah" of the Court house, County jail, other old county buildings downtown. They have interesting features but very bland less than white colors. Who knows maybe in the future, Capital Bank will build a bank building from a green glass? :)

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avery Hamlet

avery

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I think the "Carolina Blue" color will add a nice addition to the skyline. Raleigh needs the different color amongst the very "blah" of the Court house, County jail, other old county buildings downtown. They have interesting features but very bland less than white colors. Who knows maybe in the future, Capital Bank will build a bank building from a green glass? :)

Yeah, the blue doesn't bother me. I said I would like to see "Carolina Blue" before the renderings were released. I think it will look good. It should look good against the blue sky and reflect nicely.

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ericurbanite Whistle-Stop

ericurbanite

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I think the "Carolina Blue" color will add a nice addition to the skyline. Raleigh needs the different color amongst the very "blah" of the Court house, County jail, other old county buildings downtown. They have interesting features but very bland less than white colors. Who knows maybe in the future, Capital Bank will build a bank building from a green glass? :)

I would rather see Duke Blue...

haha

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Jones_ City

Jones_

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We've speculated how the RBC announcement could hurt Reynolds' proposal early next year. Do you think there is a possibity that Reynolds would announce something that would cause RBC to scale back its proposal?

I think RBC's height is safely at least the 29 stories announced. I only see around 3-5 stories of proposed office space that RBC itself is not taking. All the rest of the floors are retail (1), parking (6 or 7 don't remember) residential (10 or 12, again don't remember) and at 20,000 ft per floor RBC's 140,000 ft requirement is 7 floors. That is 24-27 floors. Accounted for. I suspect the Reynolds have some other local government style connection like with The Quorum, that will fill up a good portion of anything they propose. That they were talking about another 15 story building in addition to Quorum and the 32 story building tells me they have plenty of stuff cooking. I regard them as being fairly conservative when it comes to proposing stuff and being able to actually pull it off. I would be surprised if they had to scale back.

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intcvlcphlga Hamlet

intcvlcphlga

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Am I the only person who's disappointed? IMHO - and I preface this by saying I love Raleigh - the design appears to rip off design elements from the (old and new) Progress Energy buildings - which are independently quite nice but mashed together as this building seems to be, more than just a couple of pegs lower than what Raleigh deserves. This building is boring folks - more deserving of a city on the downslope. Given Raleigh's (NCSU School of Design's) indispensible role in the emergence of Modern architecture, Raleigh deserves something significantly more unique and exciting.

I'm not impressed by the design either. I'm a native North Carolinian, but, as an architect, I am hyper-critical of architecture and generally find little architecture worthy of praise in the projects being built throughout the state (and, that includes the skyscrapers in Charlotte). And, unfortunately, if you were to do a search for threads discussing Modern Architecture on Urban Planet, sadly I imagine the results would yield few positive comments about modernism.

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urbanesq Hamlet

urbanesq

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We do have the BB&T building in Raleigh. That and the Suntrust building in Durham are two very nice towers that would look good in any city. That's pretty much where it ends though.

Do you think so really? :huh: I respect other opinions, obviously, but I work in that building and have always found it to be less than attractive. The exterior materials make it look bland and much older than it actually is. I think the Wachovia building is much more attractive than BB&T. The SunTrust Tower in Durham has some nice details, but it's smallish and again the materials make it look a little tired.

But, like I say, to each his own...

:)

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ralncdude Unincorporated Area

ralncdude

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Do you think so really? :huh: I respect other opinions, obviously, but I work in that building and have always found it to be less than attractive. The exterior materials make it look bland and much older than it actually is. I think the Wachovia building is much more attractive than BB&T. The SunTrust Tower in Durham has some nice details, but it's smallish and again the materials make it look a little tired.

But, like I say, to each his own...

:)

The BB&T Building is realy unattractive when it rains.

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MR-2 Hamlet

MR-2

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Not having to work in either building, I can't really comment on what the interiors are like. Wachovia's crown is boxy and abandons the theme of the rest of the building. BB&T has a retro look that works for it. I think it looks fine in rain, but whatever. I always thought the Durham Suntrust building looked deceptively large, especially at night.

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NCMike1981 Burg

NCMike1981

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I think that Suntrust should powerwash their Durham building or something. I mean it's a beautiful building but it appears as if it needs a paint job or washing. I suppose that since the building is approaching it's 70th birthday it's looking quite well....

I've always thought that Durham's Suntrust and Durham Centre appeared much larger then the 15-18 floors they are, maybe because most of the other buildings downtown are so much shorter....I mean the towers would get lost in the cluster of midrises around BB&T in Raleigh, but they look so much taller in person and pictures in Durham....

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MR-2 Hamlet

MR-2

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17 and 18 floors structurally, with crowns. I think it's just the relative proportion of the buildings surrounding them. Durham has a handful of midrises from 5-8 floors around them, so the place feels dense at street-level, but the towers are still substantially taller than anything around.

I kinda wish the NC Mutual Building (12-ish floors?) were closer to the others. It gets left out of most Durham photos, and it's a nice looking building.

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urbanesq Hamlet

urbanesq

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I kinda wish the NC Mutual Building (12-ish floors?) were closer to the others. It gets left out of most Durham photos, and it's a nice looking building.

I know what you mean-- I used to really dislike that building and wished they would tear it down and start with something new, but it has really grown on me over the years. Maybe it's that more modernist architecture is back in vogue, but I think it has a really cool retro look that is actually quite attractive.

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avery Hamlet

avery

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I know what you mean-- I used to really dislike that building and wished they would tear it down and start with something new, but it has really grown on me over the years. Maybe it's that more modernist architecture is back in vogue, but I think it has a really cool retro look that is actually quite attractive.

I like it too. It looks like something you would see in an industrialized eastern european city. I think this type of architectue is hip now.

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dmccall Burg

dmccall

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:P finally, something to post in here... it has been a really slow week, huh?

http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/419973.html

personally, I didn't get why the RBC wasn't going for the biggest building downtown... it sounds like it still may not be, but this is still a little bit of good news if you ask me...

It HAS been slow. I thought...this must be what it's like on some of the other boards :D

Another little interesting tidbit is the hint of a 7th story pool on the Reynolds building. Sounds like a hotel/office complex.

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MR-2 Hamlet

MR-2

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I know this has been mentioned already, but it bears repeating, especially in light of the possibility that the RBC headquarters will be the tallest building (at least temporarily) in Raleigh.

They need to improve the crown. The current design looks like a combination of a best western sign at the end of a progress energy 'wing'. It's the biggest drawback to the design, in my opinion. It would look very tacky, especially if it were the tallest building around.

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Tayfromcarolina Hamlet

Tayfromcarolina

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True the current building is not an eyepleaser. But neither was the Progress Energy buildings first renderings back in the late 90's they were nothing, and I mean nothing like the building that stands at the corner of Wilmington and Davie streets today.

The News and Observer ran a big story about it (I kept the article but havent seen any photos online) The building was like half brick with bluishinh tinted glass and really squarish with nothing that really stood out about it. Perhaps the same thing will happen with the RBC building. The actual structure that opens in 2008 may look nothing like the renderings we have seen thus far. The may look dramatically different and might I add way better ;)

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