Jump to content

Charlotte Photo of the Day


cltheel.sdl

Recommended Posts


I wouldn't say pathetic.  I was actually really impressed with Raleigh when i was there for the NC APA conference a few weeks ago, especially with the street activity and urban feel downtown.  However, compared to Charlotte, it has some catching up to do skyline wise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Raleigh has more old buildings than Charlotte, so you don't have to go to any particular node to find interesting and beautiful streets, they're just all over the place (makes me cry sometimes when I visit). It makes sense that Charlotte would have a more pronounced skyline, since skyscrapers are the ultimate physical expression of free enterprise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Raleigh has more old buildings than Charlotte, so you don't have to go to any particular node to find interesting and beautiful streets, they're just all over the place (makes me cry sometimes when I visit). It makes sense that Charlotte would have a more pronounced skyline, since skyscrapers are the ultimate physical expression of free enterprise.

I'm pretty sure this is the ultimate physical expression of free enterprise:

 

giphy.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^^ That will be forever etched into my mind along with that clip of him dancing to hotline bling on SNL. In regards to Raleigh's skyline, I don't think it is much different from what Charlotte's looked like when the population was half it is now.

 

This.  AuLukey put together a render a longggg time ago for Charlotte's 1990 skyline, when city proper had 390,000 people.  Slightly less than modern day Raleigh:

 

CharlotteRendering1990.thumb.jpg.c08b19d

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Too many government buildings downtown Raleigh...blank concrete walls all over the place. The new construction even ##suk#s. Yeah, we have some great old buildings, but no way Raleighs skyline catches up with Charlotte because of the government buildings, North Hills, RTP, Cary and sprawl in the worst case possible. Charlotte will always be the real urban city for NC. Mecklenburg co being so small and not much competition with uptown will eventually make Charlotte a world class city. Just a matter of time! Among all the other Charlotte greatness. Love that city!!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@papadog I absolutely love that first angle. We might not have the density in our skyline as older, more established cities but if you look at it from a closer perspective in the right place, Charlotte really gives that big city feel. Because of all our wonderful tall buildings, pictures of the skyline tend to be taken from a distance. And while those are still pretty to look at, it makes Charlotte look like a couple of skyscrapers surrounded by nothing.

We need more low- to mid-rise buildings to start taking up some space that is sitting as an empty lot. Just make the buidings interesting with good street presence and I wouldn't care if they were all stickbuilt. They can be torn down in 2-3 decades once the land becomes too valuable. Right now, we've got all this land to build on and not much is being done. Imagine if every surface lot had 4-8 stories facing the street with retail. Bigger buildings can come in later and build on the remaining unused land.

This might not make sense to those of you who know a lot more about this topic than I do.

Why don't they let smaller developers and projects go up inside 277? Just have them make sure to keep the idea of building a neighborhood in mind rather than just cookie cutter apartment blocks. Keep the small development away from the center of uptown. There's just so much space and potential closer to 277.

I realize that you can't force natural development and infill to happen and they will occur over time on their own. But there should be incentives to push for much higher densities close to the loop, both inside and out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Synopsis101 said:

I wish that parking deck beside 300 South Tryon weren't there.

Yeah, I took my Dad on a tour of Uptown a few weeks ago and we went to Bearden - he said: "Man this is beautiful" the first thing he said after that was: "I bet they're kicking themselves for building that parking deck though" (referring to the one at the corner of 3rd and Church)

I don't know when it was built but I'm assuming at the time the general sentiment was that as long as Tryon is nice, everything else is fair game.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.