Designing A Better Downtown: Part III
In the first part of this series we toured a section of streets in Atlanta that offer nothing for pedestrians and are completely devoid of human life. In Part II we looked at two such blocks in Raleigh. The problem isn’t limited completely to those two blocks, however. There are several other areas of downtown Raleigh that are on the verge of being problematic.
The accompanying map labels problem blocks for pedestrians in downtown Raleigh. Block borders that contains extended walls and service entrances are labeled in red while blocks borders that contain empty parking lots are shown in pink.
Sidewalks around the NC Museum of History, Department of Revenue, Wake County Courthouse, and City of Raleigh parking garage are some of the areas that need help. Clearly, though, the McDowell Street corridor is in danger of become a high-traffic canyon of misery.
One major contributor to the southern end of this terrible pattern is the new convention center and its adjacent parking garage. Large venues like sports arenas and convention centers pose an ironic dilemma. While they attract large groups of pedestrians downtown, their enormous non-functional exposures create spaces that repel pedestrian life. When the experience is placed in a tight, one acre based grid, there is no room in the facility’s perimeter for pedestrian-oriented programming. Such facilities often create giant vacuoles to the daily urban experience. Careful planning in the surrounding blocks can mitigate these effects.
Both the new convention center and adjacent parking deck facility have three, walled sides, and both will eventually have interests for pedestrians on just their Salisbury Street facades. The convention center’s McDowell Street facade will eventually be opposed by an expansion of convention space, but will be a small outdoor amphitheater in the meantime. The north and south sides of the convention center (pictured) are already a half canyon and a full canyon, respectively. It is imperative for future development on the NE corner of Cabarrus and McDowell to feature pedestrian-friendly programming.
Moving north we find the aforementioned county properties bounded by Martin, Salisbury, Davie, and McDowell. Aside from small entrances on Salisbury, this complex acts as a pedestrian-repelling fortress. The new courthouse design needs to include something for McDowell St. pedestrians near the Martin Street corner. Two blocks to the north we see the AT&T building, and the need for a pedestrian experience in the new Lightner complex which was outlined in Part II of this series.
As one reviews the linked map, it is apparent that many future development opportunities actually exist in this corridor. As these properties are redeveloped it is imperative for architects to understand their roles in righting the fading pedestrian experience on McDowell.
There are golden opportunities in other areas such as the areas of Hargett/Bloodworth, Blount/Edenton, Hargett/Harrington, and Edenton/Dawson/McDowell. As mentioned above, architects should think of creating microneighborhoods with their designs. Surely some service entrances are needed, but it is imperative that they not line up consecutively so as to form complete blocks of boredom.
Zooming out from the map reveals an interesting pattern. We think of downtown proper as an orthogonal square of roughly 150 blocks. In fact the urban form seems to be a diamond-shaped, 45 degree offset pattern.
The next step in this series will cover a few existing problem areas that can be healed.
Site One Hole
The ledge in front of the Marriott is the future extension of Fayetteville Street. One block in the distance, and the space between the tall gray building and the brick building on the right is where the City Square will be located.
Where’s Walter?
The 11-foot Sir Walter Raleigh statue that stood on Fayetteville Street Mall since 1988 is now standing at the northeast corner of the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. It was removed in April 2005 and spent time in Ohio being refurbished before being unveiled at last year’s Raleigh Wide Open celebration. The City’s website gives some background about the statue:
In 1901, school children contributed pennies, nickels and dimes to see a memorial to this man who was responsible for the first English colony in America and for whom their state capital was named. The children from throughout the state gave generously to the Sir Walter Raleigh Commission and the sum grew substantial but was not put to its purpose. A goodly portion of the contributions were lost in a Depression bank failure. Only $10,228 of the Tarheel children’s donations remained.
Sporadic and half-hearted attempts to bring the statue into being surfaced and succumbed over the coming decades, until in 1975 a statue was commissioned to be executed by noted sculptor Bruno Lucchesi of New York. Corporate sponsors from throughout the state contributed to getting the statue created and dedicated during the nation’s bicentennial; the year ahead.
Seventy-five years into the idea stage, Mr. Lucchesi moved the idea of the statue into metallic reality. It was to be a heroically scaled bronze sculpture. The Italian-born artist prevailed upon the Sir Walter Raleigh Commission members to allow his vision of the sixteenth-century genius to be realized. While many of the commission members wanted Sir Walter represented in the “ruff” — the customary curly collar of his time, the artist prevailed with Sir Walter striking a haughty pose in open collar.
Short Changed?
Over the past few years Raleigh residents have enjoyed the excitement of a new building rendering on several occasions. The dreams and hopes of our next generation of buildings is typically energizing and builds expectations of a better tomorrow. As Raleigh’s tallest building takes form, we can now look back at a couple of artist renderings and see how close they were.
For best results, open each photo in a new tab, then switch back and forth to compare.
The popular skyline rendering can be compared to the picture on the right, taken on February 29, 2008. The nearly topped-off RBC Plaza stands in the center while the convention center and Marriott have completed their massing. It appears that the RBC Plaza’s rendering was the most accurate. While the building is actually farther to the right and is wider than portrayed, the size is fairly close. The building’s 22nd floor (marked by the yellow horizontal band) steps back at almost the same point relative to Two Hannover Square, but the residential floors will not be quite as tall as the rendering shows (the buidling’s highest inhabitable floor has been poured). I added a black triangle to the photo to show where the spire will top out (based on proportional measurements of lower floors compared to the cutaway diagram). Because the spire itself reaches the same height but the residential section is indeed shorter, the spire will proportionally be slightly larger than shown in the rendering. The error is minor, however. The rendering’s portrayal of the building’s blue glass is somewhat overly saturated in color. On the other hand, the shadows in the glass are full of errors. Overall, though, the RBC Plaza rendering is an accurate portrayal of what is being built.
The second project, the convention center, is also well portrayed. The rendering’s structural details are impressive, especially the NW corner’s glass protrusion and the roof’s support features. The building did not end up being as tall as hoped, though. The resulting roofline is about 40 feet lower (as compared to the Sheraton’s windows) and is much flatter than portrayed. Overall this is a good rendering, though.
…And then there is the Marriott. When the rendering was published, it was met with a chorus of boos. The insipid design in a prominent location was criticized as a missed opportunity. Critics at least were optimistic about the building’s massing and future contribution to the skyline’s density. In reality the building is an enormous disappointment and shows the rendering’s wild inaccuracies. The Marriott is vastly shorter and farther to the right than anticipated. Its windows are proportionally much smaller, making the building more similar to the high-rise jail than a second rate hotel design. Finally, is it me or does the photo show the hotel leaning to the left, somewhat, compared to One Hannover Square (Bank of America)? While the actual placement of the Marriott’s tower is much farther east than anticipated, the Progress One building is still visible and gives the appearance of more density. Perhaps we are lucky that more buildings appear in the “money shot”. Overall, though, the Marriott rendering turned out to be a poor one.
Another anticipated area this decade has been North Hills. Shown here is the Alexan rendering and a photo taken on February 20, 2008. Like the convention center, is it impressive how many details were included from the streetlight design and Storehouse awnings, to the black oval Alexan sign straight ahead. The artist did not anticipate the site’s terrain, though. In actuality The Alexan sits much farther back from and higher than Lassiter Mill Road. The error is most evident in the stairway that had to be built in front of the Alexan’s first storefront. The rendering shows a quite walkable, seamless site whereas reality offers pedestrians a busy street plus a flight of stairs to continue their experience. This is not a bad rendering, but the terrain issues prevent this from being a great one.
One of Raleigh’s most anticipated projects was the Entertainment and Sports Arena (RBC Center). The 1990s rendering and final product turned out to be extremely similar. There are several fairly minor differences, though. The rendering shows the building’s ovoid shape continuing, unbroken, at the main entrance. Some design changes by The Carolina Hurricanes included a bumped out entrance which allowed space for a ticketing lobby, retail store, club restaurant, Hurricanes offices, and the VIP entrance. The roof ring level is also bumped out, and houses the CanesVision video production studios. Another difference is the green glass and the absence of red in the actual structure. This is the exterior’s big failure . The original plan called for a rose-based smoked glass. Unfortunately the wrong color, green, was ordered and the result is ugly. Finally, high resolution versions of this renderings show multicolored uplighting on the roof’s ring. In actuality this aluminum crown is uplit with disappointing white light. Festive colored lighting (as shown in the rendering) would improve the building’s nighttime appearance. Overall, though, the artist did an excellent job with proportion, scale, and terrain and produced and excellent rendering.
Less Than Jake Coming to Lincoln Theatre
Ska/punk fans rejoice!
Less Than Jake
is coming to the
Lincoln Theatre
on May 1. Anyone know the story behind the song "Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts"?
BAD P.R. Move
Newraleigh.com posted a nice editorial today about the horrible new poster campaign in downtown Raleigh. Posters with this graphic are displayed to remind people to secure their belongings. The message sent, however, is completely counterproductive to everything the City and the Downtown Alliance are trying to accomplish.
See the NR editorial for more
.
Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon Coming In April
The first ever
Bank of America Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon
is coming April 5 to downtown Raleigh. Bands will be playing at various points along the course, and
Seven Mary Three
will play on Fayetteville Street following the race. After the race there will also be a kid’s festival with inflatables and vendors.
In addition to the half marathon, there is a 5K, 1mile run run, and a 100 yard kid’s dash. The half marathon route (.pdf) begins in the Peace area, stretches out to Meredith College, and returns to Fayetteville Street. Registration is now open. Interested runners can register online .
Which Will Be Taller?
The Soleil Center and the RBC Plaza are currently under construction and will soon be Raleigh’s tallest two towers. Which will be taller? If you read the News & Observer’s articles (such as today’s " Triangle Skylines Evolve ") you’ll believe a recurring misnomer that Soleil will be taller. The 41-story Soleil Center will be 480 feet tall and will contain hotel and condo floors. The RBC Plaza has a different structure. It will include retail, parking garage, office space, and residential. Its 32 floors will reach 538 feet tall , capped with a 23 foot spire. The difference is in the height of the floors, and hotels and residential traditionally have shorter floors.
The N&O story reads: "What other metropolis would put its tallest building – the 43-story Soleil Center…- in one of its deepest valleys." The word tallest implies sheer height, and the RBC Plaza wins by at least 58 feet. In fact the bulk of the building is going to be 12% taller than the Soleil Center , so it is incorrect to assert that we are "putting" our tallest building at Crabtree.
Designing A Better Downtown – Part II
Part II – Walling Ourselves In
In Part One of this series we toured a section of downtown Atlanta that contains some of the nation’s most stunning towers. Unfortunately most of these buildings left pedestrians with nothing to do, and the streets for many consecutive blocks look like a ghost town. The lesson is important as Raleigh is not immune to this problem.
There are a couple of canyonesque areas in downtown Raleigh that are already evolving this aforementioned way. One is Wilmington Street. The new
Progress Two plaza
creatively incorporates a large parking garage for people seeking SE downtown. The garage is topped with an office tower, and is skirted by many personalities. The project’s north face is lined with retail, mostly food outlets, while the East face is wrapped in new low-rise condominiums.
The South side faces the
Lincoln Theatre
and features exposed parking garage that can be converted to retail space at some point. In fact,
Charlie Goodnight’s Comedy Club
almost relocated to this space when the deck was new. The facade germane to this analysis is the west facade, a blank wall. Unfortunately the wall exists on Wilmington Street, one of Raleigh’s historic retail corridors. Compounding problems, directly across the street is a blank wall formed by the bases of both Progress One and One Hannover Square (Bank of America). (
map it
) How unfortunate that the gateway to one of Raleigh’s most walkable streets is a one block canyon of emptiness. Thankfully designs for the east facade of the Site One project incorporate retail/entertainment space in more than 50% of the east side space.
A second problematic area exists near Nash Square. One way streets McDowell and Dawson form the square’s eastern and western boundaries, and are meant for moving traffic quickly from S. Saunders to Capital Blvd. As a driver these streets work, but as a pedestrian they are similar to that windy, unpleasant block of Spring St. in Atlanta.
As one travels north on McDowell from Poole’s Diner (
map it
), the left side of the street’s first block is lined by garage-oriented businesses that will eventually be replaced with new development. The right side is lined by the sterile rear wall of the Public Safety Center (pictured), a parking garage entrance, and a city parking garage.
The block of McDowell bordering the park is lined on the right by a surface parking lot, the News & Observer offices, and the professional building. The third block is lined on the left by the police headquarters (future Enforcement Center site) and a city parking deck. The right side of the street is a block-long, blank grey wall formed by AT&T’s windowless switching center (pictured).
As one can imagine from the photos, pedestrians in two of the blocks nearest Nash Square have a boring, miserable experience. There is nothing to do, traffic is roaring, and wind howels down through the concrete canyon.
The City of Raleigh released concepts for a new high-rise Enforcement Center to be located across from this long blank wall. While the planned facility is intended for functional municipal uses, the City finds itself in a position to start correcting one of downtown’s biggest missed opportunities. Design of the east facade of the center should contain space for items pedestrians can use. This block between Hargett and Morgan will be heavily traveled by Campbell Law students en route to courthouse activities, so there will soon be demand for cafes, book stores, coffee shops, office supply stores, and the like.
A second step toward correcting this block is for AT&T to move their operations to another site. Certainly today’s microtechnology doesn’t require such a massive complex, and could either be rearranged on site or relocated off-site. The classic building at McDowell and Morgan could either be renovated or replaced with something more conducive to downtown life.
Mr. Mayor, tear down these walls.
As other projects are constructed throughout downtown, designers need to be mindful of the puzzle piece they are designing. The next part of this series will identify potential problem areas for pedestrian design throughout downtown.
Yancy’s, Longbranch File Chapter 11
TBJ is reporting that both Yancy’s and The Longbranch filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this week. This is the same situation that Amedeo’s on Western Blvd. is in where their credit is locked down, but they can stay in business.
Word on the street is that Yancy’s is moving their live music operation out to the former Hideaway BBQ site. Located on the first level of The Hudson, Yancy’s aimed to be a great southern cooking site by day, great jazz site by night. They installed expensive computerized lighting equipment and spend a small fortune trying to soundproof their operation from condos above. This was a miserable failure as complaints from condos soon ensued. Apparently we’ve found one of mixed use’s limitations.
Designing A Better Downtown – Part I
Part I – What’s Wrong With Atlanta?
Downtown Raleigh is experiencing an enormous amount of change. New projects are being proposed by the month, and the amount of investment proposed is staggering. In order to maximize this opportunity, we must ask what type of downtown we want. While each project may be exciting, none stands alone in its neighborhood. As evidenced by our existing facilities, there are collateral, systemic effects of each project.
One way to experiment with development styles is to look inward. We have several examples of successes and failures in our own downtown, and I’ll take a look at those later in this series. Another important tool is to learn from similar cities. There probably isn’t a more similar city out there than Atlanta, GA.
Atlanta bashers are a dime-a-dozen, but if we filter out the noise and look at some decisions Atlanta has made, we can learn from their experience. Atlanta is a Southern city with a similar climate to Raleigh’s. It is the state capital, is home of the state’s engineering school, and experienced much of the same developmental patterns over the last 50 years as Raleigh. Atlanta is a great lab for us because money has been abundant and the city has been able to experiment with many ideas.
Before the 1960’s Atlanta’s downtown was concentrated; full of businesses, government, and residents. During the 1960’s, however, American culture turned toward individual rights and urban crime rose dramatically. With an influx of investment came a new approach to protecting investments and citizens; the great indoors. For a period of nearly 30 years, one of the world’s most gorgeous skylines grew. Impressive interior spaces were created, and then connected above street level by enclosed tubes so as to create an safety-enforceable, climate-independent series of habitrails .
As the building tops told stories of success to those out in the burbs, the buildings’ feet were telling a different story. The streets were treating new investments poorly, so the investments responded by turning their back on the streets. New projects showed only blank concrete walls, parking garage entrances, and service entrances to the sidewalks. Gone were storefronts. Gone was the outdoor experience. Gone was life. With only a collection of blank walls and indoor labyrinths to greet Atlantans, downtown faded as a destination.
Take a walking tour and see for yourself. Let’s follow this map , and start at Centennial Olympic Park moving East on Harris Street.
Our tour is greeted with a blank corner across the street. To the right the first block features a surface parking lot on the right and left side of the street greets us with a blank concrete wall and a garage entrance to the former Inforum building. Where are the people?
Law Enforcement Center Rendering Available
The proposed $226 million Clarence Lightner Public Safety Center will be the new 17-story home for the Raleigh Police Department, Raleigh Fire Department, and the Wake County Emergency Operations Center. Plans call for the current Police HQ to be razed. ( map it )
A rendering is now available at WRAL’s site, and it shows the view from Martin and McDowell Streets, looking north. The rendering does not include the nearby planned Reynolds tower, but does sit nicely. There seem to be several different facade styles, using mostly dark glass, which is a welcome change to downtown Raleigh. Further information will be needed, however, to see what experience this building brings to pedestrians. The building currently sits in a brutal alley of faceless walls and pedestrian boredom.
Sono Website Up
Sono Japanese Restaurant’s
website is online now and features four menus. The main menu features 11 entrees, four of which are seafood. There is a large selection of sushi as well. The restaurant is located in The Hudson at 319-101 Fayetteville Street.
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