New RBC Tower Design

Yah I think it needs something that sort of “pops” — for lack of a better word. There really is no life to the skyline.

John, I assume that the second part (addressed to John) was for me, if I understood your last post, so let me clarify something. I am all for superior designs, and I do believe that Raleigh is ready for something unique. By that, I do not mean skyscrapers that make a statement, with international flavor, etc. I merely believe that the time has come for Raleigh to go beyond the typical boxes, but is the money for such designs there? As is, the answer is “No”. If we need to waste time on discussing petty details (i.e. how big the sign is), this means that there are many unresolved issues prior to becoming a target for huge investments and corporate relocations. Five years down the road things should be different, however.
By the way, what I said was that we are not ready for impressive towers, not that we are not ready for new towers. The time is good for at least one 40-50 story skyscraper (besides Soleil Center 1). For such structures I would expect elegance because they will stand out for a VERY long time and eclipse any other high-rise that currently exists. Personally, I like The Vue and The Trademark, in Charlotte. Such proposals should look really nice in DT Raleigh, but give Raleigh a few more years and we will begin to impress with the quality of our skyline.

I wish there appeared to be more thought with the exterior design to the actual people who will live in the building. How wonderful to sit on a balcony after a long day with a glass of wine and enjoy the view. However, this design, like so many before it, doesn’t provide a balcony that’s inviting, cozy, or private. You’re just left hanging on the side of the building and forced to converse with your next door neighbor. The balconies remind me of The Dawson. Who in their right mind wants to sit on those balconies?
Also, the orientation of the building is unfortunate. Half the units will be baking in the sun all day and the other half will never see a sunrise or sunset, or any sun for that matter.
I keep waiting for someone to build a high-rise condo in Raleigh with a view and livable balcony. The Paramount came close. Unfortunately, it’s in a valley with limited views.

This is a great conversation. Architecture should be more democratic. It’s always good to push design further – push design until it’s inspiring, either through its elegance or its relevance or its usefulness. Have you notified the architects about this site yet? Believe it or not, I’m sure they would love to be involved in this conversation. The community is the architect’s client as much as the customer is.

Being from Indianapolis, IN and remembering the glass encased vision of a future downtown that was displayed proudly in the Governor’s office and then seeing the results that still tend to be very close to the original vision, it’s hard for me to come to a small town and witness it’s transformation without a plan (at least up until about 10 years ago from what I’m told). I happen to be very familiar with many different aspects of design and I find it rather odd that the city of Raleigh has a large population of engineers, design students, artists & architects and yet we still see very boring and conservative buildings. Are the City Planners of this town that old, right winged, conservative, and BORING that we can’t catch up to the design pace that beautiful downtown Charlotte has set. Oh, wait a minute; I just answered my own question…after all we did keep J. Helms in office for centuries. -VB

Vincent,
Well said … that’s why the City NEEDS to approve Plensa’s design for the city square. It will be the impetus to open the minds of people to the extraordinary and what a downtown can be. On a personal level, people will be moved by it and momentum will be garnered for things such as the glass encased vision of the future and more in the way of taking a risk from an Architectural Design standpoint.
By the way, I think Empire and Reynolds are taking risks with their designs and I think it will pay off.
Lew

MUCH better!…but…still not great. I HATED the old design – a carbon copy of the Progress “tower” (UGGH!!…that humpback, can’t-see-it-at-all, Bauhaus/Berlin 1960′s era piece o’ crap…Progress BLEW it on that one!) It’s a better design, however, still essentially flat, uninspired, too conservative, etc. We need a signature tower between the buckteeth of Wachovia and BB&T;, but why not spend a few million more and go to 40 stories?!? It looks as if we have a memoratorium on how tall our buildings can be; our existing towers are both right under 30 stories. Downtown Greensboro looks that way…4 buildings…all 20 stories…in a row…
And quite frankly, this Raleigh-bred boy doesn’t mind admitting…we are EONS behind Charlotte regarding building design. Look at the gleaming (and by true definition) skyscrapers there; they are ALL different – both in appearance and scale. Charlotte’s skyline is pretty much breathtaking at any hour of the day.
Anyway, back to our skyline…we need a nice tower, and this one is much improved, but why must we (and Centura) settle for a building that really won’t dazzle? The spire is an improvement, but why NOT go for something a little different? I actually think the “Lion” motif could be built into the tower design as one poster suggested and might look kinda’ cool – as opposed to the ho-hum addition of the spire.
On a side note…I see you’re including both Apex and Cary in RALEIGHING. If you’re gonna become a metro area site, it’s not right to exclude Durham, and mostly Durham County-owned RTP. After all, over 200,000 people live there, it’s at least a third of the metro area population, has some great cultural offerings and is our sister city. Let’s not treat it like an orphan and leave her out of the fun. Ditto for Chapel Hill.
Oh, and one more thing. To the former Indianapolis resident…Raleigh’s population is now roughly 340,000 residents. We are now larger than Pittsburgh, Tampa, Buffalo, Cincinnati, and St. Louis in size/population…so I wouldn’t quite call Raleigh a “small city.”
Handshakes and backslaps y’all!

Yes it’s better, but only marginally.

city population means nothing (and hasn’t for decades) as newer cities annex land and covers 100s of square miles, olde cities are locked by ‘burbs… so no, raleigh isn’t bigger than Pittsburgh, Tampa, Buffalo, Cincinnati, and St. Louis…
Just as Jacksonville isn’t the largest city in FL, Columbus isn’t the largest city in Ohio and San Diego isn’t #2 in CA.

I’m glad to see raleigh is finally competing with other cities. After all, we are the Capital City.I actually love the architecture of the tower and hope to see more in the future.

The tower is a great thing. It’s a shame peole here in the south can’t look ahead and see that times are changing.

I’m trying to understand your last post, and to what it is in reference, but cannot figure it out. I think most everyone is excited about all the building downtown.