by Leo Suarez

Shimmer wall details

Here is some more information on the shimmer wall of the convention center, that was mentioned earlier here.

WHY A SHIMMER WALL
There is no entrance to the Raleigh Convention Center from the western side. The wall houses the 500,000-square-foot facility’s chillers and boilers that require significant air flow. Yet the wall facing McDowell Street is the most visible as motorists enter downtown Raleigh. Some 20,000 vehicles arrive downtown via the thoroughfare each day. Even those not destined for the center city are offered downtown’s most inviting vista as they motor east and west along Western Boulevard.

The convention center’s design team of TVS, O’Brien Atkins and Clearscapes saw the wall as a canvas yearning for artwork that defined the essence of Raleigh.
“The design team wanted to do something that would add visually to downtown,” Clearscapes’ Stephen Shuster said.

In addition to the wall’s visibility, it also benefits from spectacular southern and western sunlight.

So what would make maximum use of this visibility and light?
Shimmer wall thought the design team; the ultimate coupling of these two natural elements.

“To gleam; to shine with an unsteady light; to glimmer” is the definition of shimmer. So how to make a wall do that? The design team, working with artistic inventor Ned Kahn, decided to put 79,464 4-inch by 4-inch aluminum pixels hinged on louvers to allow for free motion on 4-foot by 4-foot grids. The design is 211-feet by 44-feet. To aid nighttime “shimmering,” backlight the 9,284-square-foot wall with 56 LED fixtures.

But not just a shimmer wall, the design team demanded. Rather a shimmer wall that offered an iconic image of our city. The oak tree, the design team exclaimed.
The oak tree – the symbol borne on the Great Seal of the City of Raleigh; Raleigh’s unofficial tag line – the “City of Oaks.” But the oak tree for oh so much more.
“We wanted an image that could be understood and appreciated by all – children and techies,” Mr. Shuster said. “A tree is a complex system. It symbolizes growth. It symbolizes the environment.”

At rest the almost 80,000 4-inch by 4-inch pixels will offer a clear depiction of a mighty oak in shades of silver. And yet this oak tree will be ever changing. The flow from the boilers and chillers; the natural breeze, the whoosh of the stream of cars along McDowell will keep the image at flux. As will the shifting slant of sun rays. Adding further to the uniqueness of this shimmer wall will be the back lighting from Cree’s LEDs. And the LED colors will vary, depending on the season, the celebration – whenever and whatever!

Lot more can be read here.

by Leo Suarez

Shimmer wall to distract drivers; entertain the kiddies

The city has announced a $1 million donation from Cree Inc. that will go toward a shimmer wall on the western side of the new convention center. This is the wall that overlooks McDowell St. and is certain to be very eye-catching as people drive by. The wall will be substantially large and at 9,000 square feet, should easily draw a crowd. Once it is done you can probably find me stumbling over from the warehouse district on Saturday nights to stare at it like a mesmerized fish.

Watch the WRAL video for a great visual of the design.

N&O story

by Leo Suarez

New Leader for the DRA

The Downtown Raleigh Alliance has not had steady leadership in four years but hopefully that has changed now. David Diaz has been hired as the new head of the DRA. The Triangle Business Journal reports:

David Diaz, head of a downtown booster group in Roanoke, Va., is pumped up to be the new president of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, and he hopes to help make the Capital City’s core “hip and cool.” Diaz confirmed Wednesday that he will take the position at the head of the group, which has five full-time employees and three part-timers. He will replace Nancy Hormann, who stepped down in October but has stayed on during the search for her replacement. “If you look at almost every magazine that rates cities, Raleigh’s always coming out at the top now,” Diaz told Triangle Business Journal. “I’m always amazed, and I’ve been aware of it for a long time. I feel blessed that I’m getting an opportunity to come to Raleigh.”


It sounds like a good hire and I like his focus on the smaller buildings over the larger. The taller buildings will take care of themselves and if Diaz focuses on revitalization of the older, smaller buildings, it will have a greater impact on street level activity and create a greater impression to residents and visitors.

N&O story.

by Leo Suarez

Bike trails in and around downtown

Today, I will finally be getting my bike from the shop and am looking forward to doing a little biking around downtown. The City of Raleigh website has lots of information on the greenways that zig zag their way throughout the streets and parks. I posted some links at the bottom for more information on this. They have a really good map showing all the trails and points of interests. I think with gas expected to be at $3.75 a gallon as the national average at the end of the summer, it may not be a bad idea for all of us to have an alternate option of getting around.

Greenway Trail System
Park and Greenway Improvements

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh nightlife ranks well with young singles

It seems that the growing nightlife, which is mainly focused in downtown, has put raleigh on the map for young singles. The N&O reports:

Call it a meat market. Or a college town grown up. Or, like Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, you can call Raleigh one of the best cities for young singles.

The Capital City joined Washington; Denver; Austin, Texas; and Lexington, Ky., in the magazine’s June issue as the best cities for young singles.

Among Kiplinger’s criteria:

“For young singles, two factors can be crucial to choosing where to live: Can I afford the rents? And what can I do there? Finding an apartment that fits a starting-out budget is key.

“And whatever money is left over often goes to meals out, concert tickets and bar tabs. These metro areas all scored well on rental affordability and have a high number of restaurants and night spots per capita. Each area also scored highly on our bohemian index — a measure of the city’s diversity and cultural amenities.”

HERE’S HOW RALEIGH STACKED UP

•Cost-of-Living Index: 99 (100 being national average)

•Bohemian Indicator: 110

Being a young single myself, I agree with the rating but have not been to the other cities for a good comparison. The nightlife will continue to improve and become larger, there is no doubt about that. Let’s hope other forms of entertainment come to downtown to create a mix that can attract all kinds of people to the area.

by Leo Suarez

Downtown Company move, offices doing well

The N&O reports that Kimley-Horn, the engineering and planning firm is moving downtown. They will be vacating their offices in the Briggs Building and moving to Capital Bank Plaza, that’s just one block down Fayetteville St. The article says:

RALEIGH – Engineering and land-planning firm Kimley-Horn and Associates agreed to sublease 11,000 square feet from Capital Bank in Capital Bank Plaza at 333 Fayetteville St.

Kimley-Horn, which occupies about 4,000 square feet in the Briggs Hardware building at 220 Fayetteville, plans to move in July.


Available downtown office space is dropping but as we all know, there are big plans for more in the near future. Its good to see a Raleigh firm taking up more space and hopefully expanding within downtown.

by Leo Suarez

DT Transportation for you lazy people

This post will be one that evolves as the downtown transportation scene changes and grows. I have overheard people complain about the lack of parking, the overcrowded lots on weekends, and others are just intimidated with finding a spot on the street and making the effort to parallel park. If anyone reading this thinks that downtown is hard to get to or inaccessible, allow me to try and persuade you otherwise and properly inform you about your options about getting around to the various districts that make up the downtown area. With a little information beforehand, your experience downtown will lessen your headache in the car and increase your headache the next morning (which is a good thing if you know what I mean)

You’re not a VIP!
I’d like to take a little stab at the suburban parking mentality. In suburbia, shops are typically built in shopping centers and an ocean of parking is laid out right outside the front door. You park with the store clearly visible in front of you and you walk right to it. That works just fine in a car-dependent area, like all suburbs in America are these days. This mentality does not apply in a downtown area and with Raleigh’s growing, a new mentality must be adopted by visitors so that they know what to expect.

If the parking spaces right in front of The Big Easy are taken and you have to park three blocks down and around the corner to get there, this does not mean that more parking in downtown is needed. What you should have known is that there is a parking deck a block away that you can easily park in and walk to the restaurant.

Now it is not your fault for parking so ‘far away’ and walking, the blame can be placed on the city for not advertising the parking options very well or for you not taking the time for doing a little homework. This is something the Downtown Raleigh Alliance is trying to help. Information is power and at their website here, you can see an interactive map of all the parking decks and lots available to you. I encourage everyone to make a note of the closest deck or lot to your location, get to know it, and use it.

Not the walking type? Ride then.
So you drove downtown and have plans with friends to have dinner on Fayetteville Street, drinks on Glenwood, and then dancing in the warehouse district. This sounds like it involves three trips with your car. Not at all! Here are some various options, other then just walking, to get to your destinations.

• Cabs – Cabs are fairly easy to spot in the busier sections of downtown. Flag one down and get a ride to your location. As downtown grows so will the frequency of cabs. I really hope to see a solid fleet of cabs moving people around downtown in the near future. White horse is the downtown cab of choice.
• Horse and Carriage – A more laid back option to getting around. Right now they are just rides around a laid out route. I see no reason that they could not let you out at a certain spot on the route. This may be the more romantic way to go for you guys out there, or just do it for the kiddies. Click here for more information.
• Rickshaw – New this year to downtown. Rickshaws have been popping up and you can use them to get all over downtown. This is a very environment friendly option and right now they are free, well sort of, just make sure you tip them well. According to this article, they have plans on expanding the service in the future. I like this option the best. Easily the most fun choice. They have a website but its not up yet.
• Raleigh Trolley – This is like the bus system for downtown. Currently one trolley runs on limited hours but there are plans to expand the service. Check this website for times and the route. I really think this will take off once Fayetteville Street has been completed.

So there it is. Take a look at all the links and add some bookmarks to your browser. Next time, before you head out to the downtown area, plan ahead and approach it with confidence. No need to thank me.

by Leo Suarez

Sir Walter Statue Proposal

As many of you know, the Fayetteville Street Mall has been torn up and become a street again. In this process, the Sir Walter Raleigh Statue that was placed on the 100 block of the mall was shipped to Cincinnati for cleaning. Well, the cleaning is done and the 11-foot statue is ready to come home but Sir Walter’s previous home has now become a street. No one has decided what to do with him and the city council seems to ignore this issue. WRAL has a good article on the situation.

I feel that not enough people care about this issue which is why the statue has been sitting in Ohio, ready to come home for over 10 months now. I am now proposing a solution to this, one that will make everybody happy and one that the city can be proud of.

The triangle lot bounded by Edenton, Hillsborough, and West Streets is the location of my proposed Sir Walter Court. Right now it is a dirt parking lot for the empty shops across Hillsborough St. and there are plans for a hotel on the block to the east of the block. My proposal can be seen here.

My vision for this court is simple. The triangle area will have a new sidewalk on the south side to help pedestrians cross Edenton Street, which is not very friendly at the moment. The sidewalk running north/south along West Street will be renovated to match the Hillsborough sidewalk. These sidewalks are important because they will hold the pedestrian traffic connecting the hotels along Hillsborough St. and the core downtown districts to Glenwood South.

The statue will be placed on a pedestal with a granite courtyard amongst the tress that currently fill the triangle. There will also be plenty of seating around the statue. Of course, there will be extensive landscaping to beautify this area around the statue, especially the shrubs on the north side. The power lines in the area must be buried and attractive, tasteful lighting will go in its place.

Hopefully the shops across the street will hold a couple food places and some shops. I want the idea of getting food and sitting outside around the statue to be a very common thing. The area is filled with trees and shade is a good commodity already.

With the proposed Winston hotels, other Hillsborough St. hotels and developments, and the edges of both Glenwood south and the warehouse district nearby, this location is a prime connection and gateway to downtown. It will easily add connectivity to pedestrians and an additional attraction to visitors.

Thoughts? Ideas? Concerns?