Do tell…like what kind of things?
Our family went over yesterday and I can’t say enough good things about this new civic space. We will be here often and loved seeing children immediately fill up this space and start playing. A few shots from yesterday (not sure why the play area isn’t open yet, that will be another great addition)
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That’s a great looking park. Real sharp. Great skyscraper back drop!
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Amazing, pics look great and the park is beautiful.
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Someone at my church who got an architecture degree from NC State said he would rate the new Moore Square 6.5/10 (8 being perfect for US standards and 10 being worldwide perfect).
Minus points for the guardrails (unnecessarily tall), for the slide (which is probably not up to code), and for there not being chess/checker tables that people can hang out and bring their set (well those were at least some of his complaints - I’m not sure how much they factored into his rating)
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The 12" guardrails are unnecessarily tall?
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If those are the complaints, I think 98% of people would think things are looking pretty good.
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As someone who works in creating and activating public spaces, this is something you learn as you grow.
This is a fairly new space, and new habits need to be created. So, in time, one would hope that checkers/chess will find the space to occupy in this square.
As for the guardrails, in NYC plazas, any plantings are immediately trampled. People will take over space very quickly, regardless if it is meant for plantings. So, you have to try and plan for these things, but they are not foolproof.
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There are chess and checkers that can be played a few blocks away on Fayetteville St. Not every park needs to have that amenity.
And more to that, that spot on Fayetteville is kind of “their spot” so moving them or designing without knowing this is being oblivious to local culture.
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We took our kids Sunday morning and they played near the unopened slide. We were dismayed to watch other kids trample the small plantings and stand there pulling leaves off the small trees while their parents chatted nearby without saying anything to them.
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yep helicopter parents that demand there their kids have the best schools and such, and get special attention from from other people but are totally blind to what brats they are raising.
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Home training is a totally lost art.
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… I wish I had a meme of Mr. Rafael Tomas to go along with your post.
I wish the little one foot barriers and ground cover bushes weren’t there. They make a huge portion and indeed most of the shaded areas of the park inaccessible. I wish they would plant a few more trees along the walls and around the groove room and community tables or at least throw up some shade somehow.
One of the things I miss from the old Moore Square is its intricacy of features. You could stand on one side of the park and not see clear through to the other side. It felt more intimate and not as exposed as the park does now.
With the redesign there feels like there has been a clear change in the primary purpose of the park. It used to be a place for small groups to gather around a bench or a wall in the shade of a tree while on a lunch break or while waiting for a bus. Kids could play in the mulch under the heritage trees after spending the day at Marbles. Now it feels primarily like a weekend event space to accommodate specifically Artsplosure and the movies in the park, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just different.
While I’m excited about the newness of the park and all of the cool things that are going to happen there, I wish the city had done better to preserve the character of the old park.
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I hear what you are saying, but Nash Square still has dense trees and that kind of feel. I like the new open greenspace, but I agree it is too bad to lose some of those trees.
I wonder if part of the purpose of the portion with the guard rails and the little ground cover plants is to give remaining trees more room for their roots.
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Exactly. It’s for root protection for the old trees. This was in response to an overwhelming support for protection of those trees so this is where we are.
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Ah I didn’t know about the tree protection. It’s still a shame that so much of the park can’t be used especially because there aren’t many other shaded seating areas.
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I do agree with you about the shade. I do think Raleigh (public and private) tends to build outdoor seating with only the Spring and Fall in mind.
Now I do think Raleighites kind of check out for the Summer, maybe that’s a factor, but with all-day shade and fans, an outdoor area can be quite comfortable on a 90-95 degree day, IMO.
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