Really came out well. Appreciate the Holt Brothers Foundation for contributing to our great city. Its these unique items that make our city enjoyable.
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Nice write-up in the N&O.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article266517576.html
“The park has been decades in the making, and funded by both public and private money. It should be ready to open by mid-2023, but the Beacon is already changing the landscape of an area of downtown that has looked the same for decades. In the next few years, the state government complex that surrounds it will also have some changes, including demolition of the Bath Building across Lane Street from the park.”
(All pictures are from N&O and included in the article linked above.)
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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: State Government
or a fancy version of the trophy from Nailed It!
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haha. I thought the same thing! 
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In the next few years, the state government complex that surrounds it will also have some changes, including demolition of the Bath Building across Lane Street from the park.
nooooo! one of my favorite ugly buildings in the city.
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Morning sun is hell on this angle, but they’re back to digging out paths, this time on the NE side. Doesn’t look like the precast concrete is here yet, but they’re getting everything else as far as they can.
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Guessing they’re stuck waiting on all those new custom concrete panels to line the paths after the first batch were duds.
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Hooray! Very excited for this one
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So, I’m guessing that the concrete is intended to be red clay color? If so, I hope that the color is more consistent than this image suggests. Maybe there’s real clay dirtying up the dyed concrete?
Yes, the design concept was rooted (no pun intended) in the idea of excavation to reveal the support system beneath the surface, i.e. the unrecognized contributions of African Americans and the story of their struggle toward freedom.
I think the color variation in the image is likely just moisture or dirt (and if that’s not the case I doubt these panels will pass final inspection).
An interesting tidbit also worth noting: the designers were actually after an intentionally imperfect look for these panels.
Concrete is usually vigorously vibrated to release entrapped air bubbles after it’s poured, but to achieve the desired look, the fabricators limited the shaking to retain more inconsistencies. Turned out that this process made all the inset text look awful, which is why the first batch was rejected and we had to compromise toward a more refined finish.
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Agreed, the walls look great. The whole park is coming together really nicely. I look forward to seeing it in person.
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Don’t know where we are putting this yet, but… a mockup of the Beacon was delivered to our office last week. It’s like 500 pounds
Could pair nicely with the NMAAHC panel mockup! 
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