This 100%. Other cities seem to embrace this as their standard. We get the extremes. We seem to be working with the bookends of architects and their rich patrons (high end), or beige eddie bauer standards (low end but somehow still expensive).
Iāve thought more Phase II of this project and Iāve decided I donāt think I like the way that 4-5 stories of residential units are stacked on top of the entrances to the courtyard from West street. Combined with West at North this makes a 900 foot long uninterrupted streetwall along West Street. IMO the entrances under these massive skywalks donāt really break up the monotonous massing enough for me.
Iād rather have whatever units are built on top of those walkways, get put on top of the residential buildings to make them an extra story taller, or perhaps just left out entirely, and leave the courtyard entrances open to the sky.
I know its not gonna happen, but added some truss bridges to connect the buildings at the 6th level.
Can I get some of this rendering software youāre using?
I understand the intent of breaking up the scale, but to me, this kills one of the only things that makes the project stand out. That area with the glassy overlook flanked by sculptural columns and a thriving patio or bar could be pretty cool, especially if they actually do spend the money to fill the passthroughs with art like in the rendering. This is a condition that you donāt find in other apartment developments in Raleigh.
Otherwise it just looks like a generic apartment building broken into smaller pieces.
Is that a Phillips Seafood Restaurant suggested in the rendering?
Additionally this gives those new end unit apartments, one less wall they can hear people farting through.
From what I understand by looking at the site plan, there is a 30ā utility easement running through the site that forced Kane to arrange the buildings this way, leaving the open spaces at the ground level.
Canāt tell if being sarcastic, but its just MS Paint.
Iām guessing this is the buried culvert for the Pigeon House creek? Man, wouldnāt it be amazing to have this daylit and a creek running through the courtyards and then along the east side of āPeace apartment buildingā!
I actually had no idea Paint cold do thatā¦my Paint stuff looks like a gchat doodle. But iām an idiot. Cool, looks good.
The āurban canyonā feel to this area will be further reinforced whenever the high speed rail alignment is built.
The eventual viaduct is going to be about 1500 feet long, running parallel to West street, starting around North street and ending at peace street. Here is where I think money should be spent. Why not design an urban linear park beneath it? A daylighted pigeon house branch could run beneath it. North American examples of this are the Miami Underline https://www.theunderline.org/
and the Toronto Bentway. http://www.thebentway.ca/
While not a rail line, there is an area beneath the I-95 bridge in downtown Richmond (actually Shockoe Bottom) they called the Cathedral. At one point in time (not sure if they still do this or not) they would light the bridge piers from underneath at night and it had a Gothic/cathedral-esqueness to it. There are/were pieces of sculpture hanging down from beneath the bridge as well. It was mostly just used for parking, but still a pretty interesting use of space.
Not exactly the picture I was looking for, but you can kinda see what I am talking aboutā¦
The point being, I complete agree, if we must have infrastructure cutting through the City, which is a necessary evil, then we should make it something interesting and memorable. We donāt have any rivers or waterways in DTR, so we canāt have cool signature bridges like a lot of cities have, but we can make create a memorable experience for folks (visitors and natives) by creating our own interesting parts of town. (And achieve grade separation for the rail line as well. )
Iām all for daylighting and trying to āunkillā it, but just know at West St it starts between Tucker and Johnson and doglegs north behind āFindsā, and never stays next to West st. I wanted the future Greeway at Deveraux Meadows park to continue under Peace St (itās raised high enough now, but got a culvert without an extra conduit for a greenway), follow a stream bench along daylighted creek next to Publix and join the bikeway on West. That bikeway would then take you straight to Dix via the future West st tunnel under the tracks at Union Station.
I realize that the creek doesnāt naturally follow West street, but since the city wasnāt interested in restoring it with the Kane project, maybe it could be realigned slightly and incorporated into the railroad project whenever it eventually happens.
As an alternative, the viaduct could be built with small commercial/retail spaces underneath which could be leased by small independent companies/brands. With the trains running on top, the rent would naturally be cheaper than in regular buildings. Something like thisā¦