True, I want water features for DTR just as much as anyone else but this one was a little clunky. I thought they could still have a round one with less footprint up against the back of the planters in front of the pizza shop without being ‘in the way’ of events. May even be a nice backdrop for the stages they setup there during Wide Open, Hopscotch, etc.
4 Likes
Cary’s fountain is great for the space it’s in. I like the scale, it’s highly visible, isn’t a trendy design with hard to clean details, and the volume of water adds alot of sound to the space. We’re never the only ones there when we go, and my 3 year old loves it.
6 Likes
Great idea, new features behind the stage would be very cool. These always remind me of the alien ships from Independence Day.
6 Likes
That’s not currently legal in NC…
2 Likes
Some folks might remember way back in the day when the Sir Walter statue was across the street from the Legislative Building, the grounds crew found a few marijuana plants had grown couple feet high around the statue. 
1 Like
I started missing it about a year after they installed it and it ceased to function properly.
I stopped missing it about year after that when they never bothered to fix it.
10 Likes
I didn’t even know there was a fountain there. That whole section of Fayetteville St is my least traveled area of DTR
3 Likes
I’d love to see a water feature built into the side of building, ideally on the side of a parking pedestal. Imagine a programmed wall of water on a 8 story pedestal with varying “dances” among the levels.
5 Likes
And an auto shut off valve with any wind above 5mph otherwise it’ll be raining on the street all day long. 
1 Like
Speaking of Alien ships, one has landed in Shanghai
Raleigh could have one, maybe over train tracks and MLK/ Western eouth west of Duke performing ares complex. Maybe make a nice new home down town for for Hurricanes and State. Would not take a lot of space, just need room for base. Could also have waterfall fountain falling off edge facing Down Town. 100 feet high and could keep all the plants in area watered on windy days
5 Likes
That’s why I was saying that it could dance among the levels. You don’t have to drop 8 stories at once. It can skip around, disappear, reappear, and be integrated into a greater piece that could involve a living wall, etc.
4 Likes
Sick looking building
1 Like
I mean…I like sitting there with a beer and pondering what in the hell I’m doing with my life, but other than that, won’t miss it.
4 Likes
That building is built during the World Expo 2010, I believe the Saudi Arabia pavilion if I remember correctly. Here is a picture of the building from 2010 when the Expo was happening.
The beauty of the Expo is each country is responsible for paying for and constructing their own pavilions. Most of them are temporary and removed after the expo, but some of them, like this one, Shanghai decided to keep them and repurpose for other things. Here is a picture of it back in 2010 while I was there for the expo.
Interesting event. We haven’t had one in the US since the 80s. Wonder if this is something Raleigh should look into.
1 Like
LOL V we may have passed I while there Jun 1 and 2nd: The flying saucer building it a Arena, now called “Mercedes-Benz Arena” seats 18,000. Saudi Arabia pavilion was (in that picture) about a block off to right and behind. The red upside down pyramid is couple blocks to right. I did not get to that area (past the arena) as only had 2 days there during the worlds fair. There were some really impressive pavilions there but sorry to say the US pavilion was not one of them. just a big box with a couple theaters, one with Obama making some really bland speech, that not really sure what it was about, and the other about kids planing flowers in a vacant lot in a run down part of (i think) Baltimore. Really made me proud to be American (turn on sarcasm switch if you missed it), Even the Chinese girl I was with asked what was that all about? Oh and the US pavilion also had a shop selling all sorts of American trinkets, made in china if course. If can not tall I’m still pissed about US’s face to the world there.
4 Likes
Yeah the US had a very poor showing. It was a bare minimum effort. The UK pavilion was amazing, with the seed repository made of fiber optics cables I believe. Too bad they disassembled it
2 Likes
