Sense of Arrival in Raleigh

When defining a city, the sense of arrival is crucial, not only does it signify the arrival itself but it defines the boundaries of a city. The first impression plays a significant role in shaping our opinions of each city as a place and helps to inform us about its identity. This is an analysis of the sense of arrival into downtown Raleigh from the southeast. (McDowell Street / NC Hwy 50).

The McDowell St. corridor offers us the signature view of the Raleigh skyline. While different than that from the Boylan bridge, it is unquestionably one of the City's best. The road, while busy, seems more like a parkway than a highway with it's winding path and well landscaped median. In the distance a city of Raleigh sign marks the arrival.

A wooded threshold clearly delineates the urban core boundary, rather than letting the development spill out. In many cities this threshold is a veritable no man's land, often heavily littered and marking a poor entry to downtown. The entry to Raleigh's urban core is well-maintained and deliberately designed to heighten the experience.

The Convention Center sits prominently at the crest of the hill and through it's placement, strongly anchors the southeast corner of downtown Raleigh. Designer's clearly understood the meaning of the site when planning for the convention center, the corner detail appropriately addresses the corner condition.

The "shimmer wall" on the west side of the convention center provides a positive face to the street. The building serves as both an iconic structure, which is well worth visiting, as well as the face of "New" Raleigh and therefore allows for a sense of intrigue among visitors, which every city needs.

Street trees and furniture serve as amenities in the pedestrian environment. While enhancing both beauty and safety they also significantly increase the walkability of downtown.

The vacant lot immediately west of the convention center, for which the city is generating plans for a park and outdoor amphitheater among other things. In the distance, the south side of a new Wake County public parking garage. This elevation, primarily clad in a brick veneer, cleverly disguises the fact that this is a parking garage, which is done successfully throughout the city. The perforations allow for natural ventilation through the garage, but also form an engaging facade to the street. This has got to be one of the best looking parking garage elevations around.

The east elevation is not nearly as successful as the southern elevation. Hopefully, there are future plans for some sort of cladding, or future development of this elevation. What I don't understand is why this elevation isn't designed similarly to the southern side of the building, allowing natural ventilation to pass through the entire structure. Where the southern elevation successfully addresses the street, this drab concrete wall acts as a black eye to what is otherwise a successful entrance to the city on the east side, as well as the north side.

If a street wall were a smile, the entrance into Raleigh is missing a few teeth. The undeveloped lot west of the convention center is unattractive, but hopefully that will soon be remedied. The underutilized Enterprise rental car office and adjacent enormous surface parking lot will need to be addressed, sooner rather than later. The east side of the public parking garage needs further development. However, what is in place is solid and provides a good foundation for future growth.

Overall Raleigh's downtown is clearly undergoing a major renaissance. Major changes are taking place, many for the good, which will be covered in future posts. The central business district is fairly well delineated and dense growth seems to be contained in the urban core. Clearly the triangle region as a whole is very decentralized, which is a major issue, but this is regarding the density immediately in and around downtown. Urban densities don't yet seem to be encroaching on residential neighborhoods. This isn't to say that all of neighborhoods adjacent to downtown are thriving because they aren't. However, the downtown is fairly well contained, meaning there isn't the typical ring of medium density commercial and industrial uses around the city, uncomfortably integrating with nearby urban neighborhoods. In Raleigh, a fairly distinct threshold delineates the urban core and nearby neighborhoods as distinct and congruous entities.

This entrance into the Capital City promises to have a bright future. The city has done its part in building the foundation, and setting the standard for further development of this important corridor into Raleigh.