Raleigh being Raleigh...

While I commend the City of Raleigh for holding the Moore Square re-design competition I have a hard time grasping exactly how the jury decided upon the winning submission. Recently I’ve spent quite a bit of time looking more in depth at many of the entrants and I have to wonder, am I missing something? I quite like the 3rd place entry by Stephen Stimson Associates (Falmouth, MA) as well as a number of the honorable mentions, specifically those done by Davin Hong, Tonic Design, and Lappas & Havener + Frank Harmon Architects and I fail to see how ANY of those could place behind what for all intents and purposes is a scheme that revolves around a manufactured "hill" along with extraordinarily cheap-looking playground equipment as two of it's primary design features. The images may have been "pretty" in the sense that they were well done technically, but the scheme overall feels like a space that could quite literally be ANYWHERE, USA. In addition, there's nothing remotely specific to the city of Raleigh or the surrounding site context within the scheme. All that was included in any of the renderings/plans was the square itself, with absolutely no mention, reference, or image reflecting the overall site. How could this happen? It must be said that while I personally know and highly respect more than a few members of the Jury, I find my faith in design, community design specifically, seriously shaken by this entire process. This competition was a golden opportunity for something extraordinary, not only for the City of Raleigh but for all of North Carolina as well. What we got could not have possibly been less exciting and I’m more than a little embarrassed for it. All in all, I guess its just business as usual and Raleigh just being Raleigh....