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....

Monica Ponce de Leon lecture NEXT Monday (7PM, Nov 9)

Next Monday night (Nov 9) there will be a fantastic, open to the public, lecture at NCSU's Burns Auditorium at 7 pm. Monica Ponce De Leon will be speaking about her work with Office DA (as co-founder and principal) and possibly some of her efforts as the new dean at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Michigan. Office DA does great work and we've heard that her lectures are not to be missed. Be there early if you want to get a good seat, it should be packed.

We're Back!!!! Our Moore Square Competition Entry

Below are the images from the North Carolina Design CoOperative (NCDC) Moore Square entry. Although we got a good response, we unfortunately did not place. Everything's being kept pretty under wraps about the winners but it has come to our attention that both Kling Stubbins and Tonic Design (along with David Hill) received Honorable Mentions, congratulations to those guys. We'll have more on the competition/process later.

Blog Status Update

For the past month or so Raleigh AAU has had to be set aside due to a variety of reasons. We will be finishing up our Moore Square entry this week and we hope to be back to the blog full force come October. After submissions are closed and the reviews take place we will be posting our entry to the blog as well as a lengthy article on the entire process. Also in the works is an article on the Szostak Design "New American House" project, which located in Raleigh and set to break ground within the next few months. We are very sorry for the lack of recent activity but we're excited about the future. See you soon....

N & O Home of the Month

The News and Observer's August edition of the "Home of the Month" was just recently released. The "Home of the Month" is a collaborative initiative between N & O, and NCSU's College of Design, specifically through the Home Environments Design Initiative (HEDI). This month's article is written by current NCSU graduate student Virginia Alexander.

Transplanted Glory

Catalano House to be Rebuilt

I was pleasantly surprised to hear, from a number of reliable sources, that the Eduardo Catalano house looks like it will FINALLY be re-built. The site is situated on a small plot of land close to Dorthea Dix which is currently owned by NCSU. This is the latest in the long line of attempts to rebuild the iconic/revolutionary mid-century house, with the others failing due to various reasons including, but not limited to; serious project mismanagement by the previous NCSU administration, the simple mindedness of a few misinformed students, and the selfishness of the NC Art Museum officials. With the possible exception of Dorton arena, the Catalano house is the finest example of architectural innovation to ever be seen in North Carolina. Hopefully this reconstruction attempt will fair better than those of the past.


Profile on Eduardo Catalano

NC State Announces Architecture Lecture Series

This past week, NCSU's School of Architecture announced its 2009-2010 lecture series that it holds jointly with AIA Triangle. All lectures will be held Mondays nights at 7:00, in Burns Auditorium, and are free and open to the public. The College of Design is trying to have a lecture every Monday night, through one of the departments within the College. That way, people just get in the habit of attending the lectures.

There are some great lecturers coming in this year. Here's a look at the upcoming architecture lectures this fall. Rather than writing a lengthy bio on each, I've included a link to their websites.

August 31st Marlon Blackwell who has his own practice in addition to teaching full-time at University of Arkansas.

October 19th Martin Haas, partner at Behnisch Architekten, and I believe he has a background in film-making.

November 9th Monica Ponce de Leon, Principal at Office dA.