Green Square: Breaking the Mold of Boring Government Buildings
The economy has torpedoed nearly all large-scale building projects downtown, but state or county governments are busy on three: additions to the NC State Prison, a new courthouse, and the Green Square Project. Unlike the first two, Green Square will be a place for the enrichment and furthering of culture for visitors to Downtown Raleigh.
Unlike other buildings in Raleigh associated with state government, Green Square is shaping up to be a very pretty addition to downtown landscape. Even the parking deck (above) looks like it will contribute to the appeal of a mostly bland complex of government buildings.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of one of the new buildings will be a giant earth sculpture incorporated into the Natural Resources Building. You can see where the spherical structure will rest in the photo above.
You can sort of get an idea of what the earth sculpture will look like based on the image above. I say sort of because the image above is done in a style in which so many architectural firms seem to be moving toward: renderings which resemble a watercolor impressionist painting. Unfortunately, a detailed drawing of this sculpture seems impossible to come by.
Although not nearly as monumental as the Capitol Building and not as bold as the Legislative Building which sit on either side, the Green Square Project represents a very forward thinking and modern move for North Carolina state government. These projects seems to contradict the widely held belief (with me, anyway) that state government buildings are by and large condemned to be bland and soulless structures. The walls of steel and glass a far cry from the poured concrete structures around it.
For more information on the Green Square project, I recommend checking out the Raleigh Connoisseur. Leo has been covering the project for a while and has lot of photos and background information.
You can see progress of the Green Square project off of Edenton Street, about a block away from the Capitol Building.
12/13/2010
Here is a link of the Green Square project that has more detail
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/11/16/805807/green-building-gets-a-topper.html
12/20/2010
Will you look at this now? What happened to the Jones Street that I grew up with?? Mark
12/21/2010
I’m curious as to why a “green” project for a government that is strapped for cash would not have some street level retail on the ground floor of the parking garage…it would have provided rental income, livelier street activity and made better use of the ground level space in general, instead of just another parking garage, of which Raleigh seems to have plenty. Alexander Square is a better example of a good multi-use building.
02/07/2011
I was atop this parking garage to take New Year’s Eve fireworks photos. On the way down, several police officers approached me to make sure that I wasn’t tagging the roof or doing other unsavory things. They said that the Raleigh Special Capitol Police are responsible for the building, and I suppose that must be so because it’s a government deck. I really like the aluminum vanes on the walls of this building.
03/29/2011
I don’t understand why Raleigh is afraid of Retail space? We always have enough places to eat now we need some store!! Best Buy, Target, a GAP, etc….. How about some Holiday shopping Downtown! I would love to run downtown to buy someone a gift!!
11/29/2011
I love all the night photos here. The one on the roof of the parking garage we particularly love because its the frame were 960 photovoltaic modules will sit and collect energy from the sun!