The competition is over, and Chris Count's design for the square has been selected:








Any thoughts on it? I think it was a solid, if safe choice. Don't think the block needs much in the way of change, it works pretty well as is... The addition of public restrooms seems like a good idea, though I'm not 100% there on the idea of the cafe... There's already a ton of great food there.

All entries can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40641567@N03/

10/30/2009 1:24:58 PM

all it needs is a firing-squad range, gallows, and a guillotine. then bring the fella's from the central prison over and rid this state of some trash, all while entertaining the masses



[Edited on October 30, 2009 at 1:30 PM. Reason : .]

10/30/2009 1:29:47 PM

A)What have they done with the giant acorn?

B)The band members, and some of the other folks, are semi-transparent. Ghosts?

10/30/2009 1:50:18 PM

They should build a Shake Shack in Moore Square, then it'd be heaven!!!

10/30/2009 1:59:29 PM

Translucent objects & people are pretty common for architectural and landscape architectural presentations (allowing the viewer to see more clearly than they would in real life, the proposed design)

if you look on the lower left of the plan, it says "Public Art / Acorn Opportunity" I'm pretty sure that's where it'll end up.

10/30/2009 2:00:16 PM

what's all that shit in the walkways?

too many zig-zags and shit

10/30/2009 2:09:56 PM

Yes, public restrooms are always a good idea in areas where the homeless congregate.

10/30/2009 3:13:38 PM

What's with your obsession with the homeless?

10/30/2009 3:26:25 PM

a playground? really? with all of those bums that live there?

10/30/2009 3:54:43 PM

The designer probably didn't know about the homeless people when he joined the contest. I think I'll pass on using those particular public restrooms.

It seems like the homeless people disappear whenever there is an event there. Where do they go?

10/30/2009 4:23:28 PM

Quote :

"The designer probably didn't know about the homeless people when he joined the contest."

..............

10/30/2009 4:28:53 PM

"Cleaning up" the square was the main reason for the competition. I'm pretty certain he, and everyone else, knew.

10/30/2009 5:12:22 PM

Quote :

"What's with your obsession with the homeless?"

Que?

10/30/2009 6:51:21 PM

what was the inspiration for the stripes?

10/30/2009 6:54:58 PM

the movie Stripes

10/30/2009 6:57:48 PM

Yes, public restrooms are always a good idea in areas where the homeless congregate.

10/30/2009 9:11:49 PM

unless they are going to run off the homeless people this will not make me anymore likely to visit moore square or that area.

i rather stay 2-3 blocks away from it close to the people going to court than down there, its sketchy as hell with all those homeless people

10/30/2009 9:32:13 PM

Then you are not the target audience of the square. The homeless people are not going to be "run off", nor should they be.

10/30/2009 9:39:48 PM

Yes, they should be.

10/30/2009 9:46:20 PM

Why do they not have the right to be there but you do? Last I checked it is a public space. Where should we "run them off" to?

And to further that, what about them makes you so uncomfortable or scared? Getting asked for money?

10/30/2009 9:49:47 PM

I can totally seeing homeless people living in the slides

10/30/2009 9:50:04 PM

I saw one on the Person Street side hitting another one with his cane the other day.

10/30/2009 9:54:43 PM

because i pay taxes. they don't.

10/30/2009 10:11:19 PM

they pay sales taxes...

10/30/2009 10:43:24 PM

bums breed crime, are a public blight, and detract from the atmosphere they are trying to create down there.

streets are public property... how would you like it if a bum took up residence on the curb in front of your house? what would it do for the property value of your neighborhood?

10/30/2009 10:50:13 PM

You're right! He even simulated a homeless guy in the bottom image. Granted, old beret man there is too clean to be homeless, but they probably didn't have ripped dirty clothes as an option in his drawing program.

10/30/2009 10:51:12 PM

Quote :

"I think I'll pass on using those particular public restrooms."

Quote :

"Yes, public restrooms are always a good idea in areas where the homeless congregate. "

There is a type of public toilet, and I wish I could remember the details, that is designed to discourage the homeless from abusing them, and they've proven effective in europe (I think that's where they were used)

Hell, I can't even remember how they discouraged the homeless...dammit.

10/30/2009 10:51:35 PM

in israel they would hang up bags of pork lard on buses so that if a mooslim blew it up, they would get pork on them and not be "clean" for mooslim heaven.

10/30/2009 11:01:13 PM

Quote :

"they pay sales taxes..."

Joe Pesci as Simon Wilder in With Honors reference? FTW?

10/31/2009 12:28:55 AM

Quote :

"Why do they not have the right to be there but you do? Last I checked it is a public space. Where should we "run them off" to? And to further that, what about them makes you so uncomfortable or scared? Getting asked for money?"

far away from me, the homeless people in downtown raleigh come at you and yell things they follow you and they try and get money from you why would you want to make a nicer place for even more of them to gather at?

and they are dirty

10/31/2009 12:43:03 PM

If they raise the middle then how will they be able to have Downtown Live?

10/31/2009 4:12:03 PM

That would actually help Downtown Live. There would be much greater viewing angles.

10/31/2009 4:14:28 PM

Quote :

"If they raise the middle then how will they be able to have Downtown Live?"

Probably something like this

10/31/2009 4:19:58 PM

10/31/2009 7:41:28 PM

Quote :

"the homeless people in downtown raleigh come at you and yell things they follow you and they try and get money from you why would you want to make a nicer place for even more of them to gather at?"

NEVER had this happen to me in downtown raleigh. i've seen one homeless guy yelling at people on hillsborough st. i think he was arrested shortly thereafter.

10/31/2009 8:25:14 PM

^ Me neither, and I work downtown.

10/31/2009 8:33:22 PM

I never have either, but everyone has their own experiences I guess.

That reasoning is absolutely hilarious, though. We should destroy everything of worth in downtown so the homeless don't have anywhere nice to gather!

10/31/2009 8:34:01 PM

I personally believe that we should gather up the homeless and gas them, since they don't pay taxes and all. It's obviously the only solution for dealing with them. I can't imagine anything worse than having one enter my line of sight.

10/31/2009 8:40:22 PM

I miss Raleigh

10/31/2009 9:40:32 PM

That playground will be a nice addition. I never understood why there wasn't a playground near the children's museum anyway.

10/31/2009 11:05:38 PM

get the fuckin homeless, stragglers, panhandlers, ect ect from slothing and physically polluting that area. until that happens, its still a decrepit downtown. Giuliani discovered that early on, and turned NYC around. we got a historic, landscaped, and appealing downtown, but as long as "spare some change" continues to flourish, its going to remain a daily / nightly collection of unemployed welfare slackoffs like its been for 20 years

11/1/2009 1:33:56 AM

Except it's not that at all. And there are still homeless in NYC. And you still get asked for change.

11/1/2009 1:47:50 AM

That's the ticket! Turn downtown Raleigh into a police state! Shoot some black folks 49 times in the back, that'll solve all our problems.

11/1/2009 3:26:13 AM

blerg double post


[Edited on November 1, 2009 at 3:28 AM. Reason : p.s. seriously though poor people are the devil]

11/1/2009 3:28:21 AM

Other cities don't have homeless people. Only Raleigh -- the bustling metropolis that it is.

11/1/2009 10:12:41 AM

Quote :

"spare some change""

their signs say spare $1.00's

but just in the last month have been changed to spare $2.00

11/1/2009 9:06:45 PM

for someone that develops parks professionally, I think this design is the best of teh bunch, but that isnt saying much of anything. All of the designs are pretty poor.

That being said, I hope they dont build the cafe/restrooms. Thatll just keep the bums in the park. Raleigh parks will also ned to stock up on bathroom partitions as the glory holes will reappear nightly - much like they did when the city rebuilt the boat house facility at Lake Johnson.

11/2/2009 8:20:47 AM

^ i want to know who designed the restrooms at lake johnson

how you gonna have an outdoor restroom with no ventilation

it's like a damn pee sauna from march to november

[Edited on November 2, 2009 at 9:33 AM. Reason : i don't know where gloryholes would work in there but i am not the target audience ]

11/2/2009 9:32:46 AM

I cant remmber who did the lake johnson off the top of my head - i want to say Cline or HDR but I caould be off.

You are correct - teh bathrooms have always been horrible and they could easily have added ventilation to the outside with the use of louvres or fans without compromising security (ie break-ins, etc)

I am not sure what is there now as I moved from Raleigh two years ago, but when they built the boathouse as it is now (~2001 or so), the partitions in the bathrooms were pressed laminate partitions and easy to drill a hole through. They must have spent thousands of dollars over the course of the first three or four years replacing those laminate partitions. I assume now they are stainless?

For those not in the know, a glory hole is "A hole the has been clandestinely drilled into a stall partition in a public rest room. Used to either spy on one's neighbor in the adjacent stall, or to facilitate sexual contact through the insertion of a penis through the hole."

11/2/2009 9:58:39 AM

lol.

Danks for da tip

11/2/2009 10:05:55 AM