News
June 3, 2009
Mayor Launches Moore Square Redesign Competition
Since 1792 when it was designated one of the four public spaces anchoring Downtown, Moore Square has been a very special place. Today, Mayor Charles Meeker launched a citywide effort to engage all of the public in rethinking and redesigning the four acres bounded by Hargett, Blount, Martin and Person streets to best serve 21st century Raleigh.
“Got a great idea for the best design for Moore Square Park,” Mayor Meeker asked the public today at a noon press conference in Moore Square. “Are you convinced you have what it takes to turn this downtown park into a unique public space? Now’s the time to let your creative juices flow and put those ideas on paper.”
The City of Raleigh is having a community open call for ideas to redesign Moore Square. Two sessions will be held to accept ideas --- June 17 at Marbles Kids Museum, 201 E. Hargett St., and June 27 at Chavis Community Center, 505 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. At the museum session, people can drop by anytime from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. For the session at Chavis Community Center, citizens can stop by anytime from noon to 4 p.m. A light lunch will be available.
The public is encouraged to submit design ideas at either session, including residents, students at local schools and universities, neighboring landowners, park advocates and environmental groups.
During the two sessions for the community open call for ideas, attendees of all ages will be encouraged to participate in the following planned activities and displays:
- A kickoff presentation on the open call process and Moore Square;
- View historic and current large-scale maps and images of Moore Square;
- Write a postcard from the year 2030 about their visit to the park;
- Participate in a tour of Moore Square;
- Work at tables with facilitators and drafters to translate their ideas onto site plans for Moore Square. Participants have the option of working on their ideas offsite and bringing them to one of open call sessions; and,
- Discuss their ideas with staff from the City of Raleigh Planning and Parks and Recreation departments.
Ideas will be collected at each event, summarized, mounted, and displayed at a Downtown exhibition and on the Internet. The results of the community open call for ideas will be summarized in a publication for distribution to City Council and made available to the public through the Internet, including the City’s website at www.raleighnc.gov. A recognition ceremony is planned for the City Council’s evening meeting session on July 7.
Ideas gathered at the community open call for ideas will be used to help those who enter a juried conceptual design competition to select the best design for Moore Square. This competition will be open to planning, design and engineering professionals and college students who majored in these fields. A jury will be impaneled to review design ideas and select the first-place, second-place and third-place designers. The jury also will award honorable mention recognition. The City Council approved the juried conceptual design competition at its meeting on June 2.
The City hopes to approve a final design plan for Moore Square in early 2010. The State of North Carolina, which owns Moore Square, will have to agree to the final design before construction could begin.
For more information or to register for the community open call for ideas, click here or contact Trisha Hasch in the City’s Planning Department at 807-8480.
Prepared by:
Jayne Kirkpatrick
Director
Public Affairs Department
For More Information Contact:
Trisha Hasch
Planner II
Planning Department
133 Fayetteville Street, Suite 100
Raleigh, NC 27602
919-807-8480
|
