Raleigh Wide Open 3 happened on schedule, despite the threat of Tropical Storm Hanna. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this annual festival was the grand opening of the City’s new Convention Center. The building occupies the space of a much smaller convention building, that was built in the late seventies and demolished in 2006.
This 500,000 square foot building has been a point of contention for Raleigh residents since a 2002 study commissioned by the City of Raleigh came to the conclusion that Raleigh needed a new convention center. 
The final cost for this structure came to the sum of $221 million, and the designers will apply this fall for LEED certification from the US Green Building Council. Hopefully this will be a big step forward for Raleigh Architecturally.
The building is rather intuitive, with wide open circulation spaces and clearly delineated entrances. The most exotic part of the building, as far as aesthetics is concerned is the shimmer wall installation. This living sculpture, depicts a large Oak tree (a fitting choice for the City of Oaks) and responds to the shifting winds with undulations reflecting the kind of sensitivity both civic context and nature that 
the building is meant to embody. Inside there are references in the detailing to North Carolina’s history in manufacturing textiles, which while heartfelt, also acts as a painful reminder of the price of progress. The material palette is tasteful, comprised mostly of earth-tones, hopefully a move that will keep the building from becoming quickly dated as so many modern structures seem to do.
North Carolina’s capital City was once seen as an exception to the conservatism in the American South Architecturally. Since the School of Design’s inception in 1948 (Now the College of Design) the school has brought Architects and other designers of an international level to North Carolina. Landmark buildings built in the second half of the 20th century by former students and professors of including some of my own professors fill the landscape of the Triangle, but are rapidly disappearing. Modernist houses are particularly prone to premature destruction, but more of our most prized pieces of homegrown pieces of Modernism are in danger every day.
Whether the new Convention Center represents a changing tide in favor of more Modern buildings downtown remains to be seen, but between it and the new AIA Headquarters, Raleigh certainly appears to be going more green. Here’s to hoping that we have more great civic spaces to come, and that Raleigh will rediscover some of the spirit so prevalent in the late 40s and early 50s in this great City!
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