POPE SQUARE
Raleigh, North CarolinaIntroduction Design Studio - Autumn 2021
At one time, the worn pavement path, known as Stronach’s Alley, was encompassed by a community. Rows of houses ran along the alley’s length, its edges enlivened and given definition by the people who lived there. It was a part of a home.
Today, the square footprint that contains Stronach’s Alley is one of many disjointed fragments in Raleigh’s urban composition. While vestiges of the past can be found scattered around its borders in the landscape, Stronach’s Alley is but a mere contour of the place that it once was. Any sense of community or emotion that may have once filled the space has been replaced with a sea of gravel and asphalt.
The proposed design for Pope Square seeks to reinvigorate the landscape surrounding Stronach’s Alley, and once more, create a place where people can come together in community. The designed form reaches beyond the footprint of the site to connect and weave into the adjacent urban fabric while simultaneously providing a variety of recreational and social opportunities within its borders. Stronach’s Alley, which runs through the center of the square, serves as the central spine of the design that connects the unique spaces surrounding it.
Along this primary axis, visitors can learn and engage with the history of the site, run and jump through the central playground, enjoy a public performance from bermed seating in the recreation lawn, and eat, drink, and shop in a
6-story mixed-use building that frames and anchors the landscape.
Through these interventions, it’s the hope of the design that the residents of Raleigh will once again give definition and meaning to Stronach’s Alley and, once more, make the space a part of their home.
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