Raleigh Rambles

John Dancy-Jones at large!

The park with museum included picks up steam.

Lowe’s Park Pavilion, 2007

Mike Cindric and Vincent Petrarca
Steel, wood, and aluminum

   Designed and built specifically for this site overlooking the Piedmont prairie meadow at the NC Museum of Art, Lowe’s Pavilion is “art-as-shelter.”  Mike Cindric, as model builder and general technical guru, has been behind the scenes with a host of interesting projects over the years, and I’m thrilled to see him get such a prominent placement for his work, though I’m still mourning the removal of the Patrick Dougherty twig and branch castle recently removed from nearly this same spot. Lowe’s Pavilion has earned a merit award from the NC AIA, and a Sir Walter Raleigh award as well.   The metal skin of this outdoor classroom or meditation space changes with the available light, helping to integrate the inhabitants into the natural spaces around the highly sublimated structure.

     Mike has created a unique feel inside that highlights the experience of surveying the wonderful sculpture garden, heirloom prairie garden, and wooded hillside trails that have taken shape on the huge campus of the museum.  These amenities are the long fruition of one of the few positive trade-offs in the museum’s decision to leave downtown.  A few more outdoor images are below.

                     

      This place is well worth visit aside from the museum, whose new exhibition space is shown in progress below.  The liason with the Raleigh greenway system is also a strong piece of the project.  If you haven’t made it yet to the bridge over the Beltline, do it soon!  And stop by Lowe’s Pavilion to catch your breath!

August 17, 2008 Posted by | art | , , | 2 Comments