West Main Streetscape
Brightleaf is a landmark in Durham but the West Main street streetscape was a tangle of separate stairs that did little to welcome the public into the building.
The building floor elevation was set at the ideal height for a loading dock, not to meet the sidewalk. The design break through was managing half of the elevation change within the vestibules and the other half in the exterior.
Complementary to the industrial patina of the district, but careful not to use a historic material found in Brightleaf, the Corten steel walls create a consistent datum along the facade and clarify what is old and new.
We were able to extend a two-tiered, pedestrian walk along the entire building edge without guardrails, creating a welcoming front-porch for the city and an upper tier path against the historic building facade.
Project Info:
CLIENT: Asana Partners SIZE: .15 ac
TEAM: Little - Landscape Architecture TIMELINE: 2019-2020
(Ryan Ives Design and Project Lead)
Little - Architecture
Little - Branding and Graphics
Thomas & Hutton - Civil Engineering
LOCATION: Durham, North Carolina. NOTE: Project Completed at Little