City of Raleigh's Nash Square Public Realm Plan Launches
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new project in North Carolina: Nash Square Public Realm Plan, an initiative that will revitalize one of the most historically significant public spaces in Raleigh and open lines of dialogue between the square and the surrounding area. One of Raleigh’s original four public squares, Nash Square will anchor the city’s future Civic Campus, where Henning Larsen and RATIO Design have designed a new City Hall. This project signals not only a new era for Nash Square, but also for the community of Raleigh as a whole.
“Reed Hilderbrand is thrilled at the opportunity to work on such a critical nucleus of public life,” said Principal John Grove. “Our team is committed to working closely with Raleigh residents and officials to ensure that the revitalized Nash Square meets an expanded range of needs and takes on new resonance for the surrounding community.”
Nash Square’s geography—sitting at the seam of two major civic landscapes, the Warehouse District and Fayetteville Street—presents an opportunity to connect pockets of Raleigh life and invite more engagement with the landscape. By prioritizing pedestrians and incorporating all modes of movement, this plan envisions the square as more welcoming, equitable, and accessible for all users.
Added Senior Associate Lydia Gikas Cook, “Rather than thinking of this as a self-contained reiteration of the existing park, our team is interested in looking at the broader urban context—particularly the evolution of downtown Raleigh—and positioning Nash Square as critical to the fabric of everyday life: a space that builds civic engagement and promotes community, while still honoring the city’s rich history.”
It is an honor to be working with our community on a project like this,” said Raleigh Parks Planning Supervisor TJ McCourt. “Nash Square is such a special place, a park as old as Raleigh itself and one that will endure for many generations to come. Our city has grown so much and so quickly over recent years, but I believe Nash Square will help us remember why we are—and always will be—the City of Oaks.”
The plan foregrounds the protection and cultivation of its enduring canopy of deciduous and evergreen trees and honors the square’s foundational purpose: to be a comfortable and beautiful public space for the enjoyment of all. Through the realization of this plan, Reed Hilderbrand hopes to create a renewed Nash Square — an epicenter for Raleigh’s changing urban landscape that strengthens connective tissue across communities and contributes to the rhythm of daily life downtown.
Nash Square builds on Reed Hilderbrand’s award-winning work in urban public spaces, including Water Street Tampa, Boston’s Seaport District Public Realm, and Theodore Roosevelt Park, in New York City. Nash Square also continues the firm’s work in North Carolina, which includes Duke University West Campus Student Life Precinct and multiple projects at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Project Partners
- A Gang of Three | Engagement Strategy, Cultural & Historical Interpretation, Wayfinding
- Toole Design Group | Transportation Engineering, Mobility, Local Landscape Architect
- McAdams Engineering | Civil Engineering, Stormwater, Site Survey
- Site Works | Cost Estimating
- Bartlett Tree Experts | Urban Forestry, Arborist