Downtown Cary Park
Opening in November

Feature
News

Published
October, 2023

Tags
Downtown Cary Park, Construction

We are excited to announce that the Downtown Cary Park will officially open on Sunday, November 19. Sited along the Town of Cary’s main street, the new 7-acre park is the centerpiece of a substantial investment by the Town to enhance its vibrant and rapidly urbanizing downtown core. The project’s design, a seamless union of urban design, landscape and architecture, is the result of close collaboration between OJB Landscape Architecture and Machado Silvetti.

Overview

Aerial view. Photo Credit: Town of Cary

Starting from the development of an early comprehensive master plan, the team of OJB and Machado Silvetti worked meticulously to design the park as a cohesive assemblage of landscape and architecture. The park itself is organized into two distinct zones whose landscape transitions from an urban condition to a naturalistic language as you traverse the site.

Aerial site rendering

Sample of building materials. Photo credit: (left) Town of Cary; (middle) Machado Silvetti; (right) Town of Cary

The pavilions are composed of a naturalistic material pallet of zinc, stone and wood which connect the structures to traditions of building in North Carolina, while simultaneously integrating with the material culture of the parks design.

Machado Silvetti has led the design of a series of signature pavilion structures within the landscape of the park. The pavilions serve a range of programmatic functions including food and beverage, public restrooms, events and performance venues, as well as spaces of shaded leisure and recreation. The architecture of the pavilions, while diverse programmatically have been designed as a cohesive ensemble, sharing both a consistent formal language, and material palette.

Conic roof forms hover above the ground. View of the Bark Bar Pavilion. Photo credit: Machado Silvetti

The conic roof forms are the defining feature of the pavilions. Their roofs provide an extension of space outward into the landscape, allowing the structures to hover within the park blurring the condition between interior and exterior spaces. Subverting norms of conventional sidedness that differentiates front-of-house and back-of-house, the pavilions cleverly embed back-of-house functions on the interiors so that the surrounding landscape is activated in 360-degrees.

Academy Pavilion

Rendering of the Academy Pavilion

The Academy Pavilion provides indoor and outdoor multi-use flexible space at the interface between the historic urban core of the town and the park’s contemporary center. Located adjacent to Academy St., it serves as the primary food and beverage point in the park in addition to providing public restrooms, indoor/ outdoor event and dinning spaces as well as below grade park storage and support spaces

Construction progress on the Academy Pavilion. Photo credit: Machado Silvetti

Great Lawn Pavilion

Rendering of the Great Lawn Pavilion

The Pavilion is a single inverted cone with an asymmetrical apex, supported on just three points—a dramatization of structure that reflects the primary purpose of the stage. The geometry of this pavilion was created in precise relationship to acoustical needs for a multi-purpose performance stage while the form, material, location of structure, multiple orientations and ground surface were all designed to encourage regular daily use of this covered space between signature performances.

The Great Lawn Pavilion located at the center and lowest point of the park anchors the intersection of many distinct park zones. The pavilion provides a shaded space for a range of programed classes and activities in addition to capacity and infrastructure to host large events, movies, and musical performances.

Construction progress on the Great Lawn Pavilion. Photo credit: Town of Cary

Bark Bar

Rendering of the Bark Bar

Construction Progress on the Bark Bar. Photo Credit: Machado Silvetti

The Bark Bar Pavilion located adjacent to Walker St. provides a smaller food and beverage point at the northern most corner of the park sited adjacent to the dog play areas. The pavilion is designed as an outdoor walkup bar experience with ample shade and seating for large and small groups to gather. Its roof edge is more sinuous in space, while forming an oversized scupper for rainfall, providing a centerpiece for a partially enclosed courtyard that serves as a memorable gathering point for park-goers.

Gathering House

The Gathering House, nested within the Gathering Garden, provides a large interior room that can be open to the Garden, for both private and public programming. While distinct from the other pavilions in its rectangular form, it is related to the others by means of dimension, proportion and material consistency.

Rendering of the Gathering House and Garden

Construction progress on the Gathering House. Photo credit: Machado Silvetti

Opening

The Downtown Cary Park opening will feature a ribbon cutting ceremony, live performances, arts and crafts, synchronized light shows, food trucks, Park tours, and more.

We will continue to update this section as more information becomes available.

The Downtown Cary Park is a remarkable collaboration between the Town of Cary, OJB Landscape Architecture, Machado Silvetti, and a host of consultants, community members, and the town’s council and manager’s office.

Great Lawn Pavilion and water feature. Photo credit: Town of Cary

Related Content

  • This seven-acre park is the centerpiece of an investment by the citizens of the Town of Cary to enhance, expand and protect the accessible public vibrancy of their rapidly growing community. Located in the heart of downtown Cary, the park is a transformational synthesis of urban design, landscape, architecture and programming that benefits the Town Cary and the greater region. Learn more about the project here.

  • On Saturday, June 26th, a groundbreaking ceremony officially began construction on the Downtown Cary Park. The highly programmed ceremony was well attended with Town administrators, residents and local news all excited for what’s to come. Machado Silvetti Principal Jeffry Burchard and Associate Austin Ward were in attendance at the groundbreaking, participating in a public forum on the design of the park, along with OJB Landscape Architecture team leaders, Cody Klein and Simon Beer. Read more about the groundbreaking here.

  • As the construction document phase of the Downtown Cary Park project wraps up, the project has been recognized by 2020 Architect's Newspaper Best of Design, awarded an honorable mention in the Unbuilt Landscape category. Exciting new renderings of the Park have been released, showcasing a vibrant and seamless integration of Machado Silvetti-designed park pavilions with OJB-designed programmed landscape. Read more about the award here.

  • Project updates, upcoming events, construction features, & site visits — Continue exploring news articles and stories here.