Commercial Architecture January 2018 - 9

FEATURE

mixed use

Gateway Village Technology
Center, Charlotte, NC
5,120 SQ. FT. IN A 1.1-MILLION-SQ.-FT. PROJECT

he project's developer, Cousins Properties, Charlotte, hoped to start a chain reaction
of positive development in Charlotte's blighted Third Ward," said Turan Duda, FAIA,

Duda|Paine, Durham, NC. "We became more than the project's designer; we served as
negotiator, mediator, and 'the conscience of the Third Ward,' synthesizing the conflicting
needs of diverse stakeholders to generate a scheme that would revitalize this area with
garden plazas, paths, and open-air atria that connect housing units, offices, shops, and
parking. The project's central Promenade is the complex's heart and embodies Cousin's
vision for a great public space, a social center, and a magnetic attractor."
"The design process at Gateway was multilayered," said Jeff Paine, Duda|Paine,
"with the goal always to create an accessible, welcoming, urban nucleus in harmony with
the demands of a primary financial-industry tenant, which required high security for its
high-tech operations."
"We collaborated with community planning groups and owners to establish new
guidelines for Charlotte's entire Third Ward," said Duda. "We became rooted in this
community, chairing the project's arts program to expand its influence and working with
surrounding developments to create meaningful connections."
"Gateway demonstrates our long focus on the concept of 'authenticity' in ensuring the
creation of successful urban places," he said.
Gateway Village revitalized the depressed area west of Charlotte's main downtown
corridor-new office and apartment buildings, as well as a major culinary institute,
reference Gateway as the district's catalyst and nucleus. In addition to becoming a
round-the-clock, live-work-play environment, the Promenade has become Charlotte's
most desirable location for festivals, charity fundraisers, and concerts. Multiple arcades
and passageways open the complex to pedestrian traffic and provide easy access to the
parking garage, streets, residences, and the garden plaza.
A two-story skybridge between two buildings spans the central plaza and helps define
the Promenade as a soaring open-air gallery into a favorite venue for outdoor concerts,
charity events, festivals, and farmers' markets.
Hugh L. McColl, CEO (retired) of Bank of America, noted that, prior to this development,
unlike many of the world's great cities, Charlotte lacked a monumental public space that
could be accessed 24-7.
The Dean of Univ. of North Carolina Charlotte's College of Arts and Architecture,
Ken Lambla, AIA, routinely takes students for site visits to study how socially conscious
development can reinvigorate blighted urban areas.

Opposite page. Gateway Village revitalized the depressed area west of Charlotte, NC's, main
downtown corridor-new office and apartment buildings as well as a major culinary institute
reference Gateway as the district's catalyst and nucleus. Photo: Duda|Paine Architects
Top left. In addition to becoming a round-the-clock, live-work-play environment, the Gateway Village Promenade has become Charlotte's most desirable location for festivals, charity fundraisers,
and concerts. Photo: Robert Benson Photography
Left. Multiple arcades and passageways open the Gateway Village complex to pedestrian traffic
and provide easy access to the parking garage, streets, residences, and the garden plaza. Photo:
Robert Benson Photography

commercialarchitecturemagazine.com

JANUARY 2018

COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE

http://www.commercialarchitecturemagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Architecture January 2018