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Raleigh selects Dorothea Dix Park designer

The Raleigh City Council voted unanimously to select landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh to create the master plan for Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — The Raleigh City Council voted unanimously to select landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh to create the master plan for Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh.

"Michael Van Valkenburgh rose above the rest as the consultant best able to develop a master park plan that reflects the past, captures the present and reveals the future of Dorothea Dix Park," Mayor Nancy McFarlane said. "Raleigh is a hub of innovation and I am so excited to see what Michael is able to accomplish in partnership with our wonderful community here in Raleigh.”

Valkenburgh’s work includes Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York and Chicago’s Maggie Daley Park, as well as work at Princeton University, Harvard University, the grounds around the St. Louis Arch, the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, and beginning this year, the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

“It’s going to be so exciting to see him engage with the community and develop a plan for Dix Park that will meaningfully enrich the quality of life of everyone who lives in or visits this region,” said said Sean Malone, the new president and chief executive of Dix Park Conservancy, the private group backing the park's creation.

"The fact that we attracted interest from international and national experts in this field I think is pretty remarkable and we're going to do something amazing, something that is responsive to the community, but something that the Raleigh community has not seen before," he said.

The Dix Park Conservancy has committed $3 million toward the design work, master plan and implementation analysis. The process is expected to take two years.

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