Planning, Visualizing, and Experiencing a Town Center

The Town of Morrisville is a fast-growing Raleigh suburb situated amid North Carolina's burgeoning Research Triangle. Despite a strong desire to create a "downtown" and community focal point, local officials have hesitated to approve any development within the designated area for fear of proceeding down the wrong path. Unable to reach agreement on appropriate heights and density, Morrisville's Town Center remains largely undeveloped while other areas of the community are thriving. Recognizing the importance of this key area in the community, Houseal Lavigne was hired to help the community reach an agreement and move through the stalemate. Sketch concepts were imported into Esri's CityEngine and two scenarios were built out: 1) an option with surface parking supporting one- and two-story buildings; and, 2) an option with four- and five-story buildings served by centralized parking garages. CityEngine Dashboards were used throughout the design process, ensuring both scenarios followed the Town's recently adopted zoning code. A web scene was publicly shared, providing Town officials and residents an opportunity to view and compare each scenario. Finally, the CityEngine scenarios were imported into Unreal Engine to provide a fully immersive experience to better evaluate the different buildouts. Users can walk a pedestrian around Morrisville's Town Center, toggling between scenarios, assessing the appearance and overall experience of each option. Hailed by staff as an absolute success, Town officials reached unanimous consensus on Option 2. Houseal Lavigne is now preparing the plan framework, policies, and recommendations to help Morrisville achieve its vision of a dense, compact, walkable and vibrant community focal point. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow us on Social Media! Twitter: https://twitter.com/Esri Facebook: https://facebook.com/EsriGIS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/esri Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esrigram The Science of Where: http://www.esri.com