I was noticing the RBC Plaza building was rising slightly to the right compared to the July 2007 rendering, so I adapted the position relative to the height of latest floor (which is about where the condo section begins). If the originally released rendering holds to scale until the final beam is put into place, then it appears the impact from our typical South Saunders Street vantage point will be a bit less than what it first seemed. It looks like Two Hannover Square may continue to hold the peak position in the skyline from this perspective. Even if we consider the towers of the Edison, they will not have significant impact from this vantage point unless something is scaled up to 700-800 feet.

When the all proposed projects are finally finished, from ground level I suspect the Boylan Avenue bridge might provide the most impressive scenes of the density stretching from Martin to South Street (and you’d have to go wider to include Wachovia Capitol Center).

He is an updated version of the future Raleigh Skyline rendering. It reflects a more current version of what we might see in 2008 and beyond.

Closer:

Nothing to get excited about, but here is a first glimpse at the base exterior of RBC Plaza.

Overview of the construction:

I recently purchased a new lens and haven’t had a chance to try it out all that much on Raleigh yet, but I have managed a few shots here and there.

Here’s a zoom all the way down Fayetteville Street from the south end. Its not the clearest image because the heat rising off of the ground really distorts the objects at a distance.

Here’s another shot up close from the Boylan Ave Bridge.

For those curious, the lens is a Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 L.

Here’s a panoramic photo update on the progress on Raleigh’s new convention center.

A mock up of what a 25 story building would look like for the announced Winston Hotel in downtown Raleigh.

Video flyover of the future Raleigh model. We’ll update this view periodically.

We’re working on a three dimensional model of downtown Raleigh and its buildings to help us visualize how new structures will look within the skyline. Have a look: