Cary, North Carolina, USA
Downtown Cary Park has transformed the heart of Cary, North Carolina, into a vibrant civic destination where landscape and architecture merge to create an engaging public experience.
Developed as the centerpiece of the town’s investment in its growing community, the park expands the historic town square while providing a contemporary space for recreation, culture, and community gatherings.
Downtown Cary Park by Machado Silvetti, won an American Architecture Award 2025 from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
The project was realized through close collaboration between the Town of Cary’s Parks and Recreation Department, landscape architects, architects, consultants, community members, and local officials.
From the earliest master planning stages, the design team approached the park as a unified composition in which buildings, pathways, gardens, and open spaces work together to create a cohesive environment.
Organized into two distinct zones, the park gradually transitions from an urban setting to a more natural landscape.
Curving pathways, plazas, and diverse planting areas guide visitors through a series of spaces that encourage exploration while reflecting the character of North Carolina’s Piedmont region.
At the heart of the design are three signature pavilions that serve as architectural landmarks while supporting a wide variety of public activities.
Although each pavilion fulfills a different purpose, they share a common palette of timber, wood cladding, white brick, and zinc roofing, drawing inspiration from the region’s architectural traditions.
Their sculptural forms extend the flowing geometry of the surrounding landscape, with sweeping roofs that blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces.
The Academy Pavilion, positioned near the town’s historic core, functions as the park’s primary food and beverage destination while providing flexible indoor and outdoor event spaces, public restrooms, dining areas, and operational support facilities.
At the center of the park, the Great Lawn Pavilion serves as the primary venue for performances, community events, fitness classes, and outdoor movies.
Its dramatic inverted-cone roof, supported on only three structural points, was carefully engineered to enhance acoustics while creating a shaded gathering place that remains active even when no events are scheduled.
Located beside the dog park, the Bark Bar Pavilion offers a more intimate destination with food, beverages, generous seating, and a distinctive roof that channels rainwater through an oversized scupper, creating a memorable focal point within a partially enclosed courtyard.
Throughout the park, the landscape showcases native ecosystems with shade gardens, perennial plantings, wetlands, pollinator habitats, and meadows that provide year-round visual interest while supporting biodiversity.
Sustainability also plays a central role in the design through an innovative three-tier stormwater management system that utilizes the site’s 30-foot elevation change to collect, filter, and detain rainwater, helping reduce flood risks for downstream communities.
Since opening, Downtown Cary Park has quickly become a centerpiece of civic life.
Welcoming more than 750,000 visitors during its first year and hosting over 1,000 community events, the park has established itself as a dynamic gathering place that supports recreation, cultural programming, and everyday social interaction.
By seamlessly integrating architecture, landscape, and ecological infrastructure, Downtown Cary Park demonstrates how thoughtful design can strengthen community identity while creating a resilient, welcoming public space for generations to come.
Project: Downtown Cary Park
Architects: Machado Silvetti
Design Team: Jeffry Burchard, S. Austin Ward, Emily Ashby, Meric Ozgen, Danny Salamoun, Seiee Kim, and Brayton Gregory
General Contractor: Balfour Beatty US
Client: City of Cary, Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department
Photographers: Tzu Chen Photography
