The Pantheon Project: What If Charlotte…?

Scrolling the e-mail inbox, I found this invitation for free gelato on Tuesday, as well as an hour of imagining what could be ….

The Civic By Design forum — a monthly discussion group about urban matters — on Tuesday evening is offering free gelato, purchased from Dolce, with its July forum: ” The Pantheon Project: What If Charlotte … “

Consider the Pantheon in Rome, a 2,000-year-old building that remains an architectural marvel, and a transcendent place to experience:



When: The event will be Tuesday (July 8), 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the Levine Museum of the New South, 200 E. Seventh Street (Free parking at Seventh Street Station parking deck).
What: Imagine some of the world’s best urban places were suddenly placed in today’s uninspiring locations all around Charlotte. Local planner Blair Israel came up with a great location, and Tom Low’s recent visit to Rome inspired an idea. What if the Pantheon — including its surrounding piazza with fountain, teeming neighborhood of stores, gelato bars, churches, businesses, homes, etc. — were to rise out of the pavement at Kings Drive and Morehead Street, where the Little Sugar Creek Greenway is being developed.

How would you transform that spot into a civic destination so compelling that people would flock there from all over and it would become a gathering spot for centuries?

Bonus: RSVP by today to brenda@dpz.com and you’ll get gelato at the event. (Or maybe even if you don’t RSVP).

For a map and 360-degree view of the site, go to this link.