Amaranth Alley
The residential/urban alley is the built landscape that expresses the heavy auto-mobile culture of America. According to the Oxford Dictionary, an alley is a narrow passage way behind and between buildings.
In the mid 1900's many alleys were designed solely to provide rear access to properties where the garage was located and waste removal spaces for service vehicles to collect from. Due to the function of these spaces, the alley is usually forgotten about and misunderstood as a space for danger and strays. Today, the shift of the diverse social structures are allowing the alleys to be repurposed and used in ways that they were not designed for. For example, the high Hmong population near the alley on Amaranth Site are transforming the ephemeral atmosphere of the landscape. The families begins adding urban gardens, art work and more turning the landscape into gathering spaces for the community. |
An example of alleys in Seattle being re-utilized into public spaces.
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