In 2014, Claire Olson, suggested that one of the central strategies of building in this neighborhood was to rethink and creatively adapt existing infrastructure in order to serve diverse functions and needs of multiple local stakeholders. Olson’s project focused on an alley behind Amaranth Café. Some of the uses she suggested included those that these spaces were not originally design for. But how do we reconsider infrastructure in innovative ways? What tools, tricks and design strategies are available to the designer to help them in this process? Olson suggested a taxonomy of spatial “parts” that already existed in this neighborhood. She generated a library of spaces and forms— small, medium, large and extra-large spaces, planes and surfaces with definite textures, shapes and sizes, linear elements placed in rhythmic intervals and conditions of visibility and lighting created by the organization and arrangement of formal geometric architectural elements in this alley.
The 2015 designs implement innovative ideas in order to transform an existing alleyway into a vibrant public space that seeks to encourage residents of the Washington Park neighborhood to experience a new, positive, creative, and productive identity. These designs are catalysts that engender future change and promote positive collective identity. |
About Amaranth Alley
Culturally, and socially, this area is culturally diverse and vibrant. There are many people who care a lot about their community and want to improve it. Our goal is to examine at how alleyways can be developed into public spaces that not scary, dirty, or unpleasant. In order to achieve that objective, this project uses Amaranth Alley as a case study and proposes four design ideas for the redevelopment of this space.
Amaranth alley is uniquely positioned behind houses owned by a , and located near buildings and sites related to art, culture, children, families, food, and community organizations. Our analysis focuses on exploring how this alley can be adapted and redesigned into a catalytic focal point.The alley that serves as our case study is located between 34th and 33rd street on the west and east sides respectively, by Lisbon Avenue as the northern boundary and W Walnut Street serving as its southern edge. Within this block there are some commercial buildings, houses and some vacant lots. The Amaranth Bakery, is the closest food source to the site. Other neighbors include Express Yourself Milwaukee, an art studio on Lisbon, and the Our Next Generation Inc., also located nearby. Muneer Bahauddeen's art studio and pop up art parks are located on Lisbon Avenue, across from the alley. Two schools including Westside Academy II and Westside Academy are located within a few blocks north of Lisbon Avenue. Statistically there are many children located at our site, and the nearby residents come from a variety of cultures and countries—, Burmese, Somalians, African Americans, Hmongs, and Anglo Americans. |
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Tactical Urbanism
Taha Shawar, Mitch Branscombe Shawar and Branscombe apply the methods and theories of tactical urbanism to build a catalytic multi-use pavilion next to the popular Amaranth Café. They base their design on acute observations of events and space-use of the area and although the long term effects of their intervention can’t be evaluated immediately, their diligent documentation of fieldwork practices helps us understand and evaluate the tactical urbanism process in ways never done before. Design Strategy: Catalytic Insertion |
Envisioning Community, Building Capacity
Jennifer Hohol Hohol’s project is theoretical and perhaps ambitious. Nevertheless she brings together explorations of form and thematic at multiple scales. Her tectonic explorations occur at the scale of the human body and the near environment. At an architectural scale she relates the building form and morphology to human experience and the urban fabric. At a landscape scale she explores the experience of sequential procession and a sense of place. At a neighborhood urban scale she relates her design to the nearby artist studios and institutions and suggests the creation of a public “art square.” Her ability to address multiple scales within a long term plan for the development of this block is phenomenal for its farsightedness. Design Strategy: New Programming |
Rethinking the Alley
Alix Daniels, Lindsay Johnson Daniels and Johnson explore how to reuse, hack, and reformat an existing alley and turn it into a new vibrant street. Design Strategy: Rethinking Infrastructure |
Mitchell Branscombe and
Taha Shawar |
Jennifer Hohol
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Alex Daniels
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Lindsay Johnson
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Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia. Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change, (Washington: Island Press, 2000).
Umberto Eco, The Open Work, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989), 24-43.
James Corner, “The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention.” Mappings, Denis Cosgrove, Ed., (London: Reaktion, 1999), 213-52.
Miwon Kwon, “By Way of Conclusion: One Place after Another,” One Place After Another: Site-specific Art and Locational Identity, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004), 156-167.
Nato Thompson, “In Two Directions: Geography as Art, Art as Geography,” Experimental Geography: Radical Approaches to Landscape, Cartography and Urbanism, (New York: Melville House, 2009), 13-25.
Nabeel Hamdi, Small Change: The Art of Practice and the Limits of Planning in Cities, (London: Earthscan, 2004).
Simon Sadler, “Formulary for a New Urbanism, Rethinking the City,” The Situationist City, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998): 62-104.
Umberto Eco, The Open Work, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989), 24-43.
James Corner, “The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention.” Mappings, Denis Cosgrove, Ed., (London: Reaktion, 1999), 213-52.
Miwon Kwon, “By Way of Conclusion: One Place after Another,” One Place After Another: Site-specific Art and Locational Identity, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004), 156-167.
Nato Thompson, “In Two Directions: Geography as Art, Art as Geography,” Experimental Geography: Radical Approaches to Landscape, Cartography and Urbanism, (New York: Melville House, 2009), 13-25.
Nabeel Hamdi, Small Change: The Art of Practice and the Limits of Planning in Cities, (London: Earthscan, 2004).
Simon Sadler, “Formulary for a New Urbanism, Rethinking the City,” The Situationist City, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998): 62-104.