Marginalized- a DIY skatepark

A community treasure forged from the will of individuals, yet it is hidden from the public eye. Marginal Way Skatepark resides under an overpass in the industrial neighborhood of SODO. Removed from residential neighborhoods, covered by an on-ramp, and flanked by rail tracks and a trucking route, it is an unlikely place for a community asset. Fed up with the city’s unpredictability, the DIY skatepark on Marginal Way was built by volunteer labor and public contributions. In the wake of the demolition of the Seattle Center Skatepark, boarders in Seattle rallied together to appropriate their own park in the margins of Seattle’s urban framework.

This unlikely location though, is what makes Marginal Way a viable space. Free of public scrutiny, the setting provides a loose site to build the park without fear of it being ripped out from under them again. The inconspicuous site had existed as a haphazard site of prostitution, illegal dumping, illicit drug use, and homeless camps. During most of the day it remained vacant and unused. Though the intervention to construct a skatepark would alter its composition, it does not inhibit continued transgressional behavior. It remains loose and unpredictable. The diversity of encounters now range from riders and junkies, to concerts and kids.

Michael Lewis

University Heights Center for Community

Josho Somine
LARCH 598
Winter 2009
Final Site Assessment

Site Summary
The University Heights Center for Community (UHCC) occupies a full city block north and west of NE 50th St. and University Way NE in Seattle. A large old building, formerly an elementary school, occupies the center of the block, and is surrounded by parking lots and a variety of small open spaces. The building facilities are managed by a nonprofit organization, and several other organizations rent spaces inside. Some additional rooms are available for classes and events.
The spatial and temporal uses outside the building are similarly diverse. Paved parking makes up about 2/3 of all the open space, and has multiple tenants with jurisdiction over certain sections of the lots. One large lot is turned over to the district Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings, which is heavily attended year-round. The site also contains 2 playgrounds, one private and one public, a community garden, a small enclosed lawn, and a public entrance plaza. (See site diagram and context diagram for details of the layout.)
The Center’s stated focus is “our local community, children, arts and education, and continuing education” , and they encourage a changeable variety of tenant organizations and activities. (See current list in Appendix A) Although there is an effort to be welcoming, there is also some conflict implicit with the “seedier” aspects of the adjoining neighborhood, which is reflected in an abundance of fencing and regulatory signage all around the site.

Slideshow:

Tukwila: A River Runs Through It

Helen J. Wilson

For over 150 years, Tukwila has come of age around three themes: History, Transportation, and the Duwamish River. A panorama of the community’s past can be seen from the Interurban/Green River Bicycle Trail, which hugs the banks of the river as it loops and curves 13 miles through the heart of the city. Wayside markers, art installations, and parks commemorate successive waves of human arrival, and how they traveled through the landscape. In anticipation of its centennial in 2008, a historian was commissioned to record the city’s past for publication. On the trail with the book in hand, scene after scene comes alive with tribal legend, and stories of the early pioneers. As the inhabitants went from canoeing on the river to flying through on the interstate, different kinds of transportation modes have come and gone, leaving layers of artifacts to mark their passing. Tukwila has expended great effort to give voice to the myriad cultures that have influenced its landscape. As can be seen from the trail, it has fearlessly blended nature and industry to create a phenomenon that is part museum, part wilderness, and part art gallery. Come see landscape urbanism and historic preservation at its finest.


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the everyday edge

The everyday edge is not a particular place. Instead it is the agglomeration of the many metaphorical boundaries between our everyday spaces: a crosswalk, a curb cut, the space between inside and outside, and the threshold or sometimes plaza between the public sidewalk and the private office. It is a boundary between the safety of the sidewalk and the untamed dangers of the automobile road. It determines the limits of public and private. It is also the informal stage where we perform our public life and share this with each other. The everyday edge is the third place, between home and work where we see the same person on the corner everyday, and on some days stop to talk or just say hello. These acts are the essence of our participation in a democratic society, and the design of the everyday edge is the hidden curriculum of democratic education. The daily performances of everyday people manifest the care we show to our home and society. Some of these spaces are left over, abandon by formal use, and become new homes to the underprivileged. Everyday people contribute pieces of paper from their pockets, a paper bag from the grocery store, a traffic cone abandon by construction crews, and many plastic bags and wrappers. Little hollow spaces collect debris, build soil, and slowly everyday plants take hold.

Insurgent Public Space: Spontaneous Vendor Food in Parking Lots

Szu-Yu Huang

Eating on board of a taco truck has been a favored topic around Puget Sound Region. The automobile culture has rooted American lifestyle since mid-20 century. However, the well equipped vehicles that carry food and serve hot dishes on boards have merged an innovative perspective of consuming food in public and have changed the usual use of parking lot and gas station corners. The exploration took six sites in Seattle metropolitan area, qualitative observations and brief interviews were conducted on site.

The taco truck urban landscape is intriguing, a segment of aggregate urban landscape, a juxtaposition of formal and informal, permanent and ephemeral use, as well as designed and impromptu activity. The purpose of this study focuses on what the influence of having food vendors in public realm are, how taco truck establishes its business legally in urban setting, and what types of sociocultural phenomena are usually associated with taco-truck can be found in the urban landscape.

The looseness characteristic of parking lot attracts unplanned business to establish its activity. Inasmuch as the concern of public health, governmental regulation reinforces the safety of food handling process and serving condition of vender food, such as taco truck. The energy of vibrant social interaction and dynamic cultural exchange flows in the insurgent public space-- taco truck on a parking lot.

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