Elusive Sites / "Terrain Vague"

Sarah Ferreter

The urban landscape is scattered with ambiguous sites; places in which architecture and landscape don’t mesh, where the space is in some way odd, leftover, unresolved, indefinable. The architect Ignasi de Solà-Morales coined the term terrain vague to describe such places: obsolete or dysfunctional sites that punctuate the otherwise cohesive, definable organization of the cityscape.

These elusive spaces, such as abandoned lots, degrading post-industrial sites, or areas under bridges, stand in contrast to the meticulously planned, readily definable spaces that make up the majority of the city. They seem almost like mistakes that were never erased from the landscape, left to remain unseen, incoherent. Only describable by what they are not; only defined by what is beside them. They are the form of absence.

These leftover spaces are hard to discern, since we have few paradigms for them; they possess multiple and shifting meanings rather than clear functions. They resist definition because they do not fit into the expected logic of the urban landscape. We are not really meant to see them - they float in ambiguity and disconnection. Yet the value of these sites is in their vagueness; they serve as reminders that the urban landscape is never essentially coherent.

Surface: the connective tissue of our malleable city

Breanne Gearheart

The surface is being remade.
The city is in the midst of itself.
It is a reinvention and an unbiased creation.
It is a record, an accumulation.
Impressions made by a living city
pressed into its body by the pressure of time.
It is no one’s fault and no one’s genius.
It is because of us and in spite of us.

Concrete is poured, smooth walls are pieced together, metal is shaped and embedded in the ground, asphalt is scorched into place. These physical undertakings create the body of our cities. We often conceive of the urban environment as entirely designed. Decisions were made. Architects, city planners, landscape architects, neighborhood organizations, graffiti artists, and shop owners are seen as the creators of our urban surroundings. Yet, a quieter design is adding depth and richness to our cities.

Built forms are physically scarred, rubbed smooth, or momentarily altered by passing phenomenon. Physical form is activated by accidental interventions. The city becomes a physical record of intangible temporal occurrences. Time passes, people move about, rain falls, wind blows. The city is an expression of the processes that occur within it.

Through observing the changes on its surface, we can come to see the built environment as a malleable expression of the life of the city. Multiple narratives are unified and expressed in the flexible form of the city.

Vacant Lots - Abandoned Potential

Leslie Batten

Vacant lots are scattered like patches throughout the city. Defined as "a lot with no permanent buildings", these lots take on any number of forms that allow for a variety of functions: habitat, garbage dump, exhibit space, water retention reservoir, community unifier, or just left over space. Most of us speed by without stopping to look, but with some exploration these spaces are more than just a lot devoid of a built structure. Each vacant space has a story to tell. They all have a history, an owner, passerby's and neighbors that shape these spaces. In turn, vacant spaces also influence their surroundings for better or worse. They are palimpsests of how we use the land over time, and allude to the future potential for urban renewal or redevelopment.

Many vacant lots are protected by a chain link fence that forms a barrier, as if to protect a valuable asset or to preserve its state of transition. While others remain open and unguarded. Some spaces indicate previous development with hints of foundations, or parking lots overgrown with grass and weeds. Others are neat, tidy spaces that look designed. In some cases these spaces provide a bit of nature in the midst of an otherwise built out and highly urban area. Others are in such a state of decay that they are wounds in the landscape and a source of outrage for their community. Still other vacant spaces provide for other temporary uses.

These are just a few vacant spaces scattered between Greenwood, Fremont, Ravenna and the University District. Many others with similar and unique traits are spread throughout the city, forming a connection between micro- and macro-urbanism. They too express a personality, a history, and hold a story that is more telling than just an empty lot.


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