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

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.

Rush. Rush. Wait...

Jenny Hampton

Within the urban landscape, there are often unplanned spaces where people have to wait for the next event to occur. These spaces can be incorporated into the everyday routine of people, or occur at certain times of the day, week, month, or year. These waiting spaces can consist of small groups often forming a larger group that eventually takes up a space in the city.

Waiting spaces are fluidity built upon everyday and develop differently over time. For example, at brunch spots in certain neighborhoods in the city, crowds of people can stand on the sidewalk around the hours of 10-2 on the weekend making a community of people, however any other time of day these city sidewalks would be just ordinary sidewalks.

Waiting spaces also take on a particular form. Some spaces can be shaped in a more sporadic nature, creating clusters and circles with no particular order. Whereas other waiting spaces are formed in a more linear approach, giving a controlled sense to the act of waiting.

Lastly, waiting spaces interrupt movement patterns throughout the city. Groups of people waiting act as yield signs throughout the city sidewalks, where people have to navigate through a temporarily occupied space to reach their destination. People can make a decision to join, pass-through or avoid a group of people creating a space by waiting.

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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