Proposal for Downtown Alleys

摘要

Downtown Los Angeles is currently experiencing a building boom. While many parking lots have instantly turned into construction sites, the emphasis on a broader city-wide pedestrian network has failed to keep up. At the same time, an existing informal network of alleys and surface parking lots provide pedestrian shortcuts for daily downtown life. Furthermore, some of these thoroughfares have become formalized shortcuts, such as the Historic St. Vincent's Court, Grand Central Market, The Spring Arcade Building, and Biddy Mason Memorial Park. This proposal considers the existing alleys and parking lots as territory for the public realm. Much like the High Line in New York City, the alleys and surface parking lots of Downtown Los Angeles are an existing infrastructure that form a fertile territory for a Los Angeles street-level High Line, or Horizontal Line made up of public avenues and squares. This proposal aims to tap into the existing infrastructure of alleys, as well as surface parking lots, and propose a new leisure network of public avenues throughout downtown.