- Back to the Alley

Back to the Alley

At a Hayes Valley salon of artists and designers, architects show links between back alleys and an organic new urbanism

Zahid Sardar, Chronicle Design Editor
Saturday, October 21, 2006

"Most people's perception of alleys is that they are scary." said architect David Winslow. "Part of my goal is to get people past that fear." People line up at the Blue Bottle Coffee kiosk, which hel...Loring Sagan and David Winslow have a plan to make their ... A computer rendering of Loring Sagan and David Winslow's ... Those narrow forgotten streets behind buildings in alrge cities are undiscovered gold to Winslow.

"Nearly 30 percent of urban space is given to streets, including alleys." Winslow told an audience of architects and designers at last month's Linden Tree salon at the Linden Avenue building Winslow Architecture shares with Sagan Piechota Architects. "And the smallest streets in street systems take up a great deal of that space."

Alley were essential as delivery and service conduits in cities as ancient as Olynthus, Pompeii and Rome. However in 19th century cities like Sacramento, San Francisco, Chicago and Savannah, Ga., where service and deliveries were gradually engineered to go underground, unused 15-foot-wide alleys often become havens for drug deals and crime.

"They are the ultimate pedestian environment," said Winslow. Hidden from view, alleys are conducive to criminal activity, but they can be retrieved for a host of good uses.

"Alleys are primarily underused because there has been a disinvestment in them," he said. "They were not just for services but also for secondary housing for people who served in the larger houses facing the street."