Alley Evolution.

In 1940, 63% of this neighborhood was constructed. It was built for typical working-class Milwaukee families. At this time the typical family model was a nuclear family. In this era, the alley was not occupied completely by garages and the automobile.
As you can see below, the current alley is occupied completely by the automobile. It is used as a linear through street for the machine, and a place to house it. The family model of this neighborhood is also changed. Only 39% of the households in the neighborhood are occupied by families, a growing portion of which are non-traditional. And only 20% of households have kids.
The alley and the garage was developed as a response to American culture. It is a vernacular developed to service the car-culture that currently exists here.
However, cultural trends are continually evolving. Since there is a growing pressure to conserve precious natural resources, we will no longer be able to rely on the car as much as we currently do. Also there are movements to support locality by eating local and patronizing local businesses, take full advantage of resources we do have and to share them.

This project proposes an alley for this next step of cultural evolution. An alley that sustains social as well as ecological systems by harvesting and sharing the natural systems of the site and encouraging interactions with neighbors.