Presented by the American Institute of Architects, AIA, Tennessee and River City Company, Passageways is a community outreach project of the 2016 AIA Tennessee State Convention to be held in Chattanooga in August. Currently, submissions are being accepted on transformative alleyway proposals that activate the urban alley through architecture.
“These forgotten and often times overlooked spaces between buildings exist throughout our city. The intent of Passageways is to exemplify the potential of these spaces and the benefits they have in creating a healthy urban environment,” said Jared Hueter, AIA TN Convention co-chairman.
“Within the context of the American urban environment, alleyways are often disregarded solely as
service corridors, lined with dumpsters and mechanical units; historically, they were built for the
pedestrian experience,” said Amy Donahue, Marketing and Communication manager at River
City company.
“We’re excited to see what ideas are presented to reclaim alleyways as inviting
public spaces.”
With similar projects in cities like Austin, Texas and Seattle, Washington, Passageways currently
extends an open invitation to architects, designers, engineers and artists from around the world to
design a spatial installation that is habitable and can be adapted for use as a small public event
space. The design must be safe for public use and have the ability to be constructed within a
week’s schedule with certain elements of the exhibit able to stand for a minimum of a year while
other elements may be deemed more temporary.
Each submission selected as a funded installation will receive between $5,000 to $10,000 for the
construction of the design. In addition to River City Company and AIA Tennessee, Passageways
partners include The Benwood Foundation, The Lyndhurst Foundation, Cogent Studio, Causeway
and ArtsBuild.
“In order to realize the full potential of these auxiliary spaces, we must change the way we
fundamentally think about them,” said Jason Ennis, Passageways co-chairman.
For more information and the schedule of submissions, visit passagewayschattanooga.com. Initial submissions are due on May 23.