Rain in Alley

The sounds of rain and hollow voices echo along the brick walls of the alleyway between your building and the next. The urban cavern is eerily empty of life and yet it captures the clamor of activity like a well of lost sounds. In older cities and towns in Europe, alleys are often what is left of a medieval street network. Alleys were originally built to allow for deliveries such as coal to the rear of houses. Andrés Duany, American architect and urban planner has long espoused the use of alleys as leading to a better integration of automobile and foot traffic in a neighborhood.