re-inhabited circle-k’s – mammoth // building nothing out of something

re-inhabited circle-k’s


["Mini-Mart, Albuquerque, NM"; photographer Paho Mann documents the diverse array of stores that re-inhabit the empty shells abandoned by the national corporation Circle-K; the current lives of Circle-K's include "a dry cleaners, a couple of florist shops, a tattoo parlor, a tuxedo rental place, several mini-marts and dollar stores, and Bridgett’s Last Laugh Karaoke and Fish Fry." More evidence of the suburb as a locus for informality in the American city. See the full slideshow at Places, and a map of the locations Mann is studying in Phoenix and Albuquerque on his website.]

This entry was written by rholmes, posted on November 2, 2009 at 1:08 pm, filed under asides and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

2 Responses to “re-inhabited circle-k’s”

  1. faslanyc says:
    November 4, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    this is really interesting. noting that throughout history we constantly repurpose infrastructure for a lighter use (kind of like energy degrades at each stage) and that is a big push in landscape architecture now to redesign post-industrial sites, i’ve been wondering how that little ubiquitous piece profiled here will be re-used when cars no longer use gasoline. Gas stations are everywhere throughout the u.s. and they contain very distinct physical elements- a stand alone, cheap building, a canopy, huge underground resevoirs. this is the next bonanza in 25 years, perhaps. first railroads and waterfronts, now this. This project is the first green shoots. Nice find!

    Reply
  2. rob says:
    November 5, 2009 at 8:51 am

    Yes — those underground reservoirs are particularly fascinating. Have to imagine that there are clever uses for them waiting to be discovered.

    Reply

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