i. Reflections on Alta

What struck me most about Alta was the diversity of its social fabric. While initially I thought it may have blended into its neighbouring areas of Burton or Hawick, the area evoked a distinctly more established feeling. This included a greater than expected level of diversity and regimes of leisure — interwoven with a broad multi-ethnic population. A mix of Spanish mission and revival, art-deco and mid-century modernist buildings framed in medium density. It was a place which felt both monumental and intimate, communal and quiet.