THE WALL
- Project: The Social Housing Along US-Mexico Border
- Site: El Paso - Juáre
- Independent Study
- Individual Work
The studio Border Architecture instructed by Prof. Shelby Doyle helped me understand Building Values in a deeper way when I study in Iowa State University. The group work named Weaving Interference proposed a complex curve form internally with an intention to blur the border.
This experience has deeply affected me. When I reexamined the subject after back to China, I find a chance to study the border architecture from different angle. Hence, I started a unique try: a series of continuous thick plate-like apartment building is like the wall separating the site. The split is not only confined to the physical aspect, but also cultural and emotion- al. However, behind the thick grid wall was the hidden space prototype, namely the interlocking living units of the two countries. Separated by a wall, people can live together under the same canopy without crossing the border and violating the law.
COMMUNICATION PROTOTYPING
People from two countries living in this border city, El Paso, have many different modes of communication in their daily activities. According to functions, I abstracted their space into small cubes and selected one of them to develop into a prototype of a residential unit.
![水平向场景改1222 [带广告牌].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/50c9ee_ab1328d8f5a643b3b3fdd367ad07676d~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_600,h_613,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/%E6%B0%B4%E5%B9%B3%E5%90%91%E5%9C%BA%E6%99%AF%E6%94%B91222%20%5B%E5%B8%A6%E5%B9%BF%E5%91%8A%E7%89%8C%5D.jpg)
City Axonometric
Section Axonometric
Unit Axonometric
View from a Mexican woman with her child
View from a American man
Border Axonometric
Standing on the hill in Juárez and looking at the border, you can see a series of residential building standing on the border and extending farther along this border. They divided this city into two halves. The appearance of this building is not only the true portrayal of the current US-Mexico border, but also the hope of the people on both sides: although being restricted and blocked by various factors, their hearts are locked tightly like a residential unit inside the wall.