What if we stopped dividing the US and Mexico, and instead saw the
border as one region? This book envisions the cultural and industrial
cohesion of the area
At a moment when migration has returned as a hot-button political issue
and NAFTA is being renegotiated as the USMC, political discourse has
exaggerated differences on either side of the shared US/Mexico border.
But what if we stopped dividing the United States and Mexico into two
separate nations, and instead studied their shared histories, cultures
and economies, acknowledging them as parts of a single region?
In 2018, under the direction of Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao, 13
architecture studios and their students across the United States and
Mexico undertook the monumental task of attempting to rethink the
US/Mexico border as a complex and dynamic, but also cohesive and
integrated, region. Two Sides of the Border envisions the borderlands
through five themes: creative industries and local production,
migration, housing and cities, territorial economies and tourism.
Building on a long shared history in the region, the projects in this
volume use design and architecture to address social, political and
ecological concerns along our shared border.
Featuring essays, student projects, interviews, special research and a
large photo project by Iwan Baan, Two Sides of the Border explores the
distinct qualities which characterize this place. The book uses the
tools of architecture, research and photography to articulate an
alternate reality within a contested region.
Participating architectural programs and projects include Cornell
University College of Architecture and Art, Columbia University Graduate
School of Architecture, Texas Tech University College of Architecture in
El Paso, University of Texas at Austin, Universidad Iberoamericana,
Universidad de Monterey UDEM, University of Michigan, University of
Washington Department of Architecture, University of California,
Berkeley, University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art,
and Planning, and Yale School of Architecture.
