On the Border: San Bernardo Community Center Site

Finally, the site of my thesis project is in the northwester side of San Bernardo. It is in land that the developer had to donate to the municipality by law and Oscar Romo and his organization are trying to have donated to them. Oscar's idea is to build about 30 houses, a community center, a waste water treatment plant, and a plant nursery. I am thinking of focusing on the design of the community center and houses, while also doing the master plan for the other programs in the 2,500 square meter site. However, I also think it could be more interesting to tackle all the programs holistically.

The site itself is barren, looking like a beach covered long ago and now exposed.Shell and other marine fossils can be found throughout the site

ground on the site
The site from the top.

On the Border: San Bernardo

The San Bernardo Colony

Oscar tells me that at least five laws were broken by the developer in this community. The Canyon is prone to flooding, the roads are slick when dry and impossible to navigate when wet, and no water, electricity, or sewer were provided. The developer got away with this the way it happens too often in Latin America, cronyism.
Oscar and his organization have helped provide the residents of the community with water and electricity, but he has not been able to get them a sewer system. The sewer run-off and sediment is dangerous for the families of San Bernardo and will eventually land in the Tijuana River and Pacific Ocean.
The lots are about 20 square meters cost a family $30,000 (USD) and they HAVE to pay within 3 years. The costs for this land are high and many families have their homes foreclosed on not too long after finishing their house. Each family builds their house and as you can see above, they use a variety of materials (wood, metal, concrete block), adding and making improvements to the houses as more money becomes available.

On the Border: Tijuana Context

As with many other Latin American cities the most noticeable feature of Tijuana is its inequality. As we drove we saw McMansions that would be at home in any (North) American suburb.
The View from the top McMansions.

Strip malls dot the 'nice' neighborhoods
When asked if San Bernardo (my thesis site) is a safe area, Oscar says that he actually feels safer there than in the nicer neighborhoods. When inequality is great, fear becomes architecture.

Just on the other side of the hill.

On the Border: US side

Oscar Romo from the Tijuana River Estuary took some time to take the Missus and myself around the parts of the Estuary that border Mexico. I will break up the information so that I can give each scale its proper commentary. First up: the watershed scale. At this scale the site sits on the northwest corner. Although the site area looks right down insignificant at this scale, it is important to the river because it sits 400 ft high on a Canyon right were the Tijuana river meets the Pacific Ocean.

Tijuana River Watershed
Los Laureles Canyon (Site in Red)
Tijuana River Estuary, Pacific Ocean on the left, Los Laureles Canyon on the right

The problem is that development pressures on the Los Laureles Canyon have created a situation in which sewer, trash, and soil are rolling down the canyon, altering the Estuary's fragile salt marshes (seen above) and ecosystem.
However, solving this problem becomes harder as the border is currently a political football with the calls for 'closed borders' translating into projects that further damage ecosystems and discourage cross-border solutions.

Army Corps of Engineers Sewer Project on the Border (border fence in black)

This project is two unite two hills so that border patrol does not have to drive up and down. The problem is that they are creating a dam that can cause sewer floods on the Mexican side, perhaps worsening the environmental condition of the canyon.

Materials and Structures: Entelligant Constructive Systems

I am finally back from San Diego and will begin a series of posts to update on some of what I learned while on the trip. One of the first things that my advisor Teddy and I did was to head to Chula Vista to meet with Raymond Daily from Entilligant Constructive Systems. Ray and his crew are working on a holistic structural system that disturbs the site minimally, is easily assembled on site (all the joints are mechanical and can be put together by a single person in a matter of minutes), can be modified in a matter of minutes, can expand horizontally and vertically, and can be completely reused and/or recycled. Think of it as a full scale Lego set.


The system is still being tested and no images are available, this image from Entilligant other systems.

The system is in its infancy, and a bit over designed right now, but it is full of promise. A promise that, according to Ray, is inspired by Buckminster Fuller and ideas of biomimicry, Raymond's degree is in biology before he chose to make his living in the construction industry. Homage to Bucky notwithstanding, what the Entilligant system reminds me more of is Cedric Price's Fun House as the system allows to grow by adding bays or hanging new elements in every direction as new programs arise.