he following images are looking more in detail at the lines that define borders and boundaries. A drawn or constructed line contains little or no space. When more than one line is traced or grouped, it starts to create space - a new boundary. This happens clearly at La Junta - the junction of the rivers at the actual crossing. At this particular threshold, ribbons of space radiate out along the "lines".

thresholds

...one more section

rio grande sections

The sister cities of Ojinaga/Presidio sit at an elevation of 25oo' in a flood plain between a series of mountain ranges. These conditions have made it an ideal spot for farming and a strategic zone as it is protected by the mountain basin. Three sections show how the terrain changes along the Rio Grande moving southeast from Presidio/Ojinaga.

presidio to redford

pollution along border's shared water sources

inequality at the border

A map using water as an allegory to portray inequality at the border. With 29 dams and numerous diversion projects, the Colorado River is merely a trickle before reaching the Sea of Cortez. Mexico's legal entitlements to the river's annual flow is less than 11%. After the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, the Colorado River water flow dropped from 85,000cfs t 30,000cfs.

mapping presidio/ojinaga

After looking on a macro level at the sister cities and rivers along the border, I have now zoomed into Presidio/Ojinaga, one of the sister cities along the border in the Marfa region of West Texas. Here one can see their relationship to eachother and to the river. The Rio Grande has been the life line for "the people of the river" allowing for the spread of agriculture along the border. Ojinaga was once called "La Junta de los Rios" or Junction of the Rivers. Practically dry from excess irrigation and domestic and industrial water use, the Rio Grande gains strength again with the convergence of northern Mexico's Conchos River in Presidio/Ojinaga. This particular region is rich in ecological diversity as well as cultural diversity - The mapping of this area will begin to reveal the convergence and divergence of all of these.

..beginning to diagram cross border flow. Starting here with sister cities and rivers. These perhaps can be used later as allegories for binational inequality. Water moves freely without borders unless it is blocked or redirected.There are many different flows across the border and the movement south is very different than the movement north. What cross cultural/border movement transcends barriers: music, art, sports, cross cultural school..

walls,lines...

My pursuit is to propose a new kind of "no mans land". Let's stop looking at borders as the end of
one entitiy and the start of another and see it as two different cultures coming together to create something new. What role can architecture play in mediating this interplay? By looking at various cross cultural/border flows, a catalogue of information can help in mapping border regions of interest. (Drug trafficking, migrant deaths, animal migration, flow of water bodies, music, sports...)

Seminar Book: Borders, Walls...