The border institute of justice & commemoration

The border institute of justice & commemoration

Peet, C.

De Koning, S. (mentor)
Groenewold, S. (mentor)

Architecture and The Built Environment

Architecture

Complex projects

2016-11-09

The border region of the United States & Mexico is characterized by, among others, significant economic and cultural contradictions. This applies especially for the twin city of El Paso – Juárez. This twin city used to be the epicentre of the Mexican drug war. Juárez was known in 2010 as the most violent city in the world while El Paso on the other hand was ranked as one of the safest in the United States. This antithesis increased the dissociated relation of the two cities. Meanwhile, many victims of drug war related violence and family of victims on the Mexican side are left behind without a place to commemorate their deceased loved ones. Also, justice for the victims of those commited crimes is lacking due to the absence of prosecution by the Mexican government. The current hostile border condition, together with the lack of justice and a place commemorate for the inhabitants of Juarez, have been used as a conceptual starting point for this project. This graduation project tackles these problems by implementing a memorial & research center for drug war related victims on the border of the two cities. The building combines it function as a memorial and research center with making a physical connection between the two cities. It is therefore a multifunctional, binational accelerant for both cities/countries meant to improve the binational relationship and well-being of the citizens on both sides of the border.

Memorial & reconciliation center
US-Mexican border
border

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:03ef5f11-ade6-4cb8-91d1-f5c0f1c979e8

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2016 Peet, C.