Global Urban Humanities/Future Histories Lab

Instructor: Ronald Rael, Stephanie Syjuco

Term: Spring 2018

Course #: Architecture 209 / Art Practice 209

Why Read This Case Study?

Mexican citizens have long crossed into the US through the southern border, with numbers of undocumented people from many other parts of the world joining the migrant flow. The many salient human and political dimensions of this flow drew graduate students from a variety of disciplines – architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, art practice, urban design, education, and real estate – to join the graduate interdisciplinary research studio, Borderwall Urbanism, led by architect Ron Rael and artist Stephanie Syjuco. Based on studio-style pedagogy, unfamiliar to many students, the course exposed them to a learning model based on teamwork, frequent iteration of ideas and multi-media work products, and continuous feedback instructors and fellow students.

In this studio, students studied the research literature on US-Mexican border history, migration dynamics, border city urbanism, and the art, culture and literature of the border region. They also heard from a variety of border experts. They also traveled to the border, to explore the ‘twin cities’ of El Paso/Juarez and San Diego/Tijuana, meeting with local experts and residents, and stopping in the arts hub of Marfa, Texas along the way.

Based on their observations in El Paso/Juarez and San Diego/Tijuana, student wrote ‘dispatches’ about the border cities’ urbanism, landscapes, and cultures. And in their dedicated studio space, students worked individually and in teams to fabricate border-related structures and sculptures, choreograph dance performances and stage plays, and write poetry – all on display at the studio’s final review in Bauer-Wurster Courtyard.