BETONBABE

OFFICE KERSTEN GEERS DAVID VAN SEVEREN

OFFICE 15, BORDER CROSSING, 2005

OFFICE KERSTEN GEERS DAVID VAN SEVEREN

OFFICE 15, BORDER CROSSING, 2005

“An oblong volume provides a border crossing for pedestrians between Mexico and the US, and interrupts the endless demarcated boundary. A nine-meter high wall defines a no-man’s-land between the two countries. Within the white walls a grid of palm trees imposes order on a large, shaded garden. Pavilions for passport control and administration are spread around here and there, becoming part of the garden. The oasis is a point of reference in the vast Tex-Mex landscape, hidden within the open landscape by its walls. In all its simplicity it raises questions about the desire for the promised land.”

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OFFICE KERSTEN GEERS DAVID VAN SEVEREN

OFFICE 35, CITÉ DE RÉFUGE, 2007

“Cité de Réfuge is a project that was developed within the context of the 2007 Rotterdam Architecture Biennale, the theme of which was ‘Power’. Ceuta is a Spanish enclave on Moroccan soil. The project gives a face to the politicized border crossing at Ceuta: a refugee city in the no-man’s-land between two cities (Ceuta and Tangier), between two countries (Spain and Morocco), between two continents (Europe and Africa). This city is formed by a large square of 482 x 482 meters that is surrounded by a colonnaded structure, like a thick rampart. Within this wall all the infrastructure elements of a border crossing are to be found: offices, hotels, stores… The walled plaza is left undisturbed. It is a market square, a reception space, like a quay. In this way the Cité de Réfuge reflects the powerlessness to achieve solutions to the problems occuring on this border. At the same time the project investigates the city in its most radical, concise form: as a deliberate act, a political decision.”

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