Architecture as Pedagogy

Abstract

This project is based on the research of the Studio which looked at the phenomenon of abandoned housing in Mexico, focusing on the Border City of Juarez where there is the highest percentage of vacated, foreclosed, abandoned and vandalized (social) housing. The main problems was identified as the flawed process of housing production and distribution, its emphasis on ownership alone, and lack government accountability as well as lack of effective structures of governance in neighborhood scale. The researches lead to a collective strategy to focus on the “Riberas Del Bravo” District as a prototype and address the cycle of decay creating and feeding the abandoned housing phenomenon (social decay, economic decay, urban/physical decay) The urban plan for this prototype site consists of several startup project both architectural and infrastructural. The urban strategy for the Area was devised in 3 main phases of enhanceing and empowering communities, Densification (along with de-densification and agricultural production) and formalization. This project is located on the border of the proposed de-densified area with the densified area. Within the Urban plan this project is a secondary and higher education facility which addresses the need for secondary educational facilities as we figured out through the urban design and as pointed out by the PDU (municipal development plan). The school is meant to function as a “Community managed School” which in the later stages also functions as a community center. The Vocational Training aspect of the facility is developed at the same time as the infrastructural projects in the Urban Plan in order to train a portion of the unemployed in Riberas del Bravo for participation in the other development projects such as the Material bank, the water infrastructure and agriculture.