Studio 4B: Urbanism

Another project that has been of great significance in my educational development is from Design Studio 4B: Urbanism. For this class I chose to explore the dynamics of a bi-national airport that straddles the border between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Baja California and the possible urbanity that could be activated.

I began this project with a series of diagrams exploring the different possibilities of how the borderline could be drawn. The existing line between California and Baja California has no regard for the topography, just a straight line moving slightly northeast in direction until it reaches Arizona. The final possibility would be to create a border zone, or border city.

I also researched the history of this border area and the security that has been born out of this condition. The growth of the United States Border Patrol and the number of people trying to cross the border into the United States is astonishing and helps better inform the program for this project.


Because this project is about exploring and discovering the urbanity that would surround an airport on an international border, I also made a case study of how the airport works in El Paso, an American border city in Texas right next to Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.


What I found was a dense, porous border condition between these two cities with an infrastructure well equipped to handle the present and future needs of commuters crossing the border and inter-
national commerce.

With that in mind, I concluded that San Diego and Tijuana are not maximizing their potential for air commerce.


The current international airport in San Diego has one international flight to Cabo San Lucas and few direct flights within the United States. Similarly, Brown Field and the Tijuana Airport are both under utilized.

This research and critical examination have helped shape the program for this project as well as serving as justification for doing it.

My solution is to grab the line that is the existing border and pull it apart to the north and south to natural boundaries creating a city between the two countries where the airport is built. This city will be accessible from both countries where visitors, inhabitants, and others are free to enter the new city without going through any security.

It is a blurred border upon entering the city, only marked by city limits and welcome signage coming in. It would be either upon exit from the city to the United States or Mexico or when one goes through the airport to their gate that anyone would have a security checkpoint to pass through to get to their destination.

After generating a series of diagrams and wind pattern and noise pollution studies, the orientation and location of the airport becomes defined.

For this project, I decided some unconventional design strategies were appropriate because this airport is right in the middle of a dense urban area. And rather than have this airport slice through the fabric of the city forming a barrier between neighborhoods on different sides of the long runways required for adequate take-off and landing, my solution is to lift the airport up and set it literally on top of the city.

The infrastructure needed to support this system would be a series of buildings designed for mixed-use including spaces for residential, office, retail, restaurants, hotels, bars and night clubs, theaters, and maquiladoras with direct access to airport freight facilities.

With some clever design features, the noise generated by the airport can be effectively attenuated by directing the noise upward from, rather than all around, the source.

The result is a new urban landscape where the fabric of the city is literally layered densely with a variety of activated spaces intertwined with a major international airport serving the needs of two cities separated by an international border for both commercial and freight flight services.

San Diego and Tijuana are two neighboring cities, each developing separately out of their own conditions. Yet both have grown from small towns to mid-sized cities at phenomenal rates and are both projected to continue growing at a rapid rate. Many San Diego residents have an unfavorable opinion of Tijuana. This is apparent when one observes the development of the border from both sides. San Diego is set relatively far back from the border with very little engagement except at the border crossings whereas Tijuana is literally shoved right up against the wall from the ocean to the mountains.


The fabric of Tijuana for a long time was once a city set up as a final stop before getting into the United States, but it is evolving. Because of that, for years there was little to no pride in the city or organized community development. As the city has grown to be the second largest manufacturer of goods in Mexico, communities have developed and the city is becoming a destination rather than merely a stepping stone.

Regardless of the past relationship issues between these two cities, the connections are undeniable and the possibilities are endless.