Occupy the Border: A Stateless Territory In-between

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In Folder: 2020 Theses

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Occupy the Border: A Stateless Territory In-between

Submitted to the Department of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, April 2020

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title: Occupy the Border: A Stateless Territory In-between

creator: Owen Choy Madden

subject: Borderlands; Autonomous regions; Thresholds (Architecture); Walls, Designs and plans; Thesis Award winner (2020)

description: The delineation of borders are instinctive to humanity. The planners, architects, and politicians who demarcate national boundaries are responsible for the real implications of lines that discriminate one identity from another. In the twenty-first century, there are forms of border control that transcend the built framework of the border wall. These forms of control and security exist in the virtual, yet the architecture of the border wall is the ultimate symbol and reminder of segregation and prejudice. Observations of border conditions in adivided Berlin understand the border not as a thin line, but as a complex system of security measures that form a dimensional space. The presence of a wall along the United States-Mexico border serves as a marker of a zone that occupies territory in-between the two nations. The erection of divisive systems at the border are examples of an architecture of oppression. However the border between the two nations is fluid and subject to change. Thecontrast of human and natural forces combine to create a dynamic border that transcends the appearance of the monolithic. This thesis envisions an occupation of the gray area in-between, as the border zone becomes increasingly thickened to form an in-between state. The international lands of the border zone and the remnants of past border wall proposals and their materials are the cornerstoneof a new territory. In the shadow of the controlling and manipulative infrastructure rises a framework, enabling the residents to pursue freedom and self expression as inhabitants of the in-between.

publisher: The Douglas D. Schumann Library and Learning Commons, Wentworth Institute of Technology

contributor:

date: 2020

type: Thesis

format: .pdf

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source:

language: eng

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rights: https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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