Check out this article.
This is a N Y Times piece about Obama's decision to send 1,200 troops to the border between Mexico and the US. First, it shows how important immigration will become in the coming months, as Obama will most likely try to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform. Second, it shows the range of responses government can take to deal with illegal immigration. Third, it shows the many different layers of this permeable "wall" / "international border." There's the actual border, which is a political line that can be located geographically and guarded with soldiers and fences and checkpoints. Then there are the different legal barriers to keep illegal immigrants from living any sort of open existence. The Immigration Court is only the last of many barriers to illegal immigrants.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Output
So I realized today that I've been thinking about illegal immigration from a pretty narrow perspective. Up until now I've mostly been focusing on the experience of the individual vs. the rational abstraction of the state. This was fruitful, because I could definitely imagine a good project contrasting the really poignant experience of someone who is uprooted/in jeopardy with the cold rationale of the government. But I've always thought there is something very one-dimensional about projects that explore a duality. It is very easy to slip into hyperbole.
So my third dimension on this issue is public reaction to illegal immigration. How well informed is the average New Orleanian about illegal immigration? Do people that live in this city even have an idea of how many illegal immigrants there are here? We in New Orleans should start a dialogue about the impact of illegal immigrant on this city, the positive and the negative, and about the way that we feel that illegal immigrants should be treated when the government apprehends them. My project should increase awareness of illegal immigration and foster discussion about how we should deal with this issue.
My first material study will (I hope) be deployed this weekend. I'm going to weave together chipboard pieces into a strip that is about 1.5 feet wide, then attach it to a bench. More on this project later as it gets more fleshed out. Definitely check back in for pictures!
So my third dimension on this issue is public reaction to illegal immigration. How well informed is the average New Orleanian about illegal immigration? Do people that live in this city even have an idea of how many illegal immigrants there are here? We in New Orleans should start a dialogue about the impact of illegal immigrant on this city, the positive and the negative, and about the way that we feel that illegal immigrants should be treated when the government apprehends them. My project should increase awareness of illegal immigration and foster discussion about how we should deal with this issue.
My first material study will (I hope) be deployed this weekend. I'm going to weave together chipboard pieces into a strip that is about 1.5 feet wide, then attach it to a bench. More on this project later as it gets more fleshed out. Definitely check back in for pictures!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Topic!
Remember, this is being written a year before my thesis is going to be presented. So read this with One. Heck. Of. A. Grain. Of. Salt.
My project is going to be some sort of intervention into the United States Immigration Court in New Orleans, Louisiana. (1 Canal Street New Orleans, LA).
Immigration interested me as a topic for many reasons.
a) SCALE:
My project (I've already decided) is going to be small scale, probably a series of walls that are going to be inserted into an existing space. However, by tying the project to an issue of a much larger scale, the wall can be symbolic as well as just experiential. For the most part the design moves that I make will be directly tied to the spaces that they create. But now, the wall is also more significant than my specific site, so that I can attempt to deal with, for example, the architecture of power, which has a lot of interesting precedents (Panopticon, etcetera.)
b) Relevance to New Orleans:
Until Census data becomes available in December 2010, it is not certain how much the Latino population in New Orleans has risen in the years since Katrina. But most estimates imagine a 6% leap, from 3.1% of the population before Katrina, to 9% post-Katrina. This population jump is important to New Orleans for two reasons:
i. It is directly related to the trauma that has shaken New Orleans in the past.
ii. It will shape New Orleans in the future, changing the make-up of the public school system, the demands on the public health system, and the needs and wants of the people of New Orleans. http://www.immigrationhereandthere.org/2008/03/nuevo_new_orleans_latino_immig.php
iii. The huge influx of illegal immigrants, which for at least the reconstruction period of New Orleans constituted 25% of the labor force (http://www.allbusiness.com/educational-services/colleges-universities/4095620-1.html), was a very explosive issue (http://www.sptimes.com/2005/10/23/Worldandnation/Who_s_rebuilding_New_.shtml) at least during the months following Katrina, and probably until now.
c) human interest:
Each individual coming before this court is profoundly invested in the proceedings. The Court can decide whether they are deported or can stay in the United States. Becoming a citizen, apart from the legal standpoint, shapes one's self-awareness and sense of identity. Being deported, on the other hand, touches on deep fears, and creates a visceral sense of dis-orientation. All of these feelings have great spatial potential.
Relevance and Function of the Site:
The Immigration Court of New Orleans decides the cases of illegal immigrants that have been detained in New Orleans. It can recommend the removal of immigrants, or recommend that their legal status be regularized.
My project is going to be some sort of intervention into the United States Immigration Court in New Orleans, Louisiana. (1 Canal Street New Orleans, LA).
Immigration interested me as a topic for many reasons.
a) SCALE:
My project (I've already decided) is going to be small scale, probably a series of walls that are going to be inserted into an existing space. However, by tying the project to an issue of a much larger scale, the wall can be symbolic as well as just experiential. For the most part the design moves that I make will be directly tied to the spaces that they create. But now, the wall is also more significant than my specific site, so that I can attempt to deal with, for example, the architecture of power, which has a lot of interesting precedents (Panopticon, etcetera.)
b) Relevance to New Orleans:
Until Census data becomes available in December 2010, it is not certain how much the Latino population in New Orleans has risen in the years since Katrina. But most estimates imagine a 6% leap, from 3.1% of the population before Katrina, to 9% post-Katrina. This population jump is important to New Orleans for two reasons:
i. It is directly related to the trauma that has shaken New Orleans in the past.
ii. It will shape New Orleans in the future, changing the make-up of the public school system, the demands on the public health system, and the needs and wants of the people of New Orleans. http://www.immigrationhereandthere.org/2008/03/nuevo_new_orleans_latino_immig.php
iii. The huge influx of illegal immigrants, which for at least the reconstruction period of New Orleans constituted 25% of the labor force (http://www.allbusiness.com/educational-services/colleges-universities/4095620-1.html), was a very explosive issue (http://www.sptimes.com/2005/10/23/Worldandnation/Who_s_rebuilding_New_.shtml) at least during the months following Katrina, and probably until now.
c) human interest:
Each individual coming before this court is profoundly invested in the proceedings. The Court can decide whether they are deported or can stay in the United States. Becoming a citizen, apart from the legal standpoint, shapes one's self-awareness and sense of identity. Being deported, on the other hand, touches on deep fears, and creates a visceral sense of dis-orientation. All of these feelings have great spatial potential.
Relevance and Function of the Site:
The Immigration Court of New Orleans decides the cases of illegal immigrants that have been detained in New Orleans. It can recommend the removal of immigrants, or recommend that their legal status be regularized.
Origins
My first and only thought when I saw the thesis projects of this year was - - "HUGE!" I was surprised by how many of my classmates attempted ginormous projects with many different functions: one project combined a transit station, a stock market, and I think a shopping center. While you can get provocative images from imagining all of these functions coexisting, I just don't think that architects can program a thing into existence. I'm more interested in the things you can accomplish by architecture alone: how a wall connects to another wall, the space in between, how you can carve out an opening in the wall, and how it all looks and feels.
The diagram I uploaded above is one that I made of a wall at Scarpa's Brion Cemetary. See how the wall feels heavy? The wall is built as if it had tilted over. This tilt produces a shadow, which, in conjunction with the moat in front of the wall, makes the wall appear dark and heavy. These effects are what I am most interested in.
My thesis project, whatever it is, will be small, small enough that I can build full scale models of crucial parts.
Are you there, Cyberspace? It's me, Eva.
Ahem.
My name is Eva and I am a thesis student at the Tulane School of Architecture in New Orleans. This, The Permeable Wall, is the New Mexico of my thesis year. It's where I'll test out my ideas about my topic, documenting my research and displaying my work as it develops.
My name is Eva and I am a thesis student at the Tulane School of Architecture in New Orleans. This, The Permeable Wall, is the New Mexico of my thesis year. It's where I'll test out my ideas about my topic, documenting my research and displaying my work as it develops.
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