Inhabiting Process

Just north of the U.S/Mexico border in San Diego, the U.S. has responded to the problem of extensive erosion in Mexico chocking its estuary by creating a massive sediment basin. The response is indicative of the nation-state’s understanding of the border as an infinitesimally thin line instead of a region thickened by processes. This unilateral response spatializes the problem instead of solving it; creating a yearly cycle of sediment accumulation and removal. Confronting the construct of border-as-line necessitates directly inhabiting the processes that contradict it. Architecture facilitates occupying the process of the sediment basin. It acts as an intermediary, providing two distinct experiences at opposite ends of the cycle while allowing and even aiding the process.