Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2020
Degree Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Architecture
Department
Architecture
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Michael Carroll
Secondary Advisor
Elizabeth Martin
Abstract
Violence and political unrest in Central America led to high numbers of refugees at the US-Mexico border at the end of 2017 and continued into 2018. Tent cities like the one outside of Tornillo, Texas is one example of many that shows how unprepared and unwilling we are as architetects to become involved in sensitive issues like immigration.
While the immigration policies of the government seem distant and abstract, the consequences are concrete: the buildings and tents that held these children were designed and implemented by engineers, builders, and private contractors. What can the architect contribute? We are taught to incorporate aesthetics, materiality, experience, and budget when we design a space. What about an architecture that involves ethics?
This thesis asks the architect to consider their role here and it asks everyone else to consider the power that architecture can have on policy and ultimately the well-being of people at their most vulnerable.