⁠Border Library and Public Park

The library is located next to the Agua Prieta-Douglas border crossing in the Sonoran Desert, where nearly six thousand people pass through each day. These individuals previously lacked access to shaded areas, seating, or restrooms. The project connects the border crossing area with the city and transforms the border wall into a linear park that culminates in the library at one end and a sports center at the other. The park is over a kilometer long and features a brick pavement that creates different designs, interspersed with benches, vegetation, children's play areas, a bike path, and small plazas at the end of the streets to minimize the harsh impact of the wall next to the residential neighborhoods. This strip adjacent to the wall was once an abandoned backyard and is now being transformed into a zone for play, sports, and relaxation that expands the possibilities for community interaction. The park literally enters the library and becomes a small shaded plaza (equipped with steps and restrooms) with a covered waiting area next to the border crossing to facilitate pedestrian crossings and access to transportation. The upper floor of the building contains a book area, workspaces, reading areas and a computer center.

The library rises to form an open forum and extends towards the landscape by means of a ramp that becomes a lookout point as it approaches the border wall in an unusual way, creating a link in a place characterized by fragmentation. The library is one of the closest structures to the wall that divides Mexico and the United States, along a border over 3,000 kilometers long. In this way, the library is a bridge to see into the United States and to turn one's gaze towards the city of Agua Prieta, characterized by horizontal, single-story constructions, in a place where the inhabitants lacked a panoramic view. The building is a plaza on the ground floor and a lookout point on the upper level: a large archway that functions as a gateway to the city. A series of arches elevate the library and open up the upper floor with latticework to provide cross-ventilation and natural light in all spaces. The use of brick in different arrangements creates a play of textures and gives continuity to the walls, floors, and windows. The work highlights Mexican craftsmanship and creates a new sense of identity. The material quality of the brick and the use of exposed concrete in the structural elements respond to a logic of low maintenance in the future. The linear park and library project is also a rainwater channeling and urban lighting project, in a place lacking public lighting and safe open spaces.