Architects Envision Border Wall as a Good Neighbor Kathleen Maclay - UC Berkeley
go to original December 20, 2016

Ron Rael discusses his ideas for the U.S.-Mexico border wall (UC Berkeley)

The U.S.-Mexico border wall may be here to stay, but a University of California, Berkeley, assistant professor of architecture has some provocative ideas about how to redesign the barrier to slow illegal immigration and at the same time transform it in an economically, environmentally and socially beneficial way, to benefit both countries.

Ronald Rael envisions a wall dotted with multi-purpose installations with a life-saving water collection site, a treatment plant for toxic wastewater from the New River, a swing, a volleyball court, a solar farm and even a confessional

“It would be easy for me to raise a picket sign and as an architect say, ‘Down with this wall!’” says Rael. “I have to accept the wall because it exists, but as a designer I see that something better is possible. Why not do something intelligent, something incredible? I envision not just a ‘dumb wall,’ but a social infrastructure that connects and improves lives on both sides.”

Rael says the approximately 700-mile-long series of separation barriers between the United States and Mexico has proven ridiculously expensive, environmentally destructive, culturally hostile, often deadly, ineffective and hobbled by technical problems. He hopes his proposed wall, depicted in a series of drawings with both practical and pointedly satirical features, can be a new model for the United States and Mexico and for other countries wrestling with similar conflicts.

Read the rest at UC Berkeley

Related: This Alternative US-Mexico Border Wall Is Made from Recycled Shipping Containers (Inhabitat)

Related: Instead of Trump’s Wall, Let’s Build a Border of Solar Panels (The Huffington Post)

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!