The San Ysidro Land Port of Entry is designed to be a port of
destination accommodating travelers on foot, rail, bus, bicycle,
automobile and freight. Each day 102,000 people cross through this port
of entry between Mexico and the United States. The project is to improve
operational efficiency, security and safety for cross-border travelers
and federal agencies. The new crossing will service 48 lanes of traffic,
each with two vertically stacked inspection booths and a new fast track
inspection ticketing process.
A secure marketplace within a bi-national plaza will unite American retail development to the north to Mexican retail development to the south offering various shopping and traveling amenities.
The charged
program of the complex is harnessed by a continuous structure wrapped in
a steel mesh coated with titanium dioxide to collect carbon emissions
catalyzed by UV light to produce a grey water solution, for a cleansed
border exchange on all levels. Grey water will be recycled from various
program and distributed through the TiO2 structure to the landscaping
within the plazas, to naturally drain through the Tijuana River.
The form is derived through an exploration of charged program augmented
by the natural strata of the earth and the molded infrastructure that
currently exists.
