Ayesha's post reminded me that I have a small collection of images from international borders. Here are a few. I find a lot the images really interesting because of the way that the border situations/stations/spaces reflect the political relationships between countries. Is architecture readable in this way? Should it be? I'm also really interested in the question of scale here. These spaces often have to operate at two extreme scales; one of national signification and one at pedestrian/vehicular passage. Often times the way they lean (more toward national symbol or more toward human occupation) is related to the relationship they have with the neighboring country.
The first image is also from Pakistan/India. Architecturally there are a number of layers coming together here worthy of your study, but perhaps my favorite part of the picture is the way that the arrows don't quite match up... accident?
This one is from Wild Horse, MT at the border with Canada.
The next two shots are from the border with Mexico between San Diego and Tijuana
Maybe it's obvious where this one is from...
I can't recall where this one is from... sorry maybe someone can tell me.
Bethlehem, Israel (West Bank):
Border between Belgium and France, right where the lights change color:
Belgium - Netherlands
http://blog.buildllc.com/2007/11/16/border-crossing-architecture/#comments
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to some more pictures of border crossing as well as some links to new border crossing projects that I found on another blog. The links are in the comments section at the bottom when you follow the link above.