... In 2010 we submitted a proposal for an annual contest conducted by EvoLo, the Architecture and Design Magazine: Designing the Skyscraper of the Future. We chose our city, Tijuana, for the placement of our skyscraper and we began the project with the “modest” idea of how to challenge the role of a Skyscrapers according to those in modern cities. Our research and reflection led us to construct a theoretical framework that became invaluable to us in how we picture the function and impact of buildings, and the dynamics of a city that has potential but lacks the stimulus.

 

Out Skyscraper was going beyond the notion of space, but as trigger that could have a positive inflfluence in an expontential growth on different areas of the site, the neighborhood, the city and even on a Metropolitan scale. The impact would be seen on a social, economical, ecological, educational and technological levels. Based on the principle of Action- Reaction, we intended for our proposal to be a punctual answer to the needs of the present -but that nevertheless at the same time they were going to have an impact in the surrounding neighborhoods. That is, after the skyscraper created new conditions and new solutions to this city´s major problems, it would adapt to the future needs of the city based on quantififiable and anticipated results...

Why Tijuana? In Mexico, the population growth has been increasingly disproportionate over the years tending towards the northern cities neighboring the United States. There are several key events that have affected drastically Tijuana’s growth, for example the Prohibition Law in 1920’s, implementation of assembly plant industries in 1960-80’s, economic crisis, to mention a few.

 

The exponential growth spur generated by these actions gave form to the Tijuana we have today: a city with a rich combination of cultures that grows 2 hectares a day in average, and whose government has been unable to contain or keep up with the necessary city planning and regulation supervision, creating a chaotic city with many deficiencies. Research showed us that present and future plans for expansion only include horizontal housing developers, with the occasional 6-story appartment building. Supposing that the growth rate is maintained, in 2030 Tijuana will have surpassed its city limits and damages done to the urban and natural ecosystem will be devastating.

- HOUSING

Today: 450 000 houses

25% of houses are built without a permit

25% don’t follow all the construction codes

vs

2030: 960 000 houses needed

- POPULATION

Today: 1.9 million inhabitants

Horizontal Expansion will not be enough for the city

- SOCIAL

Constant flow of inmigrants wanting to cross to San

Diego and end up staying in Tijuana.

- CULTURAL

Lack of museums

Diversification of Knowledge

- ECONOMICAL

An economical dependence on the US and other countries

Lack of technological innovation

Flight of intellectual capital

- MOVILITY

3 cars per person

Inadequate public transport system

Lack of proper urban planning generates a dependance

on cars

- INDUSTRIES

Outside investors control 90% of the industries

Neither the money nor the technology help the city profit.

- GREEN AREAS

Lack of water availability has left Tijuana’s citizens

with 0.5 m2 per person

 

Each skyscraper in the Network of Skyscrapers adopts a primary (urban, social, economical) problem or deficiency detected in each area of the city and branches out accordingly.

 

Under the principle of Action- Reaction the impact this skyscraper will have on its community will translate into changes- a new status quo- and as such, will demand new needs that will be required to be continuously satisfied. If this effect can be generated in each of the different areas of the city, and each one with their impact radius then we could think about a total rehabilitation of Tijuana, by means of punctual interventions that respond to specific conditions of the area where they are located.

 

A Skyscraper in the District of Otay This specific skyscraper will focus on attacking the downfall of the numerous plant assemblies of the district and improving the economical and social standards of living.

 

Due to the current economic situation, the assembly plant industries in Tijuana have suffered great ups and downs, resulting in the closing of many of them, and by consequence a large amount of unemployment in the city.

 

Housing in this district is mostly concerned with lodging the employees of the assembly plants, but not enough is being done to maintain a good quality of life. Ironically, the development of the commercial sector has become of interest seeing as there are several macro-malls.

 

On the other hand, small business still cater to facilitating services to the declining assembly plants and their employees.

 

A nearby University specializes in careers oriented towards different brances of Engineering but there is an evident outflow of this intellectual capital, the students, to other districts, cities and even countries.

 

We foresee potential for this district to house the creation of a Center for Innovation, Creativity &

Knowledge. A link between the Creativity of the students, and the Knowledge of the technological community present in the assembly plants, thus achieving for Innovation.

 

By classifying and estimating the radius impact that current universities have on the city, we graphed the expected cultural improvement that laboratories, galleries, conference rooms, etc. will have on the percentage of student applications to universities.

 

Taking into account the classification of the universities and the type of careers they offered, we assigned a certain amount of laboratories and other infrastructure. These increase as the number of universities increases.

 

The rest of the spaces are in direct function of the quantity of the Laboratories

 

With the design of a module that would be capable of being generative, dynamic and flexible, the objective was to take advantage of the structural stability of a repetitive construction, as well as having the capacity to respond to the individual needs specific to their location on site and changes in living, social, technological, and economical conditions.