Strategic-Vision Border Development: Commercial & Cultural Exchange Zone.
Thesis Project with Arch. Arantxa Gómez
Dajabón, Dominican Republic.
The Commercial & Cultural Exchange Zone is a space located on the northern part of the border, on the Dominican side, for the cultural and commercial interaction between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It attempts to be a market model for both countries. For this project, different elements that influence current trade were taken into consideration, all with the main idea of making a proposal for a simple structure which reflects both cultures and their architectural conceptions. Local materials were used and solutions responding to the environmental problems were considered.
The project includes trade zones, recreational spaces, green zones, and institutional buildings that are already located in the area and that deal with commerce. This whole project attempts to carry out a fusion of the solutions to the environmental problems that make continuous trade difficult. It also rescues the values and traditions of the users and their natural environment.
“Borders are the ‘scars of history’”
