Design Across the Border

Join Us in Celebrating FSDA’s 40th Anniversary and Our Region’s Legacy as a World Design Capital!
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Design Across the Border

A Panel Discussion
with Moderator
Lawrence Herzog, PhD
Design Scholar-in-Residence, UCSD Design Lab

Saturday, February 21, 10:00 AM
San Diego History Center
Casa de Balboa
1649 El Prado
Balboa Park

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Historically, our present cross-border region was a single culture area. While political division has created separate “Californias” since the mid-19th Century, mutual influences continued to shape our built environment and artistic styles, even as each side evolved its own identity. Today, the cities on both sides of the border are urban societies in rapid transition, while the art and architecture of “Southern California” and “La Frontera del Norte” remain inextricably bound to each other.

This panel will offer insights into the practice of design and architecture along the Tijuana-San Diego border. The panelists, who are artists, architects, and housing designers, will address the challenges facing designers/architects with particular attention to the case of Tijuana.

Moderator:

Lawrence Herzog, PhD, is a writer, photographer and podcaster. He has taught city planning and urban design in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego, and in the Graduate City Planning program, School of Public Affairs, at SDSU. He has written or edited 12 books about cities, sustainable development and urban planning, with attention to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Tijuana-born Hugo Crosthwaite is an artist who works in a variety of media including large scale murals, urban signage and commercial facades. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. His experiences growing up in the frenetic urban landscape of Tijuana is often reflected in his artwork

Adriana Cuellar is Assistant Professor and Director of the Architecture Program at the University of San Diego, and co-partner of CRO studio. Adriana received her Bachelor of Architecture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a Master’s in Design Studies from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She is a recipient of the Rome Prize Fellowship in Design by the American Academy in Rome.CRO studio projects address the cultural, economic, and environmental challenges faced by those living in everyday border conditions.

Conceptual art for a CRO housing design

Marcel Sanchez Prieto is an Associate Professor in the Architecture program at the University of San Diego and co-founder of CRO Studio, a collaborative practice that originated in the border region of Tijuana-San Diego. Sanchez was born in Tijuana. He received the Rome Prize in Architecture from the American Academy in Rome in 2018-19. His work looks at architecture as a social catalyst to address societal challenges, particularly in the border region.

An Alfonso Medina housing project in Tijuana

Alfonso Medina, born in Longview, Texas, is an architect and developer. He has founded various development groups that design and build housing, including T-38 Studio (Mexico), Madelon Group (New York and Los Angeles) and Raph (Mexico City). He currently designs and builds housing in the Tijuana-San Diego region.