Proposal for a cemetery across the US-Mexico border at the Tijuana-San Diego intersection: in response to Tijuana's desperate need for free space (open landscapes); to accentuate the artificiality of the borderline between Mexico and the U.S. (that ignores geography & environment); to create a spiritual link between people on different sides of the border.

This project draws from research on cemeteries & cemetery culture in Central and Latin America, and tries to incorporate the flavor of the formal/cultural language. It is composed like a story.

(1) Aberg, Sally Jean & Becom, Jeffrey (Photo). Maya Color: the painted villages of Mesoamerica. Abbeville Press, 1997.
(2) Miller, Arthur G. The Painted Tombs of Oaxaca, Mexico: Living with the Dead. Cambridge University Press, 1995.
(3) Benrimo, Dorothy. Camposantos: a photographic essay. Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, TX, 1966.
(4) Calvo Isaza, Oscar Iván. El Cementerio Central: Bogota, la vida urbana y la muerte. TM Editores, 1998.
(5) Constant, Caroline. The Woodland Cemetery: toward a spiritual landscape. Byggforlaget, 1994.
(6) Johansson, Bengt O. H. Tallum. Gunnar Asplund's & Sigurd Lewerentz's woodland cemetery. Byggforlaget, 1996.
(7) Zabalbeascoa, Anatxu. Igualada Cemetery: Enric Miralles and Carme Pinós. Phaidon, 1996.
(8) Buendia Julbez, Jose Maria. The life and work of Luis Barragán. Rizzoli, 1997.
(9) Riggen Martinez, Antonio. Luis Barragán: Mexico's modern master, 1902-1988. Monacelli Press, 1996. (+ MANY MORE)

The cemetery unfolds with the movements of the land.

A sequence of large burial walls (crying walls) climb the hill on the Mexican side, housing the burial chambers of transitory people, whom no one will visit or bring flowers to. As such they are painted by local artists to be seen from far away. At the top of this mount, between the busy freeway and border wall, a vertical chapel opens up to the sky (for the only peaceful views).

On the U.S. side, the cemetery opens up in great North American planning fashion: a crematorium, oriented west, coordinates with the setting sun; a series of small chapels mark the crossroad intersections.

Uniting the two sides, a large cemetery complex intended as a common 'free zone' sits on the border, flat across the top of the hill, similar to the Oaxacan precinct at Monte Albán.

The central cemetery complex (the 'free zone') stretches across the border. It is a negative space surrounded by burial walls and planted with crosses, a symbolic erasure of the natural ground. The central chapel complex grows off of these burial walls and consists of two chapels: a meeting chapel and a burial chapel.

People coming from opposite sides of border first meet in a simple wood chapel which faces out through the complex wall toward the east. It sits raised on a thick concrete platform, enducing a feeling of lightness.

From there, the mourners proceed into the large burial chapel where the spatial experience is an inverse of the previous, as all attention is focused down toward the ground. The burial chapel is heavy on top and around, with a large, 'double' concrete roof and concrete walls hovering over a light wood and dirt floor. The dead body is placed symbolically on this dirt floor. This chapel faces Mexico, South.

Mesoamerican villages - photo by Jeffrey Becom (1).
Mesoamerican villages - photo by Jeffrey Becom (1).
Monte Albán burial precint, Oaxaca, Mexico - plan by Arthur G. Miller (2).
Igualada Cemetery, Spain - Enric Miralles & Carme Pinós, 1985-1994 (7).
Tex-Mex crosses by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
Central cemetery of Bogota, Colombia - plan by Oscar Iván Calvo Isaza (4).
enlarge
Tomb at Monte Albán burial precint, Oaxaca, Mexico - photo by Arthur G. Miller (2).
Tex-Mex cross - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
Mesoamerican villages - photo by Jeffrey Becom (1).
Tex-Mex cross - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
enlarge
Tex-Mex cross - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
Cafeteria..., El Último Adiós - photo by Oscar Iván Calvo Isaza (4).
Central cemetery of Bogota, Colombia - photo by Oscar Iván Calvo Isaza (4).
Temple of the Sun, Palenque, Mexico - photo by Arthur G. Miller (2).
Tex-Mex tombstone - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
Tex-Mex crosses - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
Tex-Mex cross - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
Tex-Mex cross - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
enlarge
Tex-Mex cross - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
Mesoamerican villages - photo by Jeffrey Becom (1).
Tomb painting at Monte Albán burial precint, Oaxaca, Mexico - photo by Arthur G. Miller (2).
Tomb at Monte Albán burial precint, Oaxaca, Mexico - photo by Arthur G. Miller (2).
Tomb painting at Monte Albán burial precint, Oaxaca, Mexico - photo by Arthur G. Miller (2).
Tex-Mex cross - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
Tex-Mex cross - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
Tex-Mex cross - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
Tex-Mex cross - photo by Dorothy Benrimo (3).
Oaxacan cemetery visit - photo by Arthur G. Miller (2).
tomb in mesoamerica 1/8 scale central burial church complex model wall in mesoamerica area/border plan - tijuana-san diego monte alban burial precint plan igualada cemetery plan hills of tijuana tex-mex cemetery crosses bogota central cemetery hill trapped across the border cemetery concept model cemetery concept plan monte alban tomb cemetery concept model tex-mex cemetery cross cemetery concept model tijuan-san diego border cemetery concept model tombs in mesoamerica cemetery concept model tex-mex cemetery cross cemetery site plan cemetery site model
tex-mex cemetery cross resident hills of tijuana cafe el ultimo adios bogota cemetery site plan cemetery site model burial wall bogota temple of the sun, palenque, mexico cemetery site model 1/8 scale central burial church complex model central burial church complex sketch model tex-mex cemetery tombstone tijuana river watershed
central cemetery complex site model tex-mex cemetery crosses central cemetery complex site model 1/8 scale central burial church complex model tex-mex cemetery cross central cemetery complex site model tex-mex cemetery cross central cemetery complex site model 1/8 scale central burial church complex model tex-mex cemetery cross wall in mesoamerica 1/8 scale central burial church complex model central cemetery complex site model 1/8 scale central burial church complex model monte alban tomb painting 1/8 scale central burial church complex model monte alban tomb 1/8 scale central burial church complex model 1/8 scale central burial church complex model monte alban tomb tex-mex cemetery cross 1/8 scale central burial church complex model tex-mex cemetery cross 1/8 scale central burial church complex model 1/8 scale central burial church complex model tex-mex cemetery cross 1/8 scale central burial church complex model tex-mex cemetery cross 1/8 scale central burial church complex model oaxacan cemetery