students from TU delft predict the consequences of donald trump's border wall

as graduate students from TU delft’s faculty of architecture, kasia piekarczyk, adam buśko, gerardo duarte and jan ksiazek found themselves in the midst of a debate about the ‘great, great wall’ requested by donald trump. on early march 2017,  the US department of homeland security put out a formal request for proposals (RFP) on the border wall between mexico and the USA. the approved bidders were asked to issue complete proposals, including budget. according to the federal business opportunities website, winners will be announced mid-april.

border condition – water  

for the past few months, the team from TU delft had to forcibly enter an alternate dimension which has become an inconceivable norm. so far, it seems that there is a lot of interest in exploiting the president’s request. the proposal is vaguely described as a plan to ‘design and build several prototype wall structures’. there hasn’t been any serious consideration for public debate or consultation, instead lots of misinformation and confusion took place. ‘even bidders have to act promptly to meet the deadlines of what seems to be a hastily cobbled together competition’, states the team. 

border condition – desert 

‘many people are fixated on the wall itself, which obstructs them from looking beyond. with our speculation, we want to raise the unvoiced questions about its long-term consequences’. architects often issue political statements without being asked to do so ; however this time, they’ve been invited to what is seemingly an innocent participation in a contest issued by the government. in that case, they will not question the morals of those who have decided to take part but point out their responsibility. ‘every attempt to participate in this competition, as well as taking its assumptions literally and thoughtlessly, sanctions the wall and silently erects it — piece by piece’. 

border condition – city 

architecture students quite often have to exercise the challenge of designing on a plane between fiction and reality; so with this proposal, the group aims to do just that. ‘we used the debate around the border-wall as a fuel for speculation. we offer a series of scenarios that may happen — described, visualized and arranged in a timeline’. 

governmental failure – the wall construction started in 2017 but was never finished

mockup of the american dream

grand opening – in three years, the construction of the border wall is completed 

pop culture revenge – liberal kanye west is a voice of the generation

wall as infrastructure – the decision to reuse the concrete slabs for other purposes

double the wall with moat and control towers

possible post-wall scenario timeline

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom