HIGH POINT

A landmark community centre in northern Mexico goes above and beyond, giving hope to a region divided by the border wall

- ELLIE STATHAKI

Fernanda Canales does not shy away from difficult projects.

Having previously designed everything from lush private retreats to post-earthquake housing schemes for nonprofits (all with the same immaculate attention and design flair), by all accounts, the Mexican architect can tackle a challenge, diligently working her way through tight briefs and strict budgets with consistently impressive results. Her latest project, titled Border Outlook, is located in Naco, a small town on the Mexican side of the Sonoran Desert – and it firmly sits in the ‘challenging’ category, too.

‘Naco exemplifies the abandonment and scarcity of border towns in Mexico, which are considered mainly as spaces to transit, to cross to “the other side”,’ she says. ‘It is the place where drug dealer El Chapo Guzmán built the first tunnels from Mexico to the United States, and it is a place characterised by violence. It lacks public space and has had, until now, no civic spaces or cultural services. Naco is a place fragmented by two main elements: the border wall and the highway that runs parallel to the wall, making the city two strips defined by these strong physical and conceptual divisions.’