Border as Refuge: Inhabiting the Liminal

Abstract

Canada is facing unprecedented rates of irregular asylum claims at the U.S. border. The majority of migrants crossing irregularly travel from New York City to Roxham Road, QC. Similar to the Underground Railroad, the thesis provides migrants safe passage in their search for freedom. The thesis implements architecture as a means of resistance by implementing location, camouflage, and escapability. It proposes clandestine interventions along the route to Border Refuge, located along the Richelieu River to help create a radically altered reality for refugees awaiting status in Canada. The design inverts the notion of borders as elements of division and transforms it as a tool for connection and inclusion. The thesis takes a theoretical approach to inhabiting borders and implements rivers and mirrors as tools of liminality, employs mimesis and crypsis as modes of camouflage, and allows for hiding, monitoring, and evacuation.