Turkey-based architecture studio Erdem Architects has revealed its award-winning project for Nogales US-Mexican Wall competition titled "Unbuilt The Wall." The project, led by Sunay Erdem, co-founders of Erdem Architects, takes place among the 50 finalists presented by the people in the contest organised by Archstorming for the border wall containing the city of Nogales with the "Unbuilt The Wall".

The competition invited architecture students and architects from all over the world to design inclusive spaces on the US-Mexican border to replace Donald Trump's Border Wall project. The chosen location was the emblematic border crossing of the city of Nogales, which is already divided in two by the wall.

The team led by landscape architect Sunay Erdem in the competition for the city of Nogales, where the controversial Mexican Wall is split into two, received the Public Choise Award with the project "Freedom Park". Developed as a counter-manifesto related to Trump's Border Wall project, Freedom Park searches for alternative vision and soft transition where all people can encounter and spend time in equal conditions. 

Nogales is a city in the state of Arizona. On the Mexican side of the border is defined as Sonora Nogales. The wall is dividing the city from the middle.

"In the project, we have created a 'Freedom Park' that attaches to the city of Nogales where the wall is enclosed by removing the influence of the wall and joining the two sides of the city, for a space where Mexican and Americans can live equally, entertain, relax and socialise," said Sunay Erdem.

"The park will have Mexican cultural activities on the US side and American culture activities on the Mexican side, so that the park will begin to integrate permeability into the city of Nogales, and the wall effect will be ruined even by a small area. We hope that this will spread over the entire border over time and the wall will disappear," he added.

"The international jury included the Mayor of Nogales and the architect Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra, Gold Medal of Spanish architecture 2016, among other renowned architects and experts. This jury carried on the difficult task of choosing the winning projects among the proposals of competitors from more than 25 different countries," stated the organisation committee.

"Winning projects proved that there are alternative and less aggressive ways of conceiving frontiers and resolving conflicts."

The first prize for the "Unbuilt The Wall" competition has been awarded to the team formed by Stefano Bastia, Eurind Caka, Giovanni Sana and Nicola Magri, from Bologna, Italy. The second prize - titled "All Men’s Land"- went to Ileana Savescu from Romania. 

The third prize went to Kristin Agnello and Corrado Agnello from Canada - they designed a shared cultural space collaboratively owned by the American, Mexican and Tohono O’odham Nations instead of a traditional border crossing. 

Erdem Architects, founded by Sunay Erdem and Günay Erdem in 1992, has offices in Istanbul, Ankara and New York. The office produces a large variety of projects ranging from urban design, landscape architecture to small-scaled projects. Last year, the studio unveiled its plans for the Obama Presidential Center, which is comprised of an undulating form. 

All images courtesy of Erdem Architects

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