Category: Institutions
Region: North America
Year: 2015
Location: Otay, San Diego, U.S.A. and Tijuana, Mexico
FT2 Construction: 87,726 sq ft
FT2 Ground: 0 sq ft
Involved Areas: Architecture, Interior Design

Collaborators:
LEGORRETA^®
Ricardo Legorreta
Víctor Legorreta
Miguel Almaraz
Adriana Ciklik
Carlos Vargas
Miguel Alatriste
Emmanuel Pérez Eguiarte
Andrés Martínez-Lanz
Roberto López
Lourdes del Val
Lucía Cervantes
Arturo Violante

Associate Architects:
Arquitecto Ejecutivo y Asociado: STANTEC Architecture
EQUIPO STANTEC / STANTEC TEAM: 
Stanis Smith
Christopher Wilson
Arun Kaiwar
Mike Canevari
Steve Cook
Dave Knoll
ichael Tatoyan

Consultants:

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: Stantec Consulting, Inc. 
STRUCTURAL DESIGN: Hope Amundson Structural Engineers - Building
MEP DESIGN: Stantec Consulting
ACOUSTICAL DESIGN: Stantec Architecture
LIGHTING CONSULTANT: Visual Concepts Inc
SECURITY CONSULTANT: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
COST CONSULTANT: Turner Construction Company
 

Photographer:
David Harrison

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS:

2016  APWA SD & Imperial Counties Chapter - Project of the year- April 2016 CMAA, San Diego Chapter - Project of the year
2016 ASCE, San Diego Chapter - Project of the year 
2016 Structural Engineers Association of San Diego - 2016 Excellence in Structural Engineering Award in the category of Landmark Structures 
2016 ULI Global Excellence Award - Short listed 
2016 ENR GLOBAL BEST PROJECT - Award of Merit-
2016 WTS, Sand Diego Chapter - Project of the year, Transit & Roadway (large  projects) 


The US – Mexico Border is the busiest in the world and one of the most fortified ones. The facility is built on a plot located in Otay, San Diego, to expedite the crosswalk at the US-Mexico border. Its aim is to connect San Diego with the Tijuana International Airport. The design concept of the 72,617sq. ft. building which houses all the necessary filters for the entrance and exit of border users, security and shopping areas and connects the Tijuana International Airport by a nearly and the 14,788 sq. ft. bridge. A purple open central courtyard with an ash tree and a reflecting pool is the heart of the project as it acts as an articulator node dividing flows and functions. Passengers enter to this courtyard to an airy building with ticket counters and touches are onyx, including high-hanging black slabs near ticket counters and white spheres atop the escalators. Taking advantage of the mild climate of the area and choosing vernacular materials such as stone exterior mixed with purple stucco and red limestone; whereas the stone gardens have agave and other desert plants. One of its aims was to create a space in which this stop becomes a more rewarding experience for those traveling from one country to another. The great horizontal cantilevers with a bold and simple geometry make the CBX facility a threshold that marks the crossing point between the two Californias that are linked by their history, biculturalism and geography. The cross border needed to have a direct connection between the migration departments of both countries to mitigate traffic in the current checkpoint, this way OTAY CROSS BORDER XPRESS becomes an unprecedented contribution to the region. A very much needed bridge in this new era of coexistence between the two nations.