A Timeless Way of Building
El Sitio: A Timeless Way of Building
The title of this first chapter, “A Timeless Way of Building,” is based on the book of the same name by renowned architect Christopher Alexander, who was invited by the government of Mexicali, Baja California in 1975–76 to work with colleagues and the community to develop an experimental social housing complex on the outskirts of the city, now the Unicom Health Center, under the auspices of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC).
The builder's yard of the project, known as El Sitio, is still in use and was the first place that Mexicali-based artist Pastizal Zamudio lived. Interested in returning to their former home after two decades and exploring Alexander’s theories in depth, the artist was commissioned to develop the project Before the Last Rubble, in the Face of Dawn (2038), an artwork consisting of more than one hundred handmade clay tiles made from local soil, that, together with native plants form a restorative garden permanently installed in the central courtyard of El Sitio.
In addition to the presentation of Zamudio’s work, this chapter included El Sitio: A Timeless Way of Building, a three-day event in May 2023 in which architects, philosophers, and urbanists from the region and beyond engaged in Conversations—in light of Alexander’s theories—about housing production, communal living, architectural philosophy, and urgent urbanism in border cities. The Conversations took place in a temporary, commissioned pavilion by local architecture firms Veintedoce and Localista. This event was developed in collaboration with seven faculties of UABC, including the engagement of students in architecture, art, design, translation, and health. Participants in the conversations were: Rudy Argote (Tijuana); Gina Cebey (based in Mexicali); Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman (San Diego-Tijuana); CRO Studio: Adriana Cuellar and Marcel Sánchez (San Diego-Tijuana); Alejandro D’Acosta (Ensenada); Howard Davis (Oregon); AJ Kim (based in Long Beach); Michael Mehaffy (Oregon); Felipe Orensanz (based in Mexico City); Alejandro Peimbert (Mexicali); and Lorenia Urbalejo (based in Mexicali). The group spent three days exploring the city’s history and current challenges with housing, immigration, and the environment through curated visits designed by the director of UABC’s Faculty of Architecture Alejandro Peimbert and architect Carolina Díaz.
A culminating exhibition, The Mexicali Experimental Project, opened at Bread & Salt in San Diego in November 2024 and traveled to the Instituto de Investigaciones Culturales Museo at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in Mexicali in May 2025. The exhibition Galería Metropolitana at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City (closing February 20, 2026) and will thereafter travel to the Centro Cultural Tijuana (opening April, 2026).
Acknowledgments
Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
Coordinación General de Extensión de la Cultura y Divulgación de la Ciencia de la UABC
Centro Comunitario UNICOM, Facultad de Enfermería de la UABC
Facultad de Arquitectura de la UABC
Alejandro Peimbert
Felipe Orensanz
Production
Ataque Sensacional Entertainment
Camara
Axel Nuñez
Photography
Philipp Scholz Rittermann
Origen_mdb
Hugo Fermé