INSITE Commonplaces

The Sedimentary Effect—El Sitio: A Timeless Way of Building

May 18, 19, and 20, 2023

Conversations • Commissions • Visits to Sites in and Around Mexicali

A collaboration between INSITE and the 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.

El Sitio: A Timeless Way of Building is a three-day public event that takes as a point of departure El Sitio—an experimental social housing complex built by renowned architect Christopher Alexander in Mexicali, B.C. between 1975 and 1976. The event includes Conversations with artists, architects, urban planners, and specialists from the region and beyond discussing Alexander’s influential and ultimately controversial ideas. At the same time, Pastizal Zamudio, an artist who was born at El Sitio and has had access to their former house to carry out research since the beginning of 2022, will present a new Commission that reimagines the central courtyard of Alexander’s project. The Conversations will take place in a temporary pavilion—a Commission with local architecture offices Veintedoce and Localista, in collaboration with UABC students. In addition to architect-led visits to sites in Mexicali, the event will feature screenings of two documentaries focused on Alexander.

El Sitio: A Timeless Way of Building is the first public manifestation of “A Timeless Way of Building,” one of several chapters of The Sedimentary Effect, the INSITE Commonplaces project conceived by editor-curator Andrea Torreblanca unfolding in Baja California (MX) and San Diego County (US) over the next three years.

The full program and list of participants for El Sitio: A Timeless Way of Building will be announced in the coming weeks.