Class: 2021 M. Arch Thesis

Professors: David & Mikaela Pearson

Status: Completed

TACOS/BURRITOS X THE BEACH

This charrette was a quick investigation exploring new possibilities for social interaction and amplification of the public realm by amalgamating culturally significant formal and programmatic types in San Diego. This resulted in the idea of mashing the beach and the burrito/taco shop. Rather than operate under the context that the western edge of San Diego will always be the ideal land with ideal access to nature, the charrette explored if a synthetic beach could provide interest in non-western areas of San Diego the way the beach provides interest in our exclusive beach communities. While it is certainly a worthwhile exercise to search for how we can offer more equitable access to the beach, it would not preclude the idea of exploring how we can leverage the power of design to invent new synthetic beaches that would pull people from everywhere, including the coast, inland. Furthermore, injecting the beach and integrating it into the private sphere does not preclude its impact on the public domain. Just because the land is privately owned does not make it allergic to advancing the common good. While the charrette design was absurd, the intervention, examined conceptually, was highly pragmatic; use money as an incentive for certain behavior. If private owners can see a financial upside to supporting the public domain, they’ll at least consider it and likely do it. Why resist exploring the possibilities?