Jump a wall subtitle: the wall as an identifier of connections

Màster universitari en Estudis Avançats en Arquitectura-BarcelonaArch ETSAB UPC: The contemporary projectThe separation dictated by a wall which can be physical (brick) or infrastructural (railway) depending on the different design scales, results in an edge, a border, or an enclosure where specific architectural actions generate connections. The existence of a wall has a meaning of quality and creates precise tensions and realities. Its presence cannot be annihilated but must be used to emphasize the separation in the connection. However, there are three different methods to overcome a wall that can be demolished, bypassed, or climbed over. In the first methodology, we eliminate the margin, but it also loses its character, and the only way to achieve this is when architects destroy the wall. When it goes around the margin, the problem is avoided and thus not addressed. In the latter case, people bypassed it, and its entity does not eliminate. When it is difficult to climb over, through stairs, ramps, or buildings, the wall retains its value, the two entities that delimit it, even if the latter mixup, continue to maintain their identity. At the same time, it generates connections, and therefore the concept of division is eliminated, but it keeps the value of the wall and creates new ones. In these terms, the thesis focuses on the correct method to overcome a wall, thus an obstacle. Maintaining it and not destroying it or getting around it are the best actions when addressing this issue. In conclusion, the wall is the means, and only by climbing over it does one realize the separation and the connection. Without separation, it is impossible to generate associations, and its existence is vital to creating the connection for which it must maintain and be valued