Architecture is about design, building and about transforming space into something that is of functional use. The ultimate construction should follow a design and most of all a real need. This is like in business where you are to think about a providing a specific function before building your business. With the construction you bring the design into existence. Once the construction is visible the work is serious; no more discussion about the form, about the design and possibilities. "Now it exists, right there before your eyes."

When people get married, many of them will wear a ring. This token is also a construction with more than one function; it signals that the engagement is serious.

But if a ring is to express that a relation is serious. What about a wall. A more than 3,000 km wall is more than serious. And that is what is going on at the border with Mexico, a serious problem.

Some, maybe many, of you will still remember the album from Pink Floyd, carrying the same name.

the Wall traces the life of the fictional protagonist, Pink Floyd, from his boyhood days in war-torn England to his self-imposed isolation as a world-renowned rock star, leading to a climax that is as questionably cathartic as it is destructive. (http://www.thewallanalysis.com/Intro.html )

Building a wall will change a lot between Mexico and the US. Less of the change will probably be seen in the migration pattern. As long as there is a drive, people will find their way. Small boats enter on a daily bases the coast of Spain with desperate emigrant from all kind of African countries. People that have traveled month to reach Europe. A ring will not prevent any partner in a marriage to date others. Even if it would be serious on one side, it could mean nothing at the same moment.

Pink chooses to build a mental wall between himself and the rest of the world so that he can live in a constant, alienated equilibrium free from life's physical and emotional troubles

Building a wall is a very very strong signal from one country to the rest of the world. In this case the signal is we are coping with a very big problem. An architect will always question the function before responding with an adequate construction. In this case is takes quite a lot of research, taking into account all the alternatives to spend about eight billion dollars and to solve a problem. If it could be solved.

2006 Hans Bool