The Pen is Mightier reimagines the U.S.–Mexico border as more than a dividing line, it becomes a dynamic, inhabitable space. Grounded in the legal foundations of the U.S. 1862 map by Frederick von Egloffstein, the project interprets each 250’ x 250’ pixel as part of a 2.5 x 1.5 mile interior border grid. This politically neutral zone operates as a solar-powered “battery,” sustaining Nogales and Sonora. Within it, life unfolds: play, trade, migration, and pause. By occupying the line with human stories and infrastructure, this thesis challenges the rhetoric of division and asks us to envision borders not as ends, but beginnings.
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER
