Estudio Teddy

Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman is a collaborative architectural practice founded in 2011 by Teddy Cruz, a Guatemalan-born American architect and professor at the University of California, San Diego, and Fonna Forman, a political theorist and founding director of the UCSD Center on Global Justice.
Their work is situated at the intersection of architecture, urban design, and social sciences, which they describe as "spatializing the social sciences, and politicizing and socializing architecture and urban design."

Cruz and Forman have focused their research on the cities of Medellín and Bogotá in Colombia, utilizing their experiences to inform their investigations along the US-Mexico border, especially the San Diego-Tijuana region.
Their approach involves a deep understanding of local contexts and conditions, believing that the analysis of informal settlements can contribute to more socially and environmentally inclusive urban development.
Key Perspectives: They emphasize the use of collage as a visual instrument to analyze the conditions shaping informal settlements, aiming to provide insight into how formal cities can become more inclusive.

Collage as a Visual Instrument: Cruz and Forman believe that collage helps visualize the complexities of urbanization and allows for an analysis of incremental urban processes. They frame the urban context as a layer of overlapping narratives that require examination and reinterpretation.
Juxtaposition and Plurality: They use collage to communicate their findings about urban environments that are built from parts rather than singular objects. This reflects a bottom-up approach to urbanism, highlighting how local economies and informal systems create spaces of survival.

Teddy Cruz's educational background in phenomenology informs his belief that architecture should marry poetics with political action. He asserts that representations in architecture should serve as bridges that reconnect these frameworks.
The practice often critiques the isolation of aesthetic practices from the realities of urban construction politics, advocating for a design process that incorporates social narratives and complexities.

Cruz posits that photomontage serves as a critical tool for analysis, stating that photocollages can “make a graphic activist point.” This method allows for a layered representation of complexity in urban contexts, including the synthesis of disparate images and materials to convey deeper social messages.
They reference the Russian Constructivists, Archigram, and Superstudio as influences, yet they diverge from purely theoretical architecture to engage more directly with existing communities and conditions.

Manufactured Sites (2004-2007): A project capturing the collage-like quality of environments in Tijuana, which utilizes recycled materials from San Diego.
60 Linear Miles of Trans-Border Conflict: Presentation at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008, focused on the environmental and social consequences of the border wall.
MEXUS Project (Venice Biennale 2018): Addressed the idea that the US-Mexico border wall is a "self-inflicted wound," using photomontaged mappings to analyze the complexities of the border and its impact on water systems and social dynamics.

Cruz and Forman advocate for a design process engaging in conflict urbanization, examining how urban crises arise from top-down governance and exclusionary policies. Through their work, they seek to provide tools and frameworks for communities affected by these conflicts to engage in their own development.
Techniques like dynamic mapping and collage are employed to visualize power dynamics and social inequalities inherent within urban spaces, thus transforming the role of architects into civic mediators in urban settings.

UCSD-Alacrán Community Station: Designed for Central American refugees, it reflects Cruz and Forman's framework of co-developing with the community, utilizing flexible scaffolds for housing that adapt over time. This project exemplifies their belief in the necessity of ongoing adaptation in architecture.
Collaboration with local organizations reflects their strategy to create infrastructures that are inclusive and responsive to the needs of marginalized populations.
The UCSD-Alacrán Community Station aims to shift the perception of temporary shelters into permanent infrastructures of inclusion and economic self-reliance, while also valuing the incremental nature of urban change.

Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman exemplifies a paradigm approach to architecture and urbanism that challenges traditional practices by integrating social justice, political awareness, and community engagement into their design philosophy.
Their work demonstrates the capability of architecture to serve as a tool for urban activism and reflective of the diverse realities of urban life in border contexts.