Since August 2024, San Diego’s iconic Balboa Park has been home to a structure unlike any other: a twisting cathedral of orange called the Exchange Pavilion. A collaboration between San Diego’s Heleo Architecture + Design and Tijuana-based artist Daniel Ruanova, the Exchange Pavilion represents a key part of San Diego and Tijuana’s World Design Capital programme, a symbolic space that showcases and connects the region’s cross-border community in new ways. To learn more about the inspiration behind the pavilion’s futuristic design, we connected with Carlos E. Hernandez and Barbara Leon, the co-founders of Heleo.
Known for their award-winning work that blends thoughtful design with a deep understanding of local contexts, the team at Heleo knew that the pavilion project would be entirely unique, which also made it the “perfect opportunity” to collaborate with Daniel Ruanova, who has focused much of his artistic practice on border issues. “This partnership enabled us to blend architecture and art in a way that pushed the boundaries of what a pavilion could be, resulting in a design that is both functional and expressive,” shares Carlos.
The 16-foot tall modular structure now stands in the heart of Balboa Park as an activated space and representation of design in the region. Fabricated in Tijuana and then shipped across the border, the pavilion is made from steel and covered with orange polycarbonate panels that twist to form its walls and ceilings. During the day, when the sun shines through the polycarbonate, it gives a stained-glass effect. At night, programmed LED lighting produces colourful light that plays off the park’s Spanish Revival-style buildings.
“The pavilion serves as a powerful expression of the San Diego-Tijuana region’s unique design narrative. As a bi-national structure, it symbolizes the interconnectedness and shared vision between these two cities, which have long been separated by physical and political boundaries but united in culture and creativity.”
Every World Design Capital city has the opportunity to create a pavilion to act as both a central venue to showcase their WDC programme as well as a gathering space for citizens to experience design. Unsurprisingly, San Diego and Tijuana’s pavilion draws inspiration from one of the most iconic elements of the border region: the border wall itself.
“In the San Diego-Tijuana area, the border is composed of two walls with a strip of land in between, often referred to as no man’s land,” notes Carlos. “Our design concept was to symbolically fuse these two walls together at the top, creating a roof. By pinching them at the top, the base of the walls lifts up, almost like a veil, inviting people from both sides of the border into this space that was once a barrier. What was once no man’s land now becomes a shared space for the community — a place to exchange ideas, visions, experiences, and thoughts.”
Given its experimental nature, the entire structure also tested the limits from both a material and fabrication standpoint. One of the more challenging design elements to realize was the ticker tape that runs along the structure’s edges and displays poetry from contributors on both sides of the border. Inspired by the exchange houses that display currency conversion rates between pesos and dollars, its design required the team to think outside traditional architecture and construction practices and instead had to turn to technology from the film industry.
For Heleo, the goal is that visitors leave the pavilion with a sense of optimism and curiosity for what the region’s shared design future can look like on both a local and global scale. From now until November, visitors to the pavilion can enjoy a range of activities, including talks, presentations, pop-up exhibits and installations by community partners from both sides of the border.
Looking ahead, the structure will remain in San Diego until the end of the year, at which point the team at Heleo hopes that it can find a permanent home where it can continue to inspire and carry forward the legacy of World Design Capital San Diego Tijuana. “We envision it as a lasting symbol of the creative energy and collaboration that took place during this period, serving as a reminder of the seeds planted for the region’s next chapter in its design trajectory.”
To learn more about Exchange Pavilion and its upcoming programme of events, please visit the WDC San Diego Tijuana 2024 website
