LAREDO - CONVENT U.S. LAND PORT OF ENTRY

Location: Laredo, Texas

Owner: U.S. General Services Administration

The Laredo-Convent United States Port of Entry is being expanded and modernized in effort to meet the ever increasing demands of pedestrian and passenger vehicle border traffic in the commercial center of Laredo, Texas.  The Laredo Convent Port is located in a dense urban context along the Rio Grande River on the southern border of Texas.  The Port is located in a historic building and serves all the pedestrian traffic in central Laredo as well as increasing bicycle traffic and some private vehicles.  This design removes a massive vehicular canopy that obscured the character of the historic building, and replaces it with a light, thin, planar shelter whose dominant element is a west-facing green wall designed to both shade and naturally ventilate.