Mexican designers show that Trump's proposed $25 billion wall would be impossible to build

Nov. 7, 2016, 10:24 AM   Business Insider
Leanna Garfield

On the campaign trail, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has threatened to build a wall along the Mexico-US border to keep out Mexican immigrants (or "bad hombres," as he calls them).

But what would Trump's proposed wall look like in reality?

Mexican architects from Estudio 3.14, a design firm based in Guadalajara, imagined a hot pink border that stretches 1,954 miles, called the "Prison-Wall."

The renderings are meant to show the impracticality of building the wall, designer Norberto Miranda told Business Insider. He says the border likely wouldn't foster positive relations with Mexico, and the country's rolling mountain ranges would make construction difficult.

As many others have pointed out, the wall would also be expensive, and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said his country would never pay for it.

CNBC's Kate Drew wrote that the construction would cost the US government $15 billion to $25 billion. Maintenance and hiring 21,000 agents as border patrol would cost an additional $2.1 billion per year, according to CNBC and an analysis by Politico. Estudio 3.14 designed the renderings around these estimates.

Here's what Trump's wall could look like:

The designers imagined a pink wall, since Trump has repeatedly said it should be "beautiful."

Agustin Avalos/Estudio 314

The design was also inspired by the work of renowned Mexican architect Luis Barragán, who is famous for his blunt, stucco walls and use of bright colors.

Agustin Avalos/Estudio 314

Stretching from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico, the wall would separate the southwest US from northern Mexico.

Agustin Avalos/Estudio 314

The wall would include a prison for immigrants, holding up to "11 million people who Trump plans to deport," Miranda said.

Agustin Avalos/Estudio 314

Another part would feature a manufacturing plant, where the prisoners would work to maintain the wall.

Agustin Avalos/Estudio 314

According to the design, Americans would enjoy a shopping mall that's built into the wall, too.

Agustin Avalos/Estudio 314

The mountain ranges along the Mexico-US border would make the wall's construction nearly impossible and costlier, Miranda says. The areas without existing fences are the most dense and arid, so taking those physical challenges into consideration, it would take 16 years to build.

Agustin Avalos/Estudio 314

The proposed divider is a "megalomaniac architectural proposal," he says.

Agustin Avalos/Estudio 314