Offshoring. Displaced, hidden and outlaw architectures at the beginning of the 21st century

The word offshore has two meanings. The former means literally at sea, far from the coast, and the second refers to what is done, located or registered abroad, particularly to obtain the benefits of lower costs or taxes, or a less strict regulation. The current day-to-day lives through people, energy sources, services and products carried away from the coasts and operating out of the norm. It is hard to notice these architectures, either because they remain conveniently hidden or because their existence has been assimilated naturally. The thesis deals with analyzing the spatial consequences of these displacements. On the one hand, it investigates through four cases of study in the peculiarities of places, structures, programs and constructions that remain remote, out of sight. These four realities that constitute the main study framework of the thesis are located in each of the emerging countries that form the acronym BRIC. These countries owe much of their success to the offshoring phenomenon, revealing the relevance of their choice. On the other hand, the thesis sees the repercussions that these displacements cause in the immediate environment. Bringing processes far away transforms the creation of places, the representation of the infrastructures, the disposition of architectural programs and the constructive logic. These displaced realities, moreover, are increasingly installed where they were expelled from, initiating a continuous round trip where it is already difficult to discern the transfer limit.