Bayamon, Puerto Rico

The Hometown Map is an architecture studio design project that is designed to enable each student to develop primary research on a familiar topic, the place they call home. Students are encouraged over the previous summer to visit local historic sites and archives, as well as utilize broader resources to develop an understanding of the origins of their hometown, from the perspectives of geological and social history. The research process inevitably reveals new discoveries which students then are able to translate into a visual narrative. Each student then develops the themes most significant to their locale through the graphic design of the map. The techniques of the the project's expressions--a combination of hand and digital media--gives each student room for self-expression as well. As each project is presented to the class, the studio learns more about the larger issues of architecture and the environment, urbanism, geography, and culture, as well as something new about the perspective on place from each member of the class. The project also serves as a model for the development of richer and more nuanced site studies as students go forward through school and the profession.