Erik Fliegauf

Erik Fliegauf

This sketch was much more difficult than I expected. However, I was satisfied with my final product. I was aware of some potential errors at the outset. For example, I knew that I would underestimate the distance from the Yard to Radcliffe Quad. Of course, I was more correct about familiar places, like around my dorm (Hurlbut), the Yard, and my tour route. A history as a pre-freshman obsessed with both Harvard and maps more generally gave me an advantage. Even so, there were certain mistakes that I was surprised and even embarrassed by. I knew no buildings a block east of my dorm, since I only drive past that area. I got Cambridge Common Park completely wrong, as it doesn’t border the Yard nearly as far as I thought. The main takeaway was that even if you know an area well, and can navigate perfectly while in that space, it is incredibly hard to construct a bird’s eye view of that place. We remember things in two-dimensional visual snapshots, not in three-dimensional space.

The “special features” had to do with people, movement, and activity, as my experience with Harvard focuses on the distinction between academics/work (and the associated places) and personal life. I also wanted to explore the distribution of tourists and students, as their interactions with space are completely different.