Maeve Hoffstot

Maeve Hoffstot

Drawing this was a really interesting assignment as I tried to fit onto an 8”x11” piece of paper everything in the square that was important to me. I started with the two places that are most central to my life—Weld Boathouse and Cabot House (the Quad). From there, I added the main roads and intersections. Streets were definitely the easiest way to orient myself. As a result of including both the quad and the river, as well as making aspects of the square and yard visible, I had to distort the proportions a bit. Proportions and relations were definitely the hardest aspect. Memory of the square was pretty natural, as I just started with the places I frequent the most and added in surrounding objects. Lots of the emphasis on my map is because of my daily routine. For instance, I included the shuttle stops for the shuttles that run to and from the quad—something that many Harvard students never have to consider. The Radcliffe Yard, which is on my quad-route when I decide to walk to the river, or the Cambridge Common when I’m heading to the Science Center. Harvard Yard proved surprisingly challenging. It was less easy to regulate, as there are no roads that dictate blocks or relatives sizes, and my memory was much foggier as the Yard doesn’t factor too much into my everyday junior life. Looking at a map of the square afterwards, I think the think I did the poorest job representing was the bottom right corner of my map—Leverett, Dunster, Mather and Adams. I spend much less time in the area so I got a little messed up in the placements of the buildings. On a whole, however, Harvard was pretty easy to map out and I probably ought to credit a good part of my success (despite my drawing ability) to the fact that I’m a tour guide for the admissions office.