This assignment you will need the worksheets from the Practicum Workbook, your basemap, overlay tracing paper, and colored pencils.

The practicum workbook’s categories can serve as a guide or framework to create a portfolio for this course, to submit for your certification, and for any future design project.

The Site Assessment Workbook contains 11 worksheets based on the  The Scale of Permanence:

1. Climate
2. Landform
3. Water
4. Invisible Structures
5. Access and Circulation
6. Vegetation and Wildlife
7. Microclimate
8. Buildings and Infrastructure
9. Zones of Use
10. Soil 
11. Aesthetics and Experience

Select 3 to 5 of these elements to assess and map. You will map each element you are considering by placing tracing paper over your base map and drawing the components of that element on the overlay. Include notes about the items. You will neeed a minimum of five assessments for your portfolio. At least three should be finished in the next week. I recommend doing at least five this week to save time for other assignments later.

Remember that you are aiming to capture the "so what" or the most important components for the element that will affect your overall design. The map should include proper labels such as title, date, directions and scale. Clearly show patterns and processes through the use of shapes, thickness of lines, symbols and shading. Repeat this process with another sheet of tracing paper over your base map for each element you have chosen. 

Build off of the observations and maps you created in the previous course(s.) In the Fundamentals and the Mimicry class you examined briefly many of these categories. I recommend reviewing your previous work and deciding what other categories will be most useful for your site and expedient for the purpose of this practicum.

To complete your assignment SUBMIT your maps or any other documents through this assignment page. If your files are too large, send them to  <mb756@cornell.edu>.

Please share you maps with each other in the Discussion Forum.