Students are documenting elements of the city of Coral Gables’s great spaces, including the front door of founder George Merrick’s house.

School of Architecture lecturers Steven Fett and Edgar Sarli have been awarded a City of Coral Gables Cultural Grant for the publication and traveling exhibition of  drawings and research of city’s architecture, titled “Drawing and Place.” Directed by Teofilo Victoria, Jorge Hernandez, and Adib Cure, the students enrolled in ARC 101, ARC 111, and ARC 121 have been, for the past four years, thoroughly documenting the great public spaces within the city of Coral Gables in the manner comparable to those included in the Manuale del Recupero del Comune di Roma.

The Rome drawings diligently analyze the nature and evolution of the constructive elements found in the traditional buildings of the city. Architectural elements such as walls, roofs, stairs, vaults, fixtures, and ornaments are rigorously documented and drawn, constituting a complete guide to be used in the work of maintenance and restoration of historic buildings. So too, UM students set out to record elements of the greatest public spaces in Coral Gables. Locations include the Granada Plaza, the loggia of the Biltmore Hotel, the Coral Gables Merrick House, the Books & Books courtyard, and City Hall’s covered loggia.

The documentation process has yielded scaled field sketches on graph paper, pencil on velum hand-drafted drawings, and computer generated ink on mylar prints. The exhibition is scheduled for Fall 2016.