Each semester, students from MAPP’s Master of Architecture, Master of Historic Preservation and Master of Real Estate Development Programs home in on one final project that culminates their graduate experience at the University of Maryland. For architecture students, it’s the design thesis, a written and oral presentation of a site-specific project and a mash-up of the skills, design thinking and interpretation they’ll put to use in the profession. For real estate development students, it’s the capstone competition, a 15-minute development pitch of a real site where creative financing, feasibility and sustainable design reign supreme. Final historic preservation projects are often a nod to a student’s affinity to a certain specialization within the field.
Each final project is self-selected and is often personal. Topics run the gamut of issues they will face in the profession: affordable housing, adaptive reuse, federal programs and building for vulnerable populations, like individuals with disabilities. Each project represents the imagination, skill, thoughtfulness and exemplary talent crafted during their graduate experience, a tool box that will serve them well as they make their mark on the built environment.
MAPP’s Final Project Showcase offers a glimpse of this extraordinary work.