Balcony House is an historic site that dates back to the mid-1700’s. It is highlighted on the AMMC’s list, as a cultural tourism attraction in the Downtown Redevelopment Project. (BIS photo/Gena Gibbs)

Nassau, Bahamas --The Downtown Redevelopment Project is offering architecture students an opportunity to document measurements and locations of historic buildings and redraft lost blueprints for historic buildings included in the Downtown Redevelopment Project.

Five governmental partners came together to give the students a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn their history through hands on experience.

“The Downtown Redevelopment Partnership works with five partners, all gathering data about Bay Street through the Bahamas National Geographic Information Service (BNGIS), and the Antiquities, Monuments & Museums Corporation AMMC will be the repository of that information,” said Andrew Chin, Assistant Dean of Florida A&M University .

“The GIS database allows us to query information and produces maps of 11,000 buildings, 200 of which are historic buildings, within the study area to get answers.”

Vendue House is one of the first social buildings erected in the 1800’s. It was a multi-purpose structure that served as an information centre for Government notices, a market place to buy household goods, and an auction house to buy and sell slaves. The AMMC lists the antique market place, as one of the main centrepieces of the Downtown Redevelopment Project because of its close proximity to the gates of the City of Nassau and the Woodes Rogers Wharf waterfront. (BIS photo/Gena Gibbs)

The AMMC welcomed students on March 11 from The College of The Bahamas and Florida A&M University to build a relationship with the architectural history of The Bahamas. The AMMC is supervising the group of architectural students.

“The three objectives of this exercise is to provide digital resources to Government agencies, build the technical capacity of Bahamian students, and develop the leadership skills of our own graduate students,” said Mr Chin.

“The three different projects are linked together through establishing a historic site database, building digital models of historical buildings, as well as building a digital rendition, called a Geographic Information Systems map.”

Andrew Chin, Assistant Dean of FAMU, points out the digital models of historic buildings being recorded by the GIS coding system at the AMMC. Architecture students are gathering information and taking photos to document all 200 historic buildings and entering the data in the system for AMMC to use for research purposes in the future. (BIS Photo/Gena Gibbs)

The educational partnership is a mix of undergraduates and graduates, Bahamian and non-Bahamian students from COB and FAMU, working together and learning about Bahamian history through architecture that dates back to the early 1700’s. The students are responsible for taking measurements, so signature buildings that have no drawings or blueprints to date, can be redrawn in the future.

“The architectural drawings of most of our historic buildings are limited or do not exist at all, so the students are studying the details of the building, measuring how the buildings meet the ground, and coding the information,” said Mr Chin.

“If you have 200 buildings with 20 to 30 photos each, you have to store that information somewhere to use for research at a later time because from the photos we make the models. That is why we have teams of students here.”

After the buildings are digitally graphed and plotted in the GIS system, the models are organized on a BGNIS map of New Providence. Mr Chin shows how the aerial view of the Downtown Redevelopment Project helps developers, researchers and architects use the student documentation to measure the progress of their work. (BIS photo/Gena Gibbs)

The AMMC is ultimately responsible for the research of the Downtown Redevelopment Project, and the students are responsible for gathering and documenting the information they use and data entry work.

Mr Chin explained that COB’s undergraduate students are partnering with graduate students from FAMU, who serve as mentors to the undergrads.

With a limited budget, the AMMC has graciously funded travel and accommodations for two separate teams of students. The students are taking the opportunity to gain experience in the architecture field.

“The AMMC is using some of their funds to provide scholarships for Bahamian students studying architecture at FAMU.”

“The project is labour intensive which could get expensive, however it becomes more cost effective if it is done by students,” he said.