Place as Identity

I've always understood that the place in which you live can say a lot about who you are as a person and what values you hold to be important. I've seen the show RoomRaiders on MTV. The first chapter of Upton's History of American Architecture critically examines Thomas Jefferson, using his home, Monticello, as a lens. Now my dorm room isn't currently on the back of any legal United States tender (yet)  but I'm sure by examining it you could tell a lot about me. You'd see books and clothes and ticket stubs from subway rides and Phish concerts, and the room inventory activity tried to do exactly what I'm talking about. But there is a very stark difference between my dorm room and Monticello...besides the size, cool clocks, and dumbwaiter. Jefferson designed and created the actual building of Monticello. I wasn't even born when Hoyme Hall was built. I had no say in it's layout. Examining the architecture of a building one creates to live in is like taking the room inventory assignment and combining it with the study of sculpture. Not only are these buildings works of art, but they are works of art the artist had to live with, and in.