Check out the 2014 winners, runner-ups, and a few of the most creative entries from the annual Cocktail Napkin Sketch Contest.
Winner, Registered Architect - David Fox, Associate Professor, College of Architecture and Design, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Napkin Sketch Title: Plan/Section Study For A Chapel, Marion Co., TN
David Fox has devoted his career to the study of architectural drawing. He has taught at the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design for 20 years and recently completed a Fulbright Scholarship in Krakow, Poland, where he focused on the relationship between analog drawing, digital design, and architectural pedagogy. His winning sketch was partially inspired by his experience designing a chapel as an employee in the practice of E. Fay Jones. However, the drawing also represents Fox’s belief that sketching and developing an architectural concept must come before computer modeling. “The poetry cannot be an afterthought or occur at a midpoint,” he tells his students. “It must originate from inception.”
Winner Non-Registered Architect - Roland Escalona, Designer, Mark Scheurer Architect, Newport Beach, CA
Napkin Sketch Title: Close Quarters
Roland Escalona’s sketch was, without exaggeration, a lifetime in the making. “I grew up in Manila, the Philippines,” said Escalona, “where shanty housing is part of the landscape.” The memory of that landscape stayed with the young architect and was the subject of his B.Arch. senior thesis at the University of Southern California. The idea for the sketch struck him when he came across his old thesis and reimagined that dense landscape using the meticulous precision of photographic mosaic, one of his artistic hobbies. Escalona recounts that “the image of shanty living was stuck in my mind.” But now that landscape has been distilled by hand for us to interpret.
Runner-Up, Registered - Hany Hassan, Partner, Beyer Blinder Belle, Washington, D.C.
Napkin Sketch Title: Glow
Runner-Up, Registered - Eric Jenkins, Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Planning, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
Napkin Sketch Title: Light Drawn from Darkness
Runner-Up, Registered, John D. Hicks, Architects America, Muncie, IN
Napkin Sketch Title: Le Corbusier in India
Runner-Up, Non-Registered - Vivien Ferrari, Designer, Aufgang Architects, Suffern, NY
Napkin Sketch Title: Lower Manhattan Skyline
Runner-Up, Non-Registered - Diana Grigoryan, Architectural Illustrator, Early Swensson Associates, Nashville
Napkin Sketch Title: Atlanta High-Rises
Runner-Up, Non-Registered - Bonhui Uy, Designer, Bonhui Studio, Honolulu
Napkin Sketch Title: Iolani Palace, Honolulu
Best Firm - RTKL Associates, L.A., Shuang Zhang, Designer (RTKL)
Napkin Sketch Title: Babel
Best Firm - RTKL Associates, L.A., Amar Shah, Senior Designer (RTKL)
Napkin Sketch Title: The Pioneers of Modernism
Best Firm - RTKL Associates, L.A., Daniel Sauerbrey, Associate Vice President (RTKL)
Napkin Sketch Title: Tropoli