Check out the 2010 winners, runner-ups, and a few of the most creative entries from the annual Cocktail Napkin Sketch Contest.
Winner, Registered Architect - Truc Dang Manh Nguyen, TDMN and Associates, Piedmont, California
The jury picked as “the best in show” a drawing of a gate from a Japanese garden by Truc Dang Manh Nguyen, an architect from Piedmont, California. The winner has practiced for 27 years and recently opened his own office. He prefers sketching to photographing buildings. “It forces the eye to focus and the mind to work,” he says, “and it’s easier to commit a work of architecture to memory through drawing.” Nguyen found the small size of the 5-inch-square cocktail napkin to be challenging, and confesses that this is the first time he actually tried to sketch on a cocktail napkin.
Runner-Up - Keegan Carmichael, Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects, Boston, Massachusetts
Runner-Up - David Fox, University of Tennessee School of Architecture, Knoxville, Tennessee
Runner-Up - Choy Leow, Allina Hospitals and Clinics, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Runner-Up - Ernesto Librecht, AIA, Dallas, TX
Runner-Up - Stanley Stark, HDR, New York, NY
Runner-Up - John Henley, ESa, Nashville, TN
Entries of Merit - Geoff Parker, AIA, Architecture Incorporated, Oklahoma City, OK
In addition to the winner and six runners-up, the RECORD editors selected additional sketches notable for their drawing techniques.
Entries of Merit - Moh'd Bilbeisi, RA, Bilbeisi Architects, Stillwater, OK
Entries of Merit - A.J. Staub, AIA, Consultant, Tupelo, MS
Entries of Merit - Jim Dawkins, AIA, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
Entries of Merit - Virginia Larrea, Associate AIA, The Art Institue of Tampa, Tampa, FL
Off-Beat Entries - Jungsub Lee, ACOM, Alexandria, VA
And finally, these entries caught the editors’ eyes for approaching the contest in ways that were either innovative—or out-and-out bizarre.
Off-Beat Entries - James Walljasper, AIA (emeritus) Denver, CO
Off-Beat Entries - Rand Elliott, FAIA, Elliot + Associates, Oklahoma City, OK
Off-Beat Entries - Aleksandr Sheykhet, RA, Studio Obermeier-Sheykhet Architecture, Denver, CO