The napkin sketch has always played a small yet prominent role in architecture. The origins of many iconic buildings can be traced to a quick drawing made in a restaurant or bar that morphed into a bricks-and-mortar or steel-and-glass structure admired the world over.
Now some of the world’s more respected architects—including Tadao Ando and Renzo Piano, Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi, Cesar Pelli (Minneapolis Central Library and Wells Fargo Center) and Antoine Predock (McNamara Alumni Center at the U of M)—have donated conceptual doodles to “Process,” a fundraiser and silent auction on Thursday, June 9, for the Dunwoody College of Technology’s Bachelor of Architecture program. All proceeds will support study abroad scholarships for students in the program.
Several local “starchitects” have donated napkin sketches as well, including John Dwyer, co-founder of D/O, who leads the Dunwoody architecture program. Dwyer’s AIA-Minnesota Honor Award winning house, Nordic Light, was recently featured in Midwest Home. Also donating sketches are Steven Dwyer and E. Tim Carl of HGA, John Cuningham of Cuningham Group, Gabriel Keller of Peterson/Keller Architecture, and cabinologist Dale Mulfinger of SALA (Midwest Home’s 2015 Architect of Distinction).
Dunwoody students have provided sketches for the event as well. So here’s a chance to not only own a fragment of architectural history for a good cause, but also get hold of memento for future conversations around “I knew her when.”
The event begins at 7 p.m., with an opening reception and preview. The silent auction follows. Informal attire. The location? IFP MN Offices in Vandalia Tower off University Avenue in St. Paul, a space created for the Independent Film Makers MN organization by Dunwoody Architecture studio in Fall 2015. Tickets are $40. For questions on the event, or to RSVP, please contact arch@dunwoody.edu.
By Camille LeFevre
Photos courtesy of Dunwoody Architecture