Starchitects' napkin sketches raise thousands for San Diego’s AIAS chapter

Live and silent auctions of “napkin” sketches by noted architects raised more than $7,600, which will help pay for scholarships and programs offered by the San Diego chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS).

The May 29th auction, which took place at the NewSchool of Architecture and Design, was the fourth in as many years that the chapter has conducted. The top-selling sketch, titled “S.F. — View from the Embaracadero,” was rendered by San Diego architect Kurt Hunker, who chairs NewSchool’s Graduate Architecture Program. The winning bid was $500. All of the event’s auctioned renderings can be found here.

Other prominent architects who submitted a total of 23 napkin doodles were Zaha Hadid, Cesar Pelli, Robert Venturi, Massimiliano Fuksas, Thom Mayne, and Bjarke Ingels. One of two auctioned entries from Peter Bohlin, of the firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, was sketched on a paper plate.

Some renderings include words—for example, “Curbside 2015,” or “Spain July 2014”—that provide hints about what the artist was looking at or thinking about. Some are signed. Others are rendered more abstractly.

Be that as it may, David Garcia, who chairs NewSchool’s architecture and undergrad fundraising efforts, deemed the auction a success. “This is a nice way to bring students and their favorite architects together, even if it’s just through a sketch. Plus, since it’s a fundraiser, the proceeds have been a great help to the success of the chapter.”

Antonie Predock

Billie Tsien

Bjarke Ingels

Greg Lynn

Kurt Hunker

Len Zegarski

Massimiliano Fuksas

Neil Denari

Perry Kulper

Peter Bohlin

Ben Van Berkel

Robert Venturi

Thom Mayne

Wolf D. Prix/Coop Himmelb(l)au

Zaha Hadid

Cesar Pelli