Student Experience

Hoos Ready To Put Their Ideas on a Napkin

September 9, 2024 • By Bryan McKenzie, bkm4s@virginia.edu Bryan McKenzie, bkm4s@virginia.edu

Third-year UVA architecture student Cole Rozwadowski’s pen draws a familiar site on a coffeehouse napkin. The UVA chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students, along with the student organization Sketch@UVA, are inviting others to join in a napkin sketching fundraiser for a Charlottesville nonprofit. (Photos and illustration by Matt Riley and John DiJulio, University Communications)

From Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater home to economist Arthur Laffer’s outline of Reaganomics, big ideas with far-reaching impact can come from a few lines sketched on a napkin.

More than a theatrical trope or a fable’s cliché, the napkin sketch is an accepted method of turning abstract ideas into tangible concepts, especially in the architectural world. It’s also the basis of an annual competition sponsored by the University of Virginia chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students, along with the student organization Sketch@UVA.

“The theme this year is, ‘This Must Be the Place,’ which is based on a Talking Heads song, though I haven’t heard it,” said Anna Travasos, a third-year architecture student from San Diego. “It’s about what makes a space or place your favorite, whether it’s on Grounds, off Grounds, at home or wherever. We’re encouraging people to sketch on napkins and then once they’re all submitted, we’ll have a bidding session and the money will be donated to charity.”

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The competition kicks off Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Campbell Hall’s Naug Lounge with a sketching workshop. All napkin sketches up for bidding are due Friday, with bid programs scheduled for Sept. 18 and 19. Money raised through the sketch sales will benefit Charlottesville’s Building Goodness Foundation.

The nonprofit organization builds and renovates homes, schools, clinics and community spaces for the disadvantaged, both locally and internationally.

Napkin sketches have a storied place in society. Informal doodles on tiny paper placemats can spawn big ideas. Logos for Citibank and Richard Branson’s Virgin Group were originally drawn on napkins. The “I Love NY” logo was drawn on an envelope, but it’s pretty much the same idea.

Pixar Studio executives reportedly sketched plans for the movies “A Bug’s Life,” “Monsters, Inc.” “Finding Nemo” and “WALL-E” on cocktail napkins while celebrating the success of “Toy Story.”

Carly Batson, Anna Travasos and Cole Rozwadowski sitting togehter at a table with napkins to sketch upon

From left, third-year architecture students Carly Batson, Anna Travasos and Cole Rozwadowski have organized the sketchy fundraiser, using the talent of the University community to create napkin sketches of familiar places to benefit Charlottesville’s Building Goodness Foundation. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

For architects, sketching is an important tool, on or off napkins.

“I like to do a lot of hand sketching. It’s not anything that’s pretty, but drawing out my ideas is a start and it’s how I get my ideas flowing,” said third-year architecture student Carly Batson, from Greenville, South Carolina. “I like to move to the computer once I have a visual of what I’m thinking.”

“I’m not as good as sketching as I’d like, but I can see my whole vision when I do it,” Travasos admitted. “Then it’s easier for me to model it out in three dimensions so I can actually wrap my head around it.”

“I think it depends a lot on the person. Some go straight into their computer, some people will go with wooden blocks and some people draw by hand,” Batson said.

Two different sketches of the Rotunda both on napkins

During a coffeehouse interview, Cole Rozwadowski, a third-year architecture student and founding president of Sketch@UVA sketched a couple of Rotundas. He sees sketching as both a tool and a means of expression. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

For third-year architecture student and Culpeper native Cole Rozwadowski, sketching is both tool and passion. He even has an Etsy shop where he sells his sketches.

“Last semester I would be staring at a computer for six hours straight, and I’d say ‘OK, that’s enough.’ I’d set a timer for 30 minutes, go find something to draw and just tune out all the studio work, all the academic work,” said Rozwadowski, who is the founder and president of Sketch@UVA. “I’d come back feeling kind of refreshed. It’s a great break and it’s fun. I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t enjoy it.”

Another goal of the event is to help people overcome the idea of drawing and design as only latent talents. Like other tools, sketching can be learned and skills honed. And while the sketching and bidding will be fun, organizers say there’s something else that makes it even more worthwhile.

“It’s creating a community event and raising money for the Building Goodness Foundation, which is based in Charlottesville, but builds projects in El Salvador and other places,” Travasos said. “That’s a really cool aspect of it.”

“The event brings in different audiences and people to participate, although it’s normally people from the Architecture School,” Batson said. “But we would love it if other people came to participate, too.”