AIAS_Newschool Chapter / Napkin Sketch Auction

Every year, members of the AIAS-NewSchool Chapter submit requests for sketches from designers and architects around the world in preparation for their annual Napkin Sketch Auction. This fundraiser -- which has received sketches from notable architects such as Frank Gehry, Kengo Kuma, and the late Zaha Hadid – has become a cornerstone of the architectural and design community in San Diego, creating a lasting community between the students of NewSchool of Architecture & Design and professionals within the industry. In addition, proceeds from the event go toward leadership conferences and various events held throughout the year that assist students become more prepared for the profession upon graduation.

Below is a writeup of Tommy’s inspiration for this year’s napkin sketch submission.

DICHOTOMY OF SYMMETRY: the search for inspiration

There is a quiet kind of inspiration that arises when we observe the world through balance and order – lines converging, forms mirroring, symmetry revealing subtle perfections. Piet Blom’s “Rotterdam Cube Houses’ emits these moments. It is through the softness of yellow amidst its primary counterpart that we find beauty, not needing complexity to be profound. The repeated angularity of the structures welcoming our gaze skyward where joy and endless wonder are framed against the vastness of light and space. Still, our cadence halts as we gaze through time in the portals above, where hope, clarity and inspiration lives – suspended in the simplicity and the mundane.

Alternatively, symmetry can also become a prison when too perfect and predictable. In these spaces, inspiration falters. There is no wonder, no surprise, no tension to provoke the mind and welcome creativity and ingenuity. In studying Tom Radclyfe’s “Vertigo”, the elegance of form becomes sterile, inspiration draining from the edges. There is no looking down into the depths of what once was, as if the past holds no more meaning and we’ve severed ourselves from these lessons for ‘progress’. A void is created to promote the sense of inventiveness and artistry, only to feel as though inspiration floats elsewhere as it leaves us to search in silence for its return.