There’s concern in architectural and design circles about the decline of the hand sketch. A drawing is not meant to replace a finished rendering or be a masterpiece but rather part of a designer’s creative process. “What has happened to our profession, and our art,” said renowned architect Michael Graves to the New York Times, “to cause the supposed end of our most powerful means of conceptualizing and representing architecture?” While Graves acknowledged the importance of computers for presenting data and creating detailed construction documents, he argued that an architect’s hands as creative tools should never become obsolete. Many iconic designs throughout history have begun as a simple sketch on a napkin, place mat, or scrap of paper, from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater to the “I Love New York” logo drawn by Milton Glaser in red crayon on an envelope in the back of a taxi. With this spirit in mind, MH+D, Knickerbocker Group, and the Portland Society for Architecture invited Maine designers to join us at Novare Res Bier Café in Portland for a drink and a chance to create their own napkin sketches. Participants were given five prompts and some pens and napkins and asked to produce as many or as few sketches as they wished within the allotted time. Here are the results.

PROMPTS

Each guest was asked to create one or more drawings based on the following prompts.

• A downtown train station for Portland
• A structure based on your favorite board game
• A children’s play fort/treehouse in Deering Oaks Park
• An adaptive new use for an old space (mill, shopping mall, box store)
• A reimagined Adirondack chair

CHRIS DELANO
Principal/Owner
DELANO ARCHITECTURE

“I am fascinated by the relationships of people and the fabric of places. These sketches address the collective effect that relationships have on a composition. They are visual studies: lines become an object, each object joins other objects to create movement, a point of view, and a place. A story emerges.”

RACHEL CONLY
Owner/Design Director
JUNIPER DESIGN + BUILD

“For me, the best seat in the house is always at the edge of the sea. The Adirondack prompt inspired a chair shaped from earth that is designed to provide a contemplative, front-row view of the tides and ocean life with easy access for full immersion or soaking one’s feet.”

DANIELLE FOISY
Architect
JUNIPER DESIGN + BUILD

“The treehouse is made up of interconnected pods, designed to foster imagination in nature through playful exploration or as a refuge in the trees.”

HENRI JP BIZINDAVYI
Designer
JUNIPER DESIGN + BUILD

“Envisioning the future of downtown Portland’s train station is like sketching a bridge through time, where the echoes of the past meet the wisdom of nature, guiding us toward a sustainable tomorrow. The goal is to create a space where the elegance of historical architecture seamlessly merges with organic forms inspired by our intricate ecosystem.”

CHRISTOPHER DUDLEY
Lead Carpenter
JUNIPER DESIGN + BUILD

“I drew a reimagined box store, turning a Home Depot into an apartment complex with indoor/outdoor community spaces. It was a fun evening of sketching and seeing what other creative people came up with from the prompts given.”

RICHARD LO
Senior Architectural Staff
KAPLAN THOMPSON ARCHITECTS

“My last sketch of the evening, the ‘Peacorondack,’ was no doubt helped along by excellent company and beverages. A slightly showy upgrade for a familiar and iconic vacation chair, it is best displayed prominently in small groups scattered at the edge of sloping lawn facing a lake, river, or the Atlantic Ocean.”

PAIGE BECHTLE
Interior Designer
KAPLAN THOMPSON ARCHITECTS

“We get so accustomed to drawing from observation or designing what’s ‘typical’—it was so enjoyable to stretch our creativity with playful prompts and places we are all fond of here in Maine!”

GRACE TISDALE
Project Manager
KAPLAN THOMPSON ARCHITECTS

“Although seemingly impractical, the ‘S’mores Chair’ is a comfortable yet supportive chair throughout the day, and then as you settle in for the evening and light a fire, you can enjoy your seat as it melts into a treat!”

KATIE BRADDOCK LA ROSE
Architect
KAPLAN THOMPSON ARCHITECTS

“The Adirondack chair is all about sinking back, relaxing, and taking in the surrounding views; this reimagination favors togetherness as well. The ‘Adirondack in the Round’ allows for few or many to gather, as if around a fire, for conversation and company. The semicircle pieces can be rearranged into a landscape of their own.”

ERIC WITTMAN
Senior Project Designer, Architecture
KNICKERBOCKER GROUP

“Imagine turning the shell of a familiar national brand into a vertical farm. The structure and layout would make it an easy transition, and existing loading docks would be a plus. Naming the farm ‘Garden Encapsulated Towers’ or simply ‘Grow Eats Tall’ would allow you to ‘adaptively reuse’ half of the existing sign.”

STEVEN MANSFIELD
Senior Associate Landscape Architect
MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM LANDSCAPE DESIGN

“It was a great evening to be with some of Portland’s best designers and contribute to conversations that came up from wildly different sketch prompts. It’s always fun to step back, let loose, and draw the first thing that comes to mind.”

KARL ALAMO
Designer
MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM LANDSCAPE DESIGN

“The Maine landscape is lush, rugged, and hosts a way of life inimitable and seldom rivaled. For a transportation center, I envision simple uses of steel that celebrate the early industry of rural Maine life, nestled into a landscape abundant with locally native plants and stone—a welcome home, and a reminder to return soon.”

ERIK MILLES
Principal
CHARRON | REFLEX LIGHTING

“I loved seeing the creativity and hand drawing skills of everyone involved. Drink and Sketch holds a special place in my heart because it brings us back to the very essence of architecture and design: putting pencil to paper, letting the mind explore, and sharing it with others to enjoy.”

RUSS TYSON
Principal
WHITTEN ARCHITECTS

“Introducing a light rail train station to the peninsula would make it a breeze to hop off the train and dive right into Portland’s downtown neighborhoods. It would spark more foot traffic and energy in the charming Old Port while keeping the car chaos to a minimum.”

GEORGE WORKMAN
Senior Landscape Architect
SMRT ARCHITECTS & ENGINEERS

“While the world changes and moves away from analog so quickly, and freehand drawing threatens to go the way of cursive, it’s truly a pleasure to enjoy the company of colleagues and friends while drawing freehand. It feels like a vignette of the old days.”

SOREN DENIORD
Owner/Principal
SOREN DENIORD DESIGN STUDIO

“Drink and Sketch was a fun ‘after-work’ gathering and a chance to connect outside of shared projects. The prompts were imaginative, and I enjoyed hearing and seeing different people’s interpretations.”

KARI GALLOW-WRIGHT
Landscape Designer
TED CARTER INSPIRED LANDSCAPES

“There is something wonderful about reimagining a board game as a livable space. I began by studying the pieces and elements of particular games before things took on a more concrete form. I particularly enjoyed drafting a Monopoly walkway with a focus on material, shape, and color.”

TED CARTER
President
TED CARTER INSPIRED LANDSCAPES

“As my mind wandered during the sketching event, my inner child came out to play, and I found myself daydreaming about various country settings. I went off script. The natural world has so many hills and valleys filled with mystery and intrigue, both timeless and limitless.”

ALEX HABA
Designer
WHITTEN ARCHITECTS

“I heard that Casco Bay Lines is expanding…underwater railroad from the Eastern Prom to Brunswick.”

TORI GITTO
Designer
WHITTEN ARCHITECTS

“Throughout the game of dominoes, lines extend and join into lengthy shapes of legible connection. Structures share a similar language by using compatibility to build and join together what would otherwise appear to be dissimilar or incompatible. Warning: Carelessness may result in a chain reaction of fallen dominoes and failed structure!”

ALYSSA PHANITDASACK
Project Architect
WHITTEN ARCHITECTS

“A sketch is a seed. Drink and Sketch is my favorite event that encourages casual cross-pollination of creative minds.”

CHRISTIAN A. PRASCH
Architectural Designer
WINKELMAN ARCHITECTURE

“I had fun with the space station Chutes and Ladders scene. I enjoy changing the scale of an object in an attempt to make something new, and this game provides easy fodder for such an exercise.”

DAVID DUNCAN MORRIS
Partner
WOODHULL

“One fun thing on top of another!”

PATRICK BOOTHE
Director, Commercial Studio
WOODHULL

“I often take my 2½-year-old to Deering Oaks playground, where I imagine one of the majestic oaks soaring to 300 feet. After a lightning strike, it miraculously stands tall, transformed into an observation deck with a near-perfect, code-compliant spiral staircase leading to the top. Oh, and it has a zip line, of course.”

JOHN MUCCIARONE
Senior Project Manager
ZEROENERGY DESIGN

“Treehouse: an elevated, urban escape in nature that is simple, playful, and imaginative for the inner child in all of us.”

DUSTIN TISDALE
Residential Studio Project Manager
WOODHULL

“Napkin sketches are the idea droplets that fill the cup of a complete design. Sometimes a little drips out to make room for better ideas…I’m still waiting.”

RICK NELSON
Practice Leader, Architecture
KNICKERBOCKER GROUP

“The world is in Trouble. It’s best to stay above it.”

GREG NORTON
Senior Project Designer
KNICKERBOCKER GROUP

“An infrastructure that allows a Portland worker to park out of town and take a trolley to work, relieving Portland of vehicular congestion. One big train station, or series of unique neighborhood stations—anything to create more public transit options as Portland continues to grow.”

TREVOR WATSON
Design Studio Leader, Architecture
KNICKERBOCKER GROUP

“Being open to different view is a skillset which affords us many opportunities in life—what is more powerful than the physical manifestation of this concept? A treehouse in a park, elevated, built into the branches and leaves. A child’s first experience with a space to call their own.”

TYLER DOHERTY
Revit Specialist and BIM Manager
KNICKERBOCKER GROUP

“Imagine the possibilities if we innovate the millions of square feet of shopping malls in this country to become rooftop gardens and pastures. They would feed local communities, reduce the risk of food deserts, and bring people a sense of pride in what would otherwise be a desolate expanse of concrete and asphalt.”

LEAH LIPPMANN
Design Studio Leader, Interiors
KNICKERBOCKER GROUP

“I chose Commercial Street as the location for a grand train station that brings the heritage of trains back into the city. The steel structure acts as a bridge between the past and present while sleek new trains make the trip into the city quick and easy.”