About

Hand-drawing is essential to the design process. The resulting sketches provide physical documentation of human consciousness, demonstrating an individual’s progression of thoughts and ideas. In January of 2020, Scenographia hosted the first Scenographia at Notre Dame at the Walsh Family Hall of Architecture. Hand-drawing remains an integral part of the School of Architecture’s curriculum, with students primarily using hand-drawing and hand-drafting techniques until the completion of their third year. The participants comprised of an extraordinary roster of architectural students dedicated to developing and maintaining a skillset that, at this point in time, is taught in but a few educational programs worldwide. Each original composition was inspired by the local architecture of South Bend in the 1920’s in celebration of the turn into the new decade.

Teams

Team 1 - graduate students

raul castano

Raul Castano is a current graduate student at the University of Notre Dame. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2014 where he took an interest in historic preservation as well as watercolor rendering. He also spent a semester abroad in Urbino, Italy where he furthered his knowledge in classical architecture and practiced his hand sketching. Raul has learned hand rendering as well as watercolor techniques not only from his professional background, but also from his academic endeavors.

eric kerke

Eric JL Kerke is an artist and designer. He received his BFA in Illustration/ Animation from Montclair State University with a minor in Creative Writing. He recently completed Grand Central Atelier’s Core program: a 4 year classical painting intensive in New York City. Eric has worked at EverGreene Architectural Arts, SMDCPC, and Sevan Multi-Site Solutions. He completed his Certificate in Classical Architecture from the ICAA and has attended various drawing tours. Eric is currently attaining his Masters in Architecture from Notre Dame.

team 2 - fifth-year students

madeline fairman

Maddie is a fifth year in the business concentration, an RA in Pangborn Hall, and a former president of the Frank Montana Sketching Club. In the Architecture Library, Maddie illustrates lost or altered structures from Vasi’s Tour of Rome for HUE/ND Cities in Text. She credits Nanovic and CUSE research grants from the University, and Peter Block, Curtis & Windham, Ferguson & Shamamian, and Historical Concepts for teaching her much about the art and practice of drawing. Jointly with Andrew Seago, she was honored to receive both the New Urban Guild Award at CNU 27 and the SOA’s third year drawing award.

Andrew seago

Andrew Seago is a fifth-year architecture student at the University of Notre Dame graduating in May with a concentration in furniture design and a minor in Classics. After a year abroad in Rome, he was a co-recipient of the Nellie Wynn Kervick Award for Design and Drawing along with his now-fiancée and Scenographia teammate Madeline Fairman. Last summer, he held the 2019 Travel and Research Fellowship with Hart Howerton Architects in New York, which he spent studying greenbelts in Europe. He now serves as vice president of the Frank Montana Sketching Club on campus, and will be designing a counterproposal to Renzo Piano’s Parliament House in Malta for his thesis.

team 3 - fourth-year students

nicole larkin

Nicole Larkin is a current fourth-year architecture student at the University of Notre Dame pursuing a concentration in historic preservation and a minor in classical civilizations. She has had extensive training in the arts and is passionate about sketching and hand drafting. Nicole has previously interned for Office42 in Los Angeles, CA.

KATHRYN SHELBY

Kat Shelby is currently a fourth-year architecture student at the University of Notre Dame pursuing a furniture concentration. Kat has had a passion for art and drawing most of her life and is grateful to Notre Dame’s program which emphasizes how vital hand drafting, drawing and sketching is to the design process. Kat has previously spent the last two summers interning at [au]workshop in Fort Collins, CO.

YIMAN WANG

Yiman is a fourth-year architecture student from Shenzhen, China with minors in Energy Studies, Philosophy and Real Estate. Drawing has always been a passion of hers since she was little. Her experience abroad in Rome has been exceptionally important in developing her drawing skills and look at architectural subjects from various lenses. She has involved in a variety of architectural research labs including the AHS-ND and DHARMA team, conducting research related to sustainability and digital architecture documentation. Outside of architecture, she is interested in exploring social relations, histories and philosophies across different cultures and bringing the outside knowledge into architectural design. She is also the co-founder and president of Education Bridge club, promoting the education system and building schools in South Sudan.