ABOUT
Drawing for Food
Drawing for Food leverages the power of architectural drawing and spatial illustration to advocate for the needs of our most vulnerable community members. The auction uses a model tested by the UK-based organization, “Architecture for Change,” that solicits drawings from designers and architects for auction in support of social causes. 100% of the proceeds from this auction will go to an organization in Toronto to help maintain the supply of food and goods to community members experiencing homelessness, precarious housing, and food shortage.
Since the pandemic, homelessness in Toronto has become more visible, but there is a lot of invisible homelessness and food precarity. Lots of architecture studio briefs have taken on themes such as affordable housing. However, this project aims to leverage our architectural work to help vulnerable community members more directly.
A broader aim of this auction project is to explore ways that architectural drawings can be used for public good. Realizing spatial projects of any scale typically rely on a financial backer: an owner, a client, an entity with a commercial interest, etc. The interests of the moneyed participant drive, or at least influence, the interests of the spatial project. But the instrument of drawing, we argue, is entirely ours. It belongs to us, and as designers, we can decide what and how we draw, who we draw for, and who benefits from our work.
How It Works
Drawings donated by an international roster of participants are posted on the auction website.
The auction of architectural drawings, illustrations and prints is now LIVE!
The auction will go live on November 24th (12 a.m. EST) and will end on December 1st (11:59 p.m. EST).
All drawings will be given the same starting price ($100 CAD).
Buyers will bid on the auction website.
Top bidders will be contacted via email on December 2nd and will be asked to donate their bid amount directly to the organization using an online donation portal. Credit cards, Google Pay and PayPal are all accepted!
Donors will ship the drawing to the buyer.
Drawing for Food will act as a go-between, verifying that the bid has been donated so that a tax receipt can be issued, taking any questions from bidders, and hosting the auction site.
The site will remain live, and the hope is to add to the collection of drawings with a new auction each year to generate funds for a different organization in Ontario, Canada or Western New York, USA.
Drawing Donors
Alice Hwang (with Double Happiness), USA
BÜROS FÜR KONSTRUKTIVISMUS, Germany
DAVIDSON RAFAILIDIS, Canada
Drawing Architecture Studio, China
Eira Roberts, Canada
Fala Atelier, Portugal
Hüma Sahin, USA
Ja Architecture Studio, Canada
Kemetic Blue, Egypt/France
Liang-Jung Chen, UK
Max Otto Zitzelsberger, Germany
Nathalie Du Pasquier, Italy
Nigel Peake, UK
NOMOS, Spain
Nuno Melo Sousa, Portugal
Office of Adrian Phiffer, Canada
operadora./Edgar Rodriguez, Mexico/USA
Pfaueninsel, Czech Republic/UK
Peter Märkli, Switzerland
salazarsequeromedina, USA/Spain
Robert Rusch, USA
studioser, Switzerland
Thomas Sindicas, France
Tiantian Lou, USA
Tom Ngo, Canada
ULTRAMODERNE, USA
UN1ON, France
Young & Ayata, USA
Team
Stephanie Davidson and Georg Rafailidis work as DAVIDSON RAFAILIDIS, and Rafailidis teaches at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Eira Roberts attends Toronto Metropolitan University and is in her fourth year of Interior Design.
Adrian Phiffer is founder of the Office of Adrian Phiffer and teaches at the University of Toronto.
Support
We thank the donors for their drawings and participation, making the auction possible and rich with drawing diversity.
Support for this initiative was provided in part by the Summer Undergraduate Research Program at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Support was also provided by the School of Architecture and Planning at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Thank you to Claudia Draghia for the design of the Drawing for Food logo.
© 2023 Drawing for Food
contact: [email protected]