Can you imagine drawing your way to a trip to Europe? Dan Nepp can, after winning the Ralph Rapson Traveling Fellowship in December 2000.

Friday, March 02, 2001

Can you imagine drawing your way to a trip to Europe? Dan Nepp can, after winning the Ralph Rapson Traveling Fellowship in December 2000.

Nepp, a 1980 Austin High School graduate, is a partner in the architectural firm of TEA2. A Twin Cities architectural firm that has received national recognition for its designs, especially in residential homes, "TEA" stands for Thomas Ellison Architects and the "2" refers to the Ellison and Nepp business partnership, which has existed for five years.

After graduating from AHS, Nepp attended Austin Community College and went on to receive his bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Minnesota in 1986. He has been with TEA2 (simply TEA, before Nepp became a partner) ever since.

His architectural designs have been featured in Mpls./St. Paul magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Traditional Home, Midwest Home and on the popular PBS program, "Hometime." He designs residences throughout the Twin Cities metro area and across the country.

Nepp already may be familiar to Austin residents, because his father, Howard Nepp, once owned Austin Drug.

The person Nepp’s award was named after, Rapson, was the dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota for a decade.

"Ralph Rapson had been strongly influenced abroad. He traveled quite a bit," Nepp said.

The award was established through the Minnesota Architectural Foundation a few years ago. Qualifications for the award dictated the recipient must be under 40, and a graduate of U of M or an architect who currently is practicing in the state of Minnesota.

"Winning was thrilling and satisfying," Nepp said. "It is good to be recognized."

The award will allow him to study architecture abroad in the coming year. Nepp plans to spend time in England, Scotland and Ireland in the spring and France and western Europe in the fall.

"It’s a great impetus to travel abroad," he said. Though he spent time in Europe during college, he said he "always wanted to go back."

After returning from his travels, the foundation expects Nepp to provide them with materials and a presentation, in a summary of his experiences in Europe.