Toronto-based artist Tom Ngo has sent us some of his drawings depicting scenarios he refers to as Architectural Absurdities.
Ngo’s imagined structures include a monument for people with eight arms, a park for carpets and a house designed for a collector of meat grinders.
Top image: Ghost Town Precious. “This construction combines the themes of permanence and the ephemeral. Shoddily constructed with hints of integrity, the structure has a ghost-town quality”.
Above: The Swing-Set Houses. “A pair of houses are attached to a large swing-set structure. The houses share a communal circulation core and next door is an individual swing for one person”.
“These drawings are created through fracturing rules of concept/design and then obeying them ad absurdum,” says Ngo. “The result is a nutty and whimsical brand of social commentary.”
Above: No Other Way. “A dream house for a meat grinder collector. The above building is constructed of four like facades presenting him a new home every time he arrives by balloon. The structure below is a mental retreat from his constantly changing everyday”.
Above: “A Small Monument for People With 8 Arms. A design in tribute of people with 8 arms. It comes complete with waving platform, monkey bars and a hall of hand cranks.”
Here’s some more information from Ngo:
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Architectural Absurdity
After receiving his Masters of Architecture at Carleton University Tom Ngo stumbled upon a gouache paint set in a neighbour’s trashbin. By merging the medium with technical drafting Tom Ngo embarks on an exploration into the architectural absurd.
Common sense and conventional practice prohibits the evolution of architecture. Through reproducing past models for efficiency and economy, routine thinking preserves the flaws of the standard model. Using different frameworks of thought, architects can create new solutions, which rectify the faults of the norm, and distance themselves from making habitual design decisions.
Above: Namby Pamby. “The repetition of word endings in nonsense poetry creates phonetically appealing words to pronounce. Phrases like Humpty Dumpy and Hey Diddle Diddle are examples of this nonsensical operation. Namby Pamby is an attempt to translate the operation into form.”
Built on the foundations of Victorian Nonsense, Alfred Jarry’s ‘Pataphysics, and Absurdist Theatre, Absurdity expands the limits of human reason by presenting a paradoxical solution. By allowing solutions which would normally have been ruled out due to irrationality, absurdity provides non-linear alternatives which interrogate contemporary logic.
Above: The Grass Grew There Mythically Tall. “This drawing was constructed on the premise of altering the properties of grass and exploring the architectural implications. In the spring when the grass grows long, the house peaks through the top of the greenery. As the grass recedes in the winter, the underlying structure is revealed”.
Above: The Carpet Park. “This is a park where all carpets gather — Persians and Orientals alike.”
Thus, absurdity is a rhetorical device aimed at questioning (architectural) conventions. Architectural absurdity playfully transgresses within the rules of building formation to create valid alternative assemblages while scrutinizing regulation. The resultant architecture redefines the rituals of program and questions the notion of typology. Unbound by strict conformity to logic, the liberated architect breathes new life into architecture.
July 21st, 2009 at 3:18 am
Completely Brilliant!!! I can’t help but smile. Some people think inside the box, some out side the box. This is the result of forgetting there ever was a box to begin with. Some might criticize this for its impracticality (as if practicality is some measuring stick to begin with), but things like this really loosen up the way some of us think, therefore more practical than many of the things we see everyday.
July 21st, 2009 at 4:11 am
way to go Tom, great stuff
July 21st, 2009 at 5:10 am
reminds me of the first drawings of oma. very intriguing drawings, wd love to see them larger!
July 21st, 2009 at 7:44 am
Dadaism is cool…
July 21st, 2009 at 9:00 am
ingenious, inspirational, and beautiful…
July 21st, 2009 at 11:57 am
Nice to see something that’s not a slick lifeless rendering…!
July 21st, 2009 at 12:02 pm
This is great work and reminds me of the seemingly boundless drawings I used to make when I was a kid.
July 21st, 2009 at 1:36 pm
beautiful work!
July 21st, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Wow how did you do this. Excellent dude…
July 21st, 2009 at 2:45 pm
love it, tom! Love it!
July 21st, 2009 at 3:08 pm
sometimes the best spaces are in the mind- it will be great to see how these ideas translate into real space one day.
July 21st, 2009 at 6:46 pm
What a terrific imaginative study these are. It would be great if these pieces were offered as prints. A possibility?
July 21st, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Haha! I think I have seen a number of other absurdities being built on this blog…
July 21st, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Awesome stuff, name-bro! Definitely miss seein’ your work around school… hope Toronto is treating you well!
July 21st, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Really nice drawings Tom, and very neat ideas!
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:17 am
Good job Tom, I’m really proud of you, your work is inspiring!
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:03 am
John Hejduk’s successor!
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Great and beautiful drawings ! A marry of surrealism and poetry. Tim Burton would definitely luv to have a look at them
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:20 pm
class!
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Tom, your work is beautiful & poetic! I’m filled with joy! Congrats
July 24th, 2009 at 3:16 am
Way to Rep Tom! Makes me happy to see your work get recognized.
July 24th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Good work!
July 27th, 2009 at 3:45 am
I check out Dezeen religiously… seeing work of an author I actually know, got me even more excited … kudos Tom!
(I would love to see these larger)
July 27th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
gotomngo