After receiving his Masters of Architecture at Carleton University Tom Ngo stumbled upon a gouache paint set in a neighbour’s trash bin. By merging the medium with technical drafting Tom Ngo embarks on an exploration into the architectural absurd. Born in Hong Kong and currently based in Toronto Ngo has explored projects at Lennnox Contemporary and with Commute Home.

AN EXCERPT FROM TOM NGO’S MASTER’S THESIS: ARCHITECTURAL ABSURDITY

“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.[1] 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.

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. 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.”