I draw objects in the same way as Carl Linnaeus classified plants. I collect all kinds of structures, identify their characteristics and translate them into drawings. For me, these structures are like creatures, all living in an architectural biotope. I study and order them in a taxonomy called Non-Functional Structures. This biotope is not like "the real world" though. I enjoy obscuring what the structures are, creating species such as ambiguous, playful and subversive structures. My goal, as such, is to render architecture useless, in order to open it for alternative and speculative interpretations. The question that intruigues me is: What is the potential and value of architecture, when it is no longer functional?
The taxonomy currently consists of around 150 structures, below you find a selection.
Species: Structure 1.1.1
50 x 65 cm
Structures would sometimes randomly merge. Their colors blending into another; their faces fading to white; their cavities collapsing into another. There was no telling when such instances would occur, nor how long they would last. Sometimes structures would mysteriously appear, stay for indefinite periods and suddenly, without any sign or indication, fade into nowhere again.
Species: Structure 1.1.3
50 x 65 cm
Class 1:
Muted Structures
Family 1.1:
Reflective Structures
Conditions:
Simplification, Transparency
Species: Structure 1.1.2
50 x 65 cm
Species: Structure 1.1.4
50 x 65 cm
Class 1:
Muted Structures
Family 1.2:
Escavated Structures
Conditions:
Simplification, Transparency
Species: Structure 1.2.2
50 x 65 cm
The cavities gave access to great halls and rooms that, almost certainly, must have had a ceremonial function. The origin of the structures was a mystery though. The stark and flat surfaces of the mountain and the architectural wonders inside pointed towards great technological sophistication. Radiocarbon dating, however, revealed they were build in a time and age when no such technologies existed. It inspired wild speculations about alien intervention, even though all exoplanets in this galaxy were too far out of range for intergalactic travel.
Species: Structure 1.2.1
50 x 65 cm
Species: Structure 1.2.3
50 x 65 cm
Class 2:
Sprawling Structures
Family 2.1:
Layered Structures
Conditions:
Layered
Species: Structure 2.1.2
50 x 65 cm
After hundreds of years, further constructions were cancelled. Engineers could no longer trace the original designs and purpose. Once they hovered in the sky as beacons of hope for a better world – their innovative standards regarded as the pinnacle of progress and civilization. In reality though, the endless bickering over design, meaning and purpose made constructions plunge into complete chaos.
Species: Structure 2.1.1
50 x 65 cm
At some point, constructions became like a Ponzi scheme. For every faulty element that was added, two, or more, new elements had to be installed to correct the structure from tilting in one direction or another. Layer by layer was added until, ultimately, the structure became dysfunctional altogether. All ladders, cranes and scaffolds were removed and today it simply hovers in the sky, without tenants or users, without purpose, without meaning.
Species: Structure 2.1.3
80 x 60 cm
Class 3:
Noble Structures
Family 3.1:
Noble Simplicity
Conditions:
Simplified
Species: Structure 3.1.1
50 x 65 cm
Species: Structure 4.1.1
50 x 65 cm
The architects intended to protest against the clean, minimal and functional architecture that was so much en vogue at the time. They purposefully sabotaged the buildings they designed, peeling off layers and faces, obstructing entrances and doors, creating gaping holes in floors and walls, leaving behind their clients in a state of complete bewilderment.
Species: Structure 4.1.3
50 x 65 cm
Class 4:
Deconstructed Structures
Family 4.1:
Sabotaged Structures
Conditions:
Deconstructed, Layered
Species: Structure 4.1.2
50 x 65 cm
Species: Structure 4.1.4
50 x 65 cm
Species: Structure 5.1.1
100 x 65 cm
Their wrapping was a form of protest. A proud refusal, in a time when everything was transparent, functional and economized, to show their true nature. But it was also a sign of injury and abuse. The constant battering of modern times had violated their integrity, sovereignty and wellbeing and caused them to withdraw from public life altogether.
Species: Structure 5.1.3
65 x 50 cm
Class 5:
Subversive Structures
Family 5.1:
Wrapped Structures
Conditions:
Wrapped, Hidden
Species: Structure 5.1.2
50 x 65 cm
