EZCNN 易英网

当前位置：Home

英语教材

Advanced English

Design (设计)

Journey to the West 建筑界的西游记

详细资料: 创建于 2009年7月29日; 最后更新于 2024年5月25日; 发布于 2012年4月29日; 作者：Mike Lee; 点击数：251

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本

Renowned Asian designers now helm two of the U.S.’s traditionally Eurocentric architecture schools. Here’s what they’re teaching the new generation of American architects 知名亚洲建筑设计师如今双双执掌传统上以欧洲为中心的两家美国建筑学院。一探这些大师如何调教出新世代的美国建筑师

At first glance, Los Angeles might seem like the last place anyone would visit for architectural inspiration: Patchwork quilts of parking lots and strip malls alternate with vast carpets of matching faux-Mediterranean subdivisions, all knit together by a web of eight-lane freeways.

乍看之下，洛杉矶可能是一般人最不可能前往寻求建筑灵感的地方：因为这儿东拼西凑般的停车场和成排商店，而造型一致搭配的仿地中海小区则彷佛巨大地毯般覆盖大地，而这一切都由八车道高速公路网络交织在一块儿。

But look closely and you’ll see daring architecture dotting the scrubby hillsides. There are Frank Lloyd Wright homes that resemble Mayan temples, John Lautner’s UFO-inspired residences from the space-obsessed 1960s, and turn-of-the-millennium deconstructions, such as Frank Gehry’s luminous Walt Disney Concert Hall.

不过，如果凑近仔细端详，你将不难发现草木繁茂的山坡上点缀着大胆的建筑，包括了莱特设计、外型类似马雅寺院的住宅，约翰．劳特纳（译注：为莱特弟子，建筑设计风格以大胆着称）在一九六０年代人类对外层空间极为着迷期间，撷取飞碟为灵感设计出的住宅，此外还有跨千禧年的解构主义建筑，像是出自法兰克．盖瑞之手、闪耀光芒的华特．迪斯尼音乐厅（译注：二００三年落成的该音乐厅以许多大片不锈钢板为屋顶，因此反光极为强烈）。

That [trend] is, more and more, coming from the other side of the Pacific. Last year, both the University of California, Los Angeles(UCLA) and its crosstown rival, the University of Southern California (USC), named new directors to their architecture programs – and both come from Asia. Hitoshi Abe, UCLA’s new chair, hails from Sendai, Japan, while USC’s dean, Qingyun Ma, keeps offices in his native Xi’an, China, and in Shanghai. The appointments represent an intriguing turn at a time when dynamic new architecture, wrestling with questions of history and urbanization, sprouts all over Asia – and as U.S. architectural programs come under fire from figures such as Rem Koolhaas, who told The Los Angeles Times that they were “shamefully focused on the West.” Says Abe: “Urban design has been Western-centric. Asia has a lot of energy right now, so we have to look there.”

不过，如今风水轮流转，建筑设计的趋势开始愈来愈向太平洋的另一端（译注：亚洲）取经。去年，「加州大学洛杉矶分校」和其跨城对手「南加州大学」都不约而同地为建筑学院聘请了新舵手──而且两人都出身亚洲。「加州大学洛杉矶分校」的建筑学院新院长是来自日本仙台的阿部仁史，而「南加州大学」则请到了来自中国西安的马清运，他目前在西安和上海仍分别设有工作室。这些任命都代表着一种耐人寻味的转变，而发生的时代背景是，在亚洲各地，期望能同时解决历史和都市化等议题的充满活力的新建筑，纷纷如雨后春笋般林立，但在此同时，美国建筑方案却遭到如库哈斯等建筑大师的抨击（译注：库哈斯为荷兰名建筑设计师，预计于二０一一年动工的台北艺术中心即预定由库哈斯领军的团队打造），库哈斯向《洛杉矶时报》透露，美国的建筑方案「一味以西方为中心，实在不得体。」阿部仁史指出，「都会设计过去往往以西方为中心。但如今亚洲格外生气盎然，所以我们也应向亚州借镜。」

单词发音

More Information

patchwork [ˋpætʃ͵wɝk] n. 拼凑成的东西

quilt [kwɪlt] n. 被子，棉被; 被状物

strip [strɪp] n. 条，带；细长片

alternate [ˋɔltɚnɪt] v. 使交替，使轮流[（+with）]

matching [ˋmætʃɪŋ] adj. 相配的，相称的，一致的

faux [fo] adj.【法】假的；人造的

subdivision [sʌbdəˋvɪʒən] n. 分割成的小块土地(供开发住房)

Frank Lloyd Wrightz 法兰克．洛伊．莱特 an influential American architect

scrubby [ˋskrʌbɪ] adj. 树丛繁盛的

deconstruction [͵dikənˋstrʌkʃən] n. 解构主义

luminous [ˋlumənəs] adj. 发光的；发亮的

crosstown [ˋkrɔs͵taʊn] adj.（用作定语）穿过城市的；穿越市区的

hail [hel] v.（不用被动式）来自[（+from）]

dean [din] n.（大学的）教务长；学院院长

wrestle [ˋrɛs!] v. 努力解决；全力对付[（+with）]

sprout [spraʊt] v. 很快地成长

shamefully [ˋʃemfəlɪ] adv. 不体面地；羞耻地

课文朗读

课文讲解

Qingyun Ma 马清运

One of Ma’s core ideas – the impermanence of architecture – has particular appeal for anyone who would be happy to see Los Angeles’ relentless sprawl bulldozed. Ma, 43, views today’s Western architecture as a descendant of the Greco-Roman tradition, which is all about building in stone and erecting things that are intended to last forever.

马清运的核心思想之一便是：建筑的无常，而这对任何乐意见到洛杉矶毫无节制的都市扩张被铲平清除的人来说，尤其具有吸引力。四十三岁的马清运认为，今日西方建筑是沿袭了希腊罗马的传统，后者的精神就在于石质建材和建造旨在永垂不朽的事物。

Clearly a son of modern China, Ma questions the West’s preservationist reflex. “Everything has a life cycle, as should buildings,” he says. “Preservation is an action in sacrifice of future possibilities. The future needs its own space.”

明显为现代中国之子的马清运，质疑西方世界这种保护主义的本能反应，「万物都有生命循环，建筑也自然应当如此，」他如此表示，「保护主义这种行动，会牺牲掉未来的可能性，因为未来也需要能发挥的空间。」

The wisdom of razing and rebuilding depends largely on context and execution, of course. Urban renewal failed in some U.S. cities, for instance, and won’t Beijing suffer by replacing its centuries-old hutongs with generic apartment buildings? Yet Ma doesn’t argue that we should jettison the past. His Thumb Island project near Shanghai modernizes the ancient Chinese reverence for landscape. Grass-carpeted knolls created by the undulating roof over a community center pair with a nearby lake, paying homage to the traditional coupling of mountain and water.

毋庸置疑地，建筑夷平与重建的智慧，主要仍要看背景脉络和执行的层面而定。例如，美国一些都市的都会更新方案最后均以失败告终，而如果北京把几百年历史的胡同更换成平凡无奇的公寓楼房，岂不是破坏市容？不过，马清运并非主张我们就应该抛弃过去，像他在上海附近（译注：青浦小区）推出的「拇指岛」方案，就以现代化精神重新诠释了古中国对景观的尊崇。他所设计的小区中心（译注：青浦水上图书馆），波浪般的屋顶营造出宛如绿茵覆盖的山丘，与附近湖泊（译注：夏阳湖）相映成趣，以此向山水连成一气的古老传统致敬。

Hitoshi Abe 阿部仁史

For Abe, 46, who maintains an atelier in his homeland – one of the world’s most densely populated countries – issues of environment are paramount. Japanese architects have long had to figure out how to build attractive, functional living spaces on the most microscopic slices of land; it’s not uncommon for family homes to occupy just 300 square feet of earth. In 2006, in Saitama, a cluttered city just north of Tokyo, Abe created a combination pediatric clinic/private home that manages to drench three stories of interiors in sunlight, but maintains privacy by wrapping part of the structure in a concrete screen punctuated with asymmetrically placed windows. The building feels open, without putting its residents on display. That sort of solution – and the environment that inspired it – is what Abe wants to expose his students to “Tokyo is the future,” he says. “It is so contemporary: the density issue, the ecological issue, the relation between public and private.”

四十六岁的阿部仁史仍在祖国日本保有自己的建筑工作室，而日本是全世界人口最密集的国家之一，因此环境相关议题可说是至关重要。长久以来，日本建筑师一直必须苦思如何在最狭小的土地上，打造出既引人又具功能性的居住空间；在日本，一整户人家只占了区区三百平方呎土地面积的现象，稀松平常。在二００六年，阿部在东京北方、地狭人稠的崎玉，打造出结合了小儿科诊所和私人住家的住宅（译注：即宫原小儿诊所），他在三个楼层中引入了阳光，而部份建筑则以水泥屏障来维持私密性，并穿插以安装位置不对称的窗户。整栋建筑感觉起来相当开放，同时却不至于让住户曝光，而这种解决方案──以及灵感来源的那种环境──就是阿部仁史希望让学生能浸淫其中的氛围。「东京是未来所系，」他表示，「这个都市极具现代性：包括人口密集问题、生态环保议题，和公共与私密之间的关系等。」

单词发音

More Information

sprawl [sprɔl] n. 蔓生；散乱；杂乱的扩展

bulldoze [ˋbʊl͵doz] v. 以推土机清除

preservationist [͵prɛzɚˋveʃənɪst] n.（对自然环境、古迹文物等的）保护主义者 someone who believes in keeping something as it is, especially in order to protect it from being damages or destroyed

reflex [ˋriflɛks] n. 本能的反应

raze [rez] v. 拆毁，夷平 to destroy a structure completely

generic [dʒɪˋnɛrɪk] adj. 一般的，总称的

reverence [ˋrɛvərəns] n. 敬爱，崇敬；敬畏

knoll [nol] n. 圆丘，小丘

undulating [ˋʌndjə͵letɪŋ] adj. 波浪起伏的；波浪形的

pay homage to 向...表示敬意

homage [ˋhɑmidʒ] n. 尊敬；敬意；崇敬[（+to）]

atelier [ˋæt!͵je] n. 【法】工作室 a room or building in which an artist works

cluttered [ˋklʌtɚd] adj. 杂乱的; 混乱的

pediatric [͵pidɪˋætrɪk] adj.【医】小儿科的

drench [drɛntʃ] v. 使充满，使洋溢

punctuate [͵pʌŋktʃʊ͵et] v. 强调，突出

asymmetrically [͵esɪˋmɛtrɪk!ɪ] adv.【数】非对称地

课文朗读

课文讲解

Multicultural education 多元文化教育

The hiring of these two architects hasn’t instantly transformed the curricula or culture of either school. Which is why both Abe and Ma are taking advantage of Los Angeles’ relative proximity to Asia and sending their students abroad, believing that exposure to what’s happening in Japan and China will inspire fresh thinking in the next generation of American architects. Masters candidates at UCLA are spending this academic year studying urbanism and architecture in Tokyo, looking for lessons that might be applied to L.A. At USC, Ma has established the first-ever American Academy in China – modeled on the venerable American Academy in Rome – where scholars from all over the world can do research individually, as well as share ideas collectively. “The elites from other cultures have been educated in the United States,” Ma says. “If America wants to maintain its position, it has to shift [to become more] about leadership in the arts and the humanities.”

聘请这两位建筑设计师，并没有立即改造两所大学的课程或文化，而这也是阿部仁史和马清运之所以还要利用洛杉矶离亚洲较近的地利之便，进而派学生赴海外的原因了，因为他们认为，让学生暴露在日本和中国的环境，将有助下一代美国建筑师引发崭新的思潮。「加州大学洛杉矶分校」的硕士研究生在这个学年度将到东京研习都市化和建筑，希望能藉此学习到可以运用在洛杉矶的宝贵功课。至于在「南加州大学」，马清运则在中国设立了首家「美国学院」，灵感仿自在罗马备受推祟的「美国学院」，后者让来自全球各地的学者能单独进行研究，同时也能分享各自的创意点子。「来自其他文化背景的菁英曾在美国接受教育，」马清运表示，「如果美国希望维持原有地位，就必须把重点转向在艺术和人文学科的领导地立。」

High culture meets pop culture 当上流文化遇到了流行文化

And even as they send students abroad, Abe and Ma are reveling in the atmosphere of their adopted hometown. “Los Angeles is definitely not Western,” says Ma, a fan of the city’s Korean spas and karaoke bars. “It is a fusion,” L.A. embraces both high culture and low, which creates a “real sympathy” with Asia, says award-winning architect Greg Lynn, who teaches at UCLA. “Places like Japan and Korea have a greater respect for popular culture and the industry of popular culture than other places.”

即使阿部仁史和马清运都不约而同派遣学生赴海外学习，两人同样仍对客居的洛杉矶的氛围着迷不已。洛杉矶绝对不是西方都会，」马清运说，他很喜欢洛杉矶的韩国式香疗中心和卡拉ＯＫ酒吧。在「加州大学洛杉矶分校」任教的得奖建筑师葛雷格．林恩表示，「这是一种融合，」洛杉矶同时接纳上流文化和中下层文化，进而对亚洲产生了「真正的同情」，「对于流行文化和流行文化工业，日本和韩国等地往往比其他地方更加尊重。」

“Los Angeles is constantly making community. [People] are constantly cross-pollinating,” Ma says. Abe’s motivations are similar: “This city allows people to test ideas. You can see so many different experiences.” And after a century of experimental architectural perspectives, L.A. now has two more.

「洛杉矶一直持续不断地在营造新小区，人们持续在相互感染影响，」马清运如此表示。阿部仁史也抱持类似动机：「这座城市让人们得以测试创意灵感。你可以见到许多不同的经验。」而历经百年实验性的建筑观点之后，洛杉矶如今又多了两种新观点。

−by Carolina A. Miranda

单词发音