設計資本—如何分六步（或多或少）完成聯合設計

作者Author: Caroline Bos

如今，建筑設計原則正迎接著由巨變帶來的可能性。在過去數十年間，收獲與成長是我們在建筑行業中的真實寫照，并推動了該行業的正規化及發展，但是，目前一切都變了。如今人們關注的是在核心領域中對幾乎全部重要注意事項進行清晰闡述。任何事，是的，任何事都會改變——整個世界面臨著巨大的挑戰和需求。

意識到這一挑戰的存在也就意味著意識到了其蘊含的潛力；建筑業亟需創新。沒有持續性的材料、文化和理念創新，這一領域就會失去其特殊性，進而淪為普通建筑行業中乏善可陳的一部分。而在UNStudio的幫助下，我們早已意識到了上述危機，這也是我們不斷開拓新領域、不斷迎接挑戰并解決問題的原因。但是，與此同時，這種實驗性質的態度也促使我們承建盡可能多的建筑。在經濟全球化過程中，脫離建筑行業從來都不是我們的本意。

因此，我們積累了大量經驗和與實踐相關的知識。正是這些豐富的知識和經驗構成了我們的設計資本。我們如何使用它？我們如何保存、分享并拓展我們的知識？需要強調的是，這些知識是我們在全球各地針對不同規模、不同類型的好幾百個項目開展設計的過程中不斷積累的——它們都是獨一無二的建筑設計知識，而不是隨隨便便就能夠在互聯網上找到的。目前，UNStudio制定了兩種策略用于應用并宣傳其設計資本。在內部用三年時間進行了四個知識平臺的建設之后，我們于2013年6月發布了開放資源知識網絡。此外，我們還在設計過程中充分運用了我們的經驗和訓練有素的判斷力。

本文旨在關注我們在改進設計的過程中使用設計資本的方法，通過這些方法我們使設計變得更加智能、更加簡潔。借鑒經驗使設計過程最優化，這不單單關乎效率。如今，基于目前的需求情況和問題意識的情況來看，設計資本還能夠同時確定需要解決的主題并使它們相互聯系。這些主題包括：知識、文化和經濟價值、健康和社會。我們該如何重新認識這些主題呢？我們該如何在建筑的內生性和外生性這兩個永恒的價值觀之間尋找平衡呢？

步驟一：確定目標

當我們開始一個新項目，開始著手新的設計時，我們并非從第一天開始。實際上，UNStudio自6.395天前就已經開始了，而對客戶來講新項目可能在478天前或8.201天前才能算做正式開始。上面的數字只是幾個任意數，但是重要的是我們并不是從頭開始；作為一個團隊、一個整體、一個承擔著高風險的企業，作為建筑師，我們通常比我們的意識更為超前。UNStudio有其自身關于設計的長遠目標和短期目標，我們在開始一個新項目時總會銘記這些目標；實際上它們已經融入了我們的行動之中。

但是，客戶的目標又是什么？問題背后還隱藏著什么問題？項目的主題到底是什么，在特殊情況下什么才是最為必需的？在這個特別摘要中，我們必須努力尋找需求的核心。答案肯定會讓人大吃一驚；核心可以是一面光滑平整的白墻，可以是想要提升所購買地塊價值的渴望，也可以是城市連接設施的創造——任何事物都有可能，而我們必須透過明顯的表象看清事物的本質。

步驟二：了解現狀

這看上去很容易，其實不然。什么是“現狀”？一個常用的詞是環境；建筑師通常將這個詞釋義為未知地點的物理環境、位置及布局。有時分析物理環境可能是件好事；而有時其可能會因過度研究，而研究中得到的新材料又毫無意義而造成了巨大浪費。我們需要意識到這一點，并避免盲目的重復性工作，但是更為關鍵的一點是，我們需要將環境作為一個整體來考慮。一個具體的環境地點從哪兒開始又從哪兒結束？在大部分環境中可以使用全球定位技術，而這卻引發了各種各樣的問題與爭論，從本地到全球的爭論再到考古學和生物學領域的爭論，從政治領域到能源領域的爭論等等。環境概念所涉及的要遠遠超過地點的物理性概念，因此需要使用更為包容性的和更為模糊的術語。

了解現狀指了解不只是我們需要領悟的現狀本身，因為我們總是抓不到它的真諦；我們管控現狀的唯一途徑就是與之互動。在《存在與事件》的導言中，哲學家阿蘭·巴迪歐將現狀描述為“純粹冷漠的多樣性”。通常不能標準地把握現狀。它就是它，存在于復雜的形式。因此我們將自身浸入既定的現狀中，不存任何期望或偏見，領悟它的各個方面——也許最多只能領悟五分之三——我們可以從這些方面著手，將我們的知識和創造力應用其中，使我們可以成為（仍引用巴迪歐的原話）“尋求真理的激進分子”。這些方面的確可以涉及物理環境、現在與未來、社會建設，或更廣范圍的、令人難以置信的各種各樣的現象，如“中國”或“多功能設計”這兩個當代的現狀。

步驟三：其他人的角色；網絡、機遇與風險

我們并不是唯一從事這項事業的人，而且接下來要發生的事情也不只由我們來決定。布魯諾·拉圖爾（Bruno Latour）稱，在一個網絡中你可以只做一名演員，對于建筑師來說這一點當然也同樣適用。身處一個網絡之中，你就必須與其他人相互接觸；說服他們同意你的理念并認同你的目標，并勸說他們支持你。但是，就在我們試圖“招募”其他人的同時，其他人也在做著同樣的事情。通常情況下我們在比賽中總是與其他演員處于競爭的關系。我們的競爭者會怎么做？他們的制勝策略又會是什么呢？

然后就會發現有些重要的其他人正處于委任我們的地位；關于他們的具體位置，我們知道多少？我們可以展開四點（優勢、劣勢、機會、威脅）分析，試著找出這個網絡中較強的組織和較弱的組織，并據此找到我們前進的道路。

步驟四：命名

為一個新型的具備復雜性的多層面事物命名從來都不是一件容易的事情，但有些時候，明確表達概念能夠幫助深化設計的過程。這一名稱必須是一本可擴展的、擺在作者與讀者之間的“打開的書”。命名需要指示，明確方向，并激發一些靈感；與此同時還要為下一階段的設計留出機遇，留出未來的機會，并為其提供信息和知識的新來源。正如嬰兒一樣，隨著時間的流逝，他會向著他名字指引的方向成長。

命名是一種交際行為；我們告訴其他人我們所想的是關于這個項目、這個建筑潛在工作的主題。我們選擇，我們編輯；我們創造捷徑。我們迫使自己盡可能在這早期階段保持思維明確。某些時候，在生活中人們會更改他們的名字，而這也是可以接受的。

步驟五：新的重大細節

目前，設計過程通常都十分短暫；相比十年前來說這一過程所用的時間至少縮短了百分之三十。對于客戶來說有經濟上的壓力，這種壓力迫使客戶迅速推進交流對話。因此必須改進我們的散漫模式，并采用速記法。一切維持正軌的方法就是預先選取與項目有關的一些特色，并保證速度。我們在過去的三年間不停地將這些特色投入實驗。這些特色與大規模的、典型空間的構造或外觀發展相關，這些發展表明設計主題仍在不斷進化。

黑龍江省不同地區存在普惠金融程度不同的問題。對于普惠金融程度差的地區,金融資源供給不足的地區,加強金融機構的引進和重組。首先對農村涉農金融機構進行整合,形成以國有大型商業銀行為領頭,農村信用社、村鎮銀行等新型農村金融機構的多層次的普惠金融體系。比如中國農業銀行作為大型國有商業銀行,它的資金實力、業務范圍、產品創新能力都要優于其他小型銀行,在解決普惠金融問題上的作用不可替代。因此,農業銀行要承擔起支農惠農的責任,農業銀行的營業網點要保留到鄉鎮,在農村金融市場不能完全退出。農業銀行應和農村信用社等農村金融機構一起發揮支持縣域經濟發展的重任,帶動提高整個農村金融體系的服務水平。

步驟六：后象

UNStudio一直都對建造可以提供多重視角的分層澆筑建筑十分感興趣。我們不斷進行新的設計選擇，促進多樣性的發展，如：非對稱性、非笛卡爾幾何學、可以首尾相連的“無盡的”空間組成、“視差經歷”以及莫爾效應等。這也是我們目前仍在做的，因為我們要創造激動人心的環境，在你每次看到時，它們都會激發出不同的視角。這就是“打開的書”，需要由使用者自己去發現、去探索。通過互動與激勵，這也產生了社會效應。

在開始一項新的設計時，我們都會問自己一個問題：這座建筑中的后象的主中心是什么？我們需要怎樣做才能取得最大的共鳴呢？

結論

設計技巧仍然極具價值。但是如今最重要的是，以專注且更具目標指向性的方法應用設計資本。機會之窗很窄；在快速選擇并在主題與事件（與其社會、經濟、可持續性和/或其他方面有關）之間進行互動并進行空間呈現的過程中，訓練有素的判斷十分重要。以某種非確定的或規范的方法將設計過程結構化，就有了上述六個步驟。

Today, the discipline of architecture is wide open to the possibility of radical change. The narratives of gain and growth that explained, legitimized and propelled forward so much architecture in the past decades have been interrupted. The focus now is on articulating new conceptualizations of possibly all the vital considerations at the core of the field. Everything, yes everything, can change – the problems and needs the world collectively faces are that big.

Awareness of this challenge also entails understanding its beneficial potential; architecture thrives on newness. Without continuous material, cultural and ideological innovations, the profession loses its specificity and becomes simply a bland part of a generic building industry. With UNStudio we have long realized this, which is why we have pushed ourselves in many different directions, continuously addressing new challenges and questions. But at the same time this experimental attitude has also led us to consciously seek to build as much as we could. Disengagement from the dangers of the building industry within the globalized economy has never been our preferred option.

As a result, we have amassed a huge amount of experience and practicerelated knowledge. It is this wealth of knowledge and experience that constitutes our design capital. How do we utilize it? How do we preserve, maintain, share and expand our knowledge? This is knowledge, it should be emphasized, that has been laboriously gained by working through numerous design phases on hundreds of projects of all scales and typologies in all parts of the world – it is completely unique design-related architectural knowledge, not something you just come across everywhere on the internet. Presently, UNStudio foresees two strategies to handle and propagate its design capital. In June 2013 we will launch an open source knowledge network, after having worked for three years internally on the development of four knowledge platforms. Besides this, we apply our experience, our trained judgment, to our project design process.

This text focuses on ways to use design capital to improve the design process, to make it more intelligent and more concise. Yet drawing on past experience to optimize the design process is not merely a question of efficiency. Now, in the current climate of need, and of problem awareness, design capital can also serve to identify and interconnect the topics that need to be addressed.

These topics are: knowledge, cultural and economic values, health, and society. How do we begin to understand these anew? How can we find a new balance between timeless values endogenous and exogenous to architecture?

Step 1: Identifying Goals

When we begin a new project, a new design, we do not start on day one. Actually, it is already day 6.395 for UNStudio, and for the client it may be day 478, or it may be day 8.201. The number is arbitrary, but what matters is that we do not start at the beginning; as a team, as a collective, as a highly risky enterprise, we are much further along than we often realize as architects. UNStudio has its long-term goals and shorter-term goals relating to design, which we take with us when we start the new project; they are already given.

But what are the goals of the client? What is the question behind the question? What is the project really about, what is really needed in a particular situation? We must try to discover what is at the core of the demand for this particular brief. The answer may be a surprise; it can be an image of a smooth white wall, it can be the desire to raise the value of the purchased plot, it can be the creation of an urban connection – anything is possible, and we must look beyond the obvious.

Step 2: Understanding the Situation

This is something that seems easy, but is not. What is a ‘situation’? A word often used is context; primarily architects interpret this to refer to the physical context, the position and lay-out of the location in question. Sometimes analyzing the physical context can be a good thing to do; sometimes it has already been exhaustively researched and the production of additional material is meaningless and wasteful. We need to be aware of this and avoid mindless repetition, but more crucially even we need to question to whole notion of context. Where does a context begin and end? Global positioning is a factor in many if not all locations, and this evokes all sorts of questions and debates, from local-global arguments, to archeology and biography, and politics and power. Context thus clearly pertains to far more than the physical aspects of the location, and therefore the more inclusive and ambiguous term situation is preferred.

Understanding the situation means understanding that is not the situation itself that we need to comprehend, because aspects of it will always remain outside our grasp; the only way we can manage a situation is by interacting with it. In the introduction of ‘Being and Event’ the philosopher Alain Badiou describes situation as ‘pure indifferent multiplicities’. A situation cannot usefully be approached normatively. It is what it is, in a complex way. Therefore we immerse ourselves in the given situation without expectation or prejudice, and extract from it some aspects – maybe just two to five at the most – which we can act on, to which we can apply our knowledge and creativity, which allow us to be (again in the words of Badiou) ‘militants of truth’. These aspects can indeed relate to the physical surroundings, now or in the future, to a social construction, or to a larger, implausibly multifarious phenomenon such as ‘China’, or ‘mixed-use’ to name but two contemporary situations.

Step 3: The Role of Others; Network, Chance and Risk

We are not in this alone, and so what happens next is not up to us alone. Bruno Latour has claimed that you can only be an actor in a network, and for architects this certainly seems true. Being in a network entails binding others to you; convincing them of your ideas and aims, and persuading them to support you. But just as we aim to ‘enroll’ other actors, they do too. Often we are pitched against other actors in a competition. What will our competitors do, what is their probable winning strategy?

Then there are those vital others who are in a position to commission us; what is their position exactly, as far as we can tell? We may make a SWOT analysis to try to pinpoint the stronger and weaker tissues within the network, and try to find our way forward accordingly.

Step 4: Naming

To put a name to a multifaceted thing that is emerging out of sheer complexity is always difficult, but sometimes it is possible and helpful to further the design process by articulating a concept. This name must be proliferative, an ‘open text’ that is created between author and reader. Naming entails pointing, giving some direction, and laying down some aspirations, while at the same time leaving still much open to chance, future opportunities, and new sources of information and knowledge that will enter the process at a later stage. A baby will grow into its name over time.

Naming also is a communicative act; we tell each other what we think is a major topic within this project, this potential work of architecture. Thereby we choose, we edit; we create a shortcut. We force ourselves to make ourselves as clear as we can be at this early point in time. Sometimes, later in life, people change their name, and that is fine too.

Step 5: The New Big Details

Currently, the design process is usually very short; at least 30 per cent shorter than it was ten years ago. There is an economic pressure on the part of the client, which makes it necessary to move the conversation forward quickly. Our discursive mode must therefore develop some personal shorthand. What we can do to remain on course, while still maintaining speed, is to preselect some features that we have been experimenting with over the last three years, and that we feel are pertinent to the project. These features pertain to large-scale, defining spatial, constructional or fa?ade-related recent developments that speak of design themes that are still evolving.

Step 6: After Image

UNStudio has always been interested in producing layered constructions that afford multiple viewpoints. We have consistently privileged design choices that would engender multiplicity, such as: asymmetry, non-Cartesian geometry, ‘endless’ spatial compositions that turn back on themselves, ‘parallax experiences’, and Moiré effects. And this is what we continue to do, in order to make inspiring environments that incite different perspectives each time you return to them, that are ‘open texts’ themselves, needing to be discovered and appropriated by the user, and that are socially relevant by being interactive and provocative.

Beginning a new design, we may ask ourselves the question: what will be the primary site for the after image in this building? Where are we aiming for maximum resonance?

Conclusion

Design skills are a valuable good still. But the most important issue today is the ability to apply design capital in a focused and goal-orientated way. The window of opportunity is narrow; the deployment of trained judgment is essential to quickly select and interconnect the spatial manifestations of topics and issues that are chosen for their social, economic, sustainable, and/or other relevance. Structuring the design process in a way that is not deterministic or prescriptive has led to the formulation of the Six Steps described above.