中國特色

（文）Christian Kerez

中國特色

Chineseness

（文）Christian Kerez

無論是客戶要求、城市建設還是建筑規范，對我而言，都是可以作為一種了解建筑空間的可能途徑。本文中談到的三個案例都與中國特色相關。這里所說的中國特色并不是指在中國發生的一系列激動人心的變化，而是指中國城市的這些顯著變化能為中國文化遺產帶來的創新，更重要的是，能使我自己對建筑的理解達到一個新的高度。因此，這里的每個項目都截然不同。

中國的某些標準與其他許多國家相似。例如，建筑需要滿足一些相互矛盾的需求，不僅要符合建筑的經濟性和功能性等普遍標準和目標，同時還要達到與眾不同的非凡效果，成為標志性建筑和新地標。據我所知，一些重要的新建筑被要求與中國傳統文化遺產相融合。這種對于中國特色的要求，有利于避免傳統建筑及其價值在現代城市中的消失，也可以在一定程度上限制境外建筑師，在中國做設計時對舊式國際風格的重復應用，還能夠避免出現一些個人風格強烈、標新立異的建筑，從而確保建筑為人們所普遍接受。因為，其實同一個設計師的建筑作品看起來都差不多，不論這些建筑是在歐洲、美國還是在中國建造。

將新建筑與傳統中國價值觀相融合的要求，通常被當成一種設計理由，由此將一般概念轉化成一種通俗比喻。建筑變成了一種隱喻性的雕塑，而室內空間則借助一定規模的材料實現某種形態。在我看來，去不同國家工作的唯一理由是，可以通過不同的方式進行空間想象。因此，中國特色的要求是要對抽象的建筑理念、原則進行定義，而不是單純從功能性或前后關系的角度進行解釋。

一望無盡的建筑

這座塔樓仿佛是由無限增加的木棍構成。利用一種脆性構件的無限累積，是出于美學上的需要，而不單純是結構上的需要，因為同期用于加固工程的木質建筑結構外形都極為巨大。就連這些建筑的外部都可以看見堆疊的單一水平屋頂，農舍的規模和水平延伸映襯了塔樓的宏偉。

這座大樓高120米，在鄭州屬于超高建筑，但其實按中國標準，只能算中型建筑。它遵循相同的邏輯，即在不改變其尺寸或組合方式的前提下增加結構件。因此，這些結構性構件的密度在這座建筑中自上而下不斷變化。不再集中于核心區域的結構件分散到大樓整個表面上。整體結構采用分散式立面系統，可以最大程度地減少大樓重量。

裝飾空間

紫禁城內帝王家族居住區的空間特性在于一系列無窮無盡的相似空間，這種特性在許多古村落和古城中也可以看到。這一系列住宅和庭院在各個方向匯聚。你可以把這種空間遞增現象稱為裝飾空間，因為它描述了不斷重復的同一種空間或類似空間且無明確界限的空間概念。

我在哈佛大學期間，這種空間概念成為一組學生的研究課題。此外，北京中央電視臺總部附近一個新中心商業區文化中心內連接各個機構的大型走廊也基于這種空間概念進行設計。該走廊利用地板、天花板和墻壁上的大開口，打開了三維視角，巨大的公共走廊內提供了小規模的私密空間，新城區的空間內創造了一個都市叢林。

公共空間

在人口數百萬的現代化城市，有必要通過建筑方式構建一個與城市規模相稱的公共空間。中國的美術館對公眾免費開放，這類建筑方案的多樣性和開放性與工人俱樂部（社會活動、教育和休閑的主要場所）的傳統密不可分，而西方國家的美術館主要用于收藏和妥善保存藝術品，同時定期或長期展出其中一小部分精選藝術品。西方國家的美術館旨在讓參觀者與藝術品進行親密接觸。廣州美術館擁有一個巨大的公共空間，這個公共空間在布局和規模上更接近景觀，而不是建筑。這個公共空間在任何天氣條件下均可開放。拱形人造空間對任何參觀者都極具吸引力，不管他對本地書法有無興趣。即使沒有任何展覽項目，這個公共空間本身已經成為這座中國美術館的新主題。

Any personal request from a client, any urbanistic settlement, any building code interests me only as a possibility to find a specific and basic understanding of space in architecture. The three projects presented in this article, for the first time together, relate to chineseness, not to refer to the breathtaking changes in China but to take these dramatic resettlements in Chinese cities as a possibility to change Chinese heritage into something new and most of all to change my own understanding of architecture into something new. Therefore each project is totally different from one another.

Certain criteria in China are similar to many other countries. For example an ambivalent desire for an architecture that fits common standards and common expectations such as building economy and functionality, but fulfills, at the same time, a desire for the extraordinary and for the exceptional, a desire for an iconic building and a new landmark. Different to other countries and, for my knowledge, unique is a general request to relate any new important building to Chinese heritage. This demand will not protect a traditional architecture and its values from disappearing in large central areas. But this request for chineseness seems to set an obstacle for an everyday modernism of an outdated international style repeated endlessly by corporate architects worldwide. It could also become a chance to avoid an architecture defined by a personal, eccentric style, easy to recognize, since buildings by the same author look very much the same, no matter if they are built in Europe, America or China.

Normally the demand to relate a new building to traditional Chinese values is taken as an alibi, is taken as an act of translation from a generic concept into a popular metaphor. The architecture becomes a figurative sculpture. The interior space becomes the filling material to give the right scale to a rhetoric gesture.

In my understanding the only reason to work in different countries is to imagine spaces in different ways. Therefore, the request for chineseness becomes a possibility to define abstract ideas, principals in architecture, beyond a purely functional or contextual explanation.

The endless structure

The tower of a pagoda reassembles wooden sticks in an infinite addition. To work with an uncountable multiplication of one fragile element comes from an aesthetical desire and is not purely a structural necessity, since wooden constructions of the same periods used for fortifications have a massive appearance. Even the exterior of these buildings show a stacking of singular horizontal roofs to translate the scale and horizontality of farm houses into the monumental appearance of a pagoda tower.

The super tall building of Zhengzhou, is, with its height of 120m, actually for Chinese standards just a middle size commission. It follows the same logic of adding structural elements without changing their dimension or the way of putting them together. As a consequence, the density of structural elements changes from top to the bottom of the building. The structural elements that are not concentrated any more in the core areas are spread all over the entire surface of the building. The overall structure allows a decentralized facade system which could reduce the building weight to a minimum.

The ornamental space

The specific spatial quality of the residential area of the emperor’s family inside the Forbidden City, which you might also find in many ancient villages and cities is defined by an endless sequence of similar spaces. The sequence of houses and courtyards is multiplied in all directions. You could call this phenomenon of spatial multiplication also ornamental space, because it describes a spatial concept of identical or similar spaces repeated again and again, without clearly defined borders.

This spatial concept which was a topic for a group of students, during my stay in Harvard, became the spatial concept defining a huge hall connecting different institutions within a cultural center, in a new Central Business District in Beijing, quite close to the CCTV headquarter. This huge hall opens perspectives, in three dimensions through large openings in the floor, the ceiling and the walls. It offers spaces of small scale and intimacy within a huge public hall. It creates an urbanistic jungle within the voids of a new urban district.

A space for the public

Within the modernistic, contemporary cities for several millions of inhabitants, there is a necessity to create a public space to relate to the scale of the city with architectural means. Art Museums in China are free of admission for the Chinese public. The diversity of program and the openness of this building typology is linked to the tradition of labor clubs, primarily places for social activity, education and distraction, while museums in western countries are mainly to collect and safely store art pieces, while showing a small selection of them from time to time or permanently. The art museums in western countries are built for the intimate encounter of the individual visitor with the singular work of art.

The art museum in Guangzhou covers an enormous public space, which is more related to the landscape than to architecture in its settlement and scale. This public space is open to all weather conditions. A high vaulted artificial sky invites any visitor, no matter if he is interested in local calligraphy or not. The public space itself without any justification by any program becomes the new theme in this Chinese museum.