谦逊之师—作为建筑师与教师的李晓东

尤根·罗斯曼/Jürgen Rosemann

徐知兰 译/Translated by XU Zhilan

谦逊之师—作为建筑师与教师的李晓东

尤根·罗斯曼/Jürgen Rosemann

徐知兰 译/Translated by XU Zhilan

尽管李晓东仅仅完成了数量有限的作品——其中大部分都是规模很小的项目，常常建设资金有限，甚至是非盈利项目——却蜚声海外，在国内和国际上屡获大奖。他的项目显现出几乎完全对立的特征——它们造型漂亮，令人惊喜，它们广受欢迎，它们风格激进、融入当下，它们又深深植根于中国的传统。

传统与现代，批判的地域主义，“内在”空间，社会与环境的可持续发展

千里之行，始于足下。

——老子

中国最近的建设大潮不仅深入地改变了中国的城市景观，也对中国建筑师产生了巨大需求。许多中国建筑设计公司都在此期间完成了令人印象深刻的建成作品，其规模一个比一个庞大，特色也一个比一个鲜明。跟随1990年代兴起的西方化浪潮，中国建筑师也开始以越来越浮夸的网络出版物和书籍（大部分都是自创）于彼此之间展开竞争。

与这些喧闹叫嚣的竞争者相比，李晓东的作品显得非常谦逊，甚至默默无闻。他的建成作品仍十分有限，主要还是以规模较小、风格低调的建筑物构成。在他的作品清单上完全找不到被许多重要的中国建筑师引以为豪的大型办公楼、购物中心和会议中心等项目，却能找到建在小村落的小学校舍和地区图书馆，其中的一部分是与他的学生共同完成的公益项目，有些项目甚至需要他通过游说公共部门或者募集私人捐助、并在当地人的支持下集资才能完成。还有许多其他项目的建设资金也同样非常有限，迫使他不得不做出高效利用资源的设计，这种设计策略也由此被认为是他作品的特色之一。

尽管李晓东的建筑作品非常低调，他却与此同时获得了极高的国际声誉，获得过许多国家级奖项和国际奖项。不久前，他在新加坡被授予2014年的总统设计奖，这是继2001年因其在新加坡国立大学建筑学院极富灵感的教学工作被授予SARA教师奖之后，第二次在新加坡获奖；2012年，他又以篱苑书屋的设计在新加坡获得了世界建筑节的文化类大奖。在他长长的获奖记录清单上，我只想再额外提到一些奖项，包括2010年的阿卡汗建筑奖、美国建筑师协会荣誉院士、联合国教科文组织亚太区文化遗产保护奖、ARASIA金奖，以及2011年 《智族GQ》杂志评选中国年度人物（最佳设计师）。

初看起来，在李晓东极为低调、小规模、且数量有限的作品清单和他在国际上获得的声誉之间存在貌似奇怪的对比关系。他显然不属于国际投资者和开发公司趋之若鹜的“成功建筑师”，因为这些公司的名字似乎就足以保证项目的盈利与成功。李晓东的建筑与那些在中国各大飞速发展的城市中央商务区和市中心高调的主流建筑相反，引用老子的话说，更符合“大音希声、大象无形”，“当其无有室之用”的气质。因此，更重要的问题是其建筑设计的根基、手法和影响，尽管这些项目在经济上并不成功，但对使用者（以及国际评委）而言显然很有魅力。

1 根基

李晓东属于1978年邓小平实施改革开放政策之后开始学习建筑的一代中国建筑师，那是伟大的改革的时代，也是更伟大的充满期望的时代。在那段时间，清华大学建筑学院既是中国建筑传统的核心所在，也是大家就变化的社会环境下建筑何去何从展开各种辩论的中心。李晓东于1984年从清华大学毕业后，从1989年开始在荷兰代尔夫特理工大学继续深造，1993年博士毕业。顺便提一句，他在代尔夫特的研究生导师是亚历山大·佐尼斯教授，他以发展成熟的“批判的地域主义”理念为其建筑设计实践的理论框架。

根据其简历，李晓东是典型的新一代建筑师，他一方面仔细研习了中国古建筑的营造法式和中国的哲学思想，另一方面又接触和吸收了有关国际的、尤其是与现代西方建筑与城市理论相关的争论与探讨。在我看来，这一代（第一代）中国建筑师接受了同样多的中西教育，他们组成了探索中国新建筑思想的先锋部队，这种思想最近以惊人的密集程度遍布中国，为我们所认识。

在很长一段时间内，中国的建筑要么以不假思索地模仿传统建筑式样为特征，要么同样毫不犹豫地采用国际主流设计风格。由于中国过去的城市化进程以及更为快速的城市扩张过程，中国的许多城市逐渐沦为荷兰建筑师雷姆·库哈斯所说的“普通城市”，其本土特征要素迅速瓦解，被多少有些雷同的高楼大厦群所替代，只有一些模仿的痕迹表明我们仍在建设中国的城市。

然而，从1990年代后半期开始，一些中国建筑师开始为传统与现代的融合探索新的道路，他们通过对传统空间体验和设计手法的利用，将其翻译为当代的建筑语汇。这种努力形成了非常特别——非常中国化——的现代建筑转译过程，它植根于中国传统，同时又以批判而激进的当代手段与其传统保持一定的距离。

毫无疑问，李晓东是这股中国建筑新浪潮中最为典型的代表人物之一。另一方面，与其他代表建筑师不同的是，他从未将自己的人生全然地投入建筑创作，总是保持着自己作为教师和学者的身份。他在激发学生灵感的同时，也从学生那里获得启发。他的一些项目，如丽江的玉湖小学，其实是作为大学的教学课题开始的，在学生的积极参与下才得以建成。他以这种方式开创了非常独特的研究设计、教学学术的创作方式，让他能关注设计项目本身。否则，由于资金的匮乏和没有明确的设计任务，这些项目是不可能建成的。

A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

——Lao Zi

The recent building boom in China profoundly transforms the Chinese urban landscape and generates a huge supply of work for Chinese architects Many architecture companies in China are able to present an impressive list of realised projects - one bigger than the other,one more exceptional than the other Following a Western trend started in the 1990's,Chinese architects vie with each other with glossy and glossier publications,on the Internet and with (mostly selfinitiated) book projects.

Compared with these noisy competitors the work of LI Xiaodong appears modest,almost quiet The list of projects he has realised is still rather limited and consists mainly of small,unpretentious buildings Large office towers,shopping malls and convention centres,proudly presented by many leading architects in China,are missing In their place we find small primary schools and local libraries in villages.Some of these have been realised as non-profit projects with his students,for which he has had to raise funding through public or private sponsorships and the support of local people But also many of his other projects were equipped with very limited funding,forcing him to the resource-efficient design that became recognised as a characteristic of his work.

In spite of the humble attitude of his architecture,LI Xiaodong meantime gained an international reputation,expressed in many national and international awards He just received the President's Design Award 2014 in Singapore,after winning the 2001 SARA Tutor's Prize for his inspirational teaching at the School of Architecture,National University of Singapore and a 2012 World Architecture Festival prize in the Culture category for his Wattle School (Liyuan Library).From what is now a long list of awards,I only want to add the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2010,an Honorary Fellowship from the AIA,the UNESCO Jury Award for Innovation,the ARASIA Gold Medal and last,but not least,the award as 2011 Man of the Year in China (best designer) by GQ magazine.

On the first view there is a strange contradiction between the limited amount of mostly modest,mostly small projects that are related to the name of LI Xiaodong,and the recognition he has received in China and beyond He is surely not one of the "architects of success" eagerly approached by international investors and development companies,because their name seems to guarantee the economic success of a project.In contrast to the noisy mainstream architecture that dominates the CBD's and centres of fast growing Chinese cities,LI Xiaodong's architecture is characterised by its silence rather than noise,by reflection rather than by expression.It is more about contents than container,to paraphrase a phrase of Laozi's What are the roots,the tools and the impact of this architecture that,although not successful in economic terms,is so obviously attractive to its users (and to international juries)?

1 The Roots

LI Xiaodong belongs to the post-1978 generation of Chinese architects who studied as Deng Xiaoping introduced his "open-door" policies,a period of great transformations and even greater expectations In that period the Tsinghua School of Architecture was a centre of architectural tradition in China and also a centre of debate about the future of architecture in the changing society After graduating from Tsinghua University in 1984,LI Xiaodong continued his studies at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands since 1989,and becoming a doctorate in 1993.It is worth noting that his supervisor at Delft was professor Alexander Tzonis,a great and early proponent of "critical regionalism" as a theoretical framework for architectural practice.

LI Xiaodong is an exemplar of a generation of architects who were carefully educated in the principles of ancient Chinese architecture and the philosophy of Chinese thinking and,on the other hand,grasped and were able to assimilate the currents of international architectural discourse,in particular modern Western theories about architecture and urbanism.In my opinion,this (first) generation of Chinese architects with an equally Chinese and Western education forms the "vanguard" of new architectural thinking in China.

For a long period,Chinese architecture was characterised by either the reflexive imitation of traditional building forms or by the equally knee jerk application of mainstream international tropes This way of working combined with China's rapid urbanization and the even faster transformation of Chinese cities into "generic" cities - as the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas called the urban areas in which decaying elements of local identity are lighting fast being replaced by more or less anonymous collections of towers - risked leaving a sea of imitations as the only representatives of architectural discourse in China.

But from the second half of the 1990's a number of Chinese architects started to search for new ways to integrate tradition and modernity,ways to make use of traditional spatial experiences and meaning and a contemporary architectural language The result is a very special - very Chinese - interpretation of modern architecture.It is settled in the Chinese tradition and,at the same time,stands at a distance from that tradition by re-interpreting it in a radical - and critical -contemporary way.

Without doubt LI Xiaodong is on of the most profiled representatives of this new wave in Chinese architecture.But unlike other members of this group,he has never dedicated his life completely to architectural practice and has always chosen to remain a teacher,a scholar.He inspires students and is inspired by them Some of his projects,like the Yuhu Elementary School in Yunnan's Lijiang,were actually started as studio project at the university and were only realised with the strong involvement of students He has generated a very special type of practice,a combination of research and design,teaching and professional work that allows him to focus on projects that otherwise would not be realised due to lack of funding,a clear brief or client.

1 桥上书屋/Bridge School

与其作为教师和学者的身份紧密相关的，是他参与的社会活动。他曾经参与希望工程——一个致力于为贫困偏远地区修建学校的公益项目。他的非盈利项目以及其他项目都是与他的学生共同完成的，并在很多情况下也与当地的公众展开了紧密的合作。每一个参与过此类项目的人都知道——它们需要投入时间和耐心，却没有任何回报（至少在金钱方面）。

所有这些条件或许可以共同解释，为什么李晓东的学术创作的数量和规模仍然十分有限。但它们并不能说明，他为何能全国知名，且蜚声海外。这一点，我们必须通过观察他采用的设计方法和建筑手法来进行解释。

2 手法

李晓东的建筑思想中一个关键的主题是空间的概念以及体验空间的方式。他在不同的访谈中都强调过，他认为中国与西方思想分水岭的概念——即西方的传统建立在以一系列客体作为对“世界”的体验的基础上；这种体验被认为是“各自独立”的，来自于其外部的主体，而中国的传统并不对主体与客体做任何分别。中国建筑的思想形成于建筑应该由“内在”进行体验的观念。相应地，建筑并不是摆放在景观中的客体，它们是环境景观的一部分。

李晓东在体验空间的过程中赋予重要地位的元素是想象力。“中国人倾向于关注无形的东西，而不是有形的——你可以在国画中见到这一点，其留白常常与着色和线描同样重要。如，在描绘一对游鱼戏水的绘画中，水体能通过空白的背景为欣赏者所感知，它是画面上非常关键的部分。为来访者的想象力留出空间必不可少。”

空间“内部”的观念能以这种方式得到最充分的理解，这是李晓东描述的建筑与环境之间的关系。例如，著名的“桥上书屋”将下石村被流过村落的小溪所分开的两部分连为一体。小溪的两侧都有土楼历史建筑，这是中国传统内向的乡土建筑的典型标志之一。这座学校建筑本身与传统建筑风格并没有任何联系，它是一个现代的钢结构建筑，以近乎通透的木板条作为围合框架，并铺装了现代的木地板。这座建筑作为桥梁横跨在小溪之上，成为整个村落的社区中心场所，它不仅在交通上联络了村落的两部分，也使它们的社区融为一体。尽管采用了现代的设计手法，建筑还是让人感到似乎存在已久，浑然天成。这种毫不谄媚的介入态度，在我看来，足以使“桥上书屋”成为一个杰作。

这个项目也可以认为是与过度崇拜历史争锋相对的批判。历史上，这些土楼建筑不仅最初在空间上被小溪一分为二，也同样象征了彼此分离的宗族系统，由此造成了社区结构的日益恶化。“桥上书屋”以土楼为背景，通过为公共演出和人群聚集提供共同的公众设施，调和了这种分裂。由此，项目为社区的再度融合做出了贡献，以建筑干预的方式，维持了社区的持续性。

尽管李晓东极力强调必须使用适当的现代建筑语汇、现代建构原则和现代材料，他也同样采用了石材、木材等本土材料，甚至在一些项目中采用过斗拱的设计。“成功的作品应该成为场地的一部分，并从场地中生长出来。”这种生长自场地的设计产生了两个有趣的结果——一方面，建筑几乎与周边环境景观融为一体。其材料与颜色高度符合周围的环境特征，而建筑物谦逊低调的形态也极为恰当地与周边景观取得协调。对环境景观的保护是“内在”体验的一项重要条件。

而另一方面，使用本土的材料也同样与对当地人和当地文化的理解密切相关。李晓东并没有通过采用地区或本土符号的肤浅方式来简单地接触本土文化；相反，他通过对空间逻辑的理解、对典型空间体验的参考和对本土材料的使用，不断对建筑物的使用者提出挑战，展现对本土文化的理解。这里，李晓东再次表现出一名教师的特点，教育人们仔细地观察建筑相关的空间、材料和自然的生长过程。

这一理论框架中的一项重要内容是环境对建筑物的影响。尽管他的建筑看起来并非高技风格，它们的设计却同样通过选择天然环保材料、采用最佳的自然采光方案和减少建筑能耗的方式，谨慎地考虑了可持续发展的原则。能够很好地体现此类设计态度的一个例子是位于北京怀柔交界河村的篱苑书屋。这是一座基本由现代钢结构和玻璃构成的建筑，立面以柴火棍覆盖，由此能过滤自然光线，并同时形成舒适的室内空间。使这座建筑变得与众不同的是，它不提供供暖与空调系统。设计使建筑物在冬季最大程度地利用热辐射，保持室内温度，而在夏季则通过自然通风形成凉爽的内部环境。

3 影响

当然，李晓东的少量小规模建成作品，并不足以对整个中国的城市环境或中国乡村的社会凝聚力产生多大影响。在我看来，它们最主要的影响力在于作为榜样的作用。李晓东通过其低调的作品告诉我们，在喧闹浮夸、对环境、社会结构和城市宜居造成破坏性影响的主流建筑之外，还存在一种其他的选项。这一选项并不昂贵，是人们可以负担得起并切实可行的方案。然而，它需要的并不仅仅是一种范式转变：与这种观念相反的思想认为，城市是一件商品，能在每个方面都产生利益最大化；与这种观念保持一致的则会认为，城市首先属于其居民，是生活与文化的场所，当然也是人们谋生的地方。

除此之外，李晓东的项目也教育我们，我们不应该仅仅关注（大）城市；乡村里的小规模社区也同样值得尊重和需要支持（有时候对这些社区的支持甚至比支持大城市的无限扩张更为有效）。另一方面，我们也不得不在更大的尺度上进行思考——大城市怎么办。“从m2到m3”的课题研究也是很有意思的方式，突出了李晓东的思维模式。为了解决大城市的移民住房问题，我们不得不从微观到宏观进行思考，从小单元到大结构尺度进行思考，最终通过将内院转变为垂直维度进行思考。

当然，上述的范式转变并不容易实现，可能永远只存在于乌托邦里。而对于乌托邦，我们知道，它是一处乌有的土地，并不存在于现实之中，无论如何都不可能实现。另一方面，德国哲学家恩斯特·布洛赫早已教诲我们，我们需要乌托邦，必须维持乌托邦的存在——他称其为人类社会的必要条件，是希望的原则。也许，这才是李晓东作品的真正影响所在，这才是其作品令人瞩目并广为人知的真实原因——他以小尺度的方式为都市化的社会提供了“希望原则”，指出了思考未来建筑与未来城市的方向。

A commitment to social engagement is strongly connected with his role as teacher and scholar He was involved in Project Hope,a public service project that aims to bring schools into poverty-stricken rural areas His non-profit projects and others have been developed in close collaboration with students and,in some cases,people connected to the project site Everybody who has experiences with this type of projects methodology knows: It takes time,it takes patience and that it does not pay out (at least not in cash) Such conditions may explain,why the amount and size of the professional work of LI Xiaodong still is rather limited.They do not explain his reputation in the field.For that reason we have to look for the approaches and architectural tools he is using.

2 Tools

A key issue in the architectural thinking of LI Xiaodong is the idea of space and the way in which it is experienced In interviews he emphasizes a major distinction between Chinese and Western thought: While the Western tradition is based on the experience of "the world" as a series of objects recognised perspectivally by a subject looking at them,the Chinese tradition does not differentiate between subject and object Chinese architecture developed from the idea that the building is something to be experienced from "within" Buildings are not objects placed in the landscape; they are part of the landscape.

LI Xiaodong believes that the imagination has a major role in the experience of space "The Chinese tend to focus on the intangible than the tangible - you see this in Chinese painting,in which the blank surface is often just as important as what is inscribed For instance,in a painting that shows a pair of swimming fish,the presence of water,which can be inferred from the blank background,is a vital part of the image Allowing room for the visitor's imagination is essential."

The idea of "within" space can bet be recognised in the way LI Xiaodong shapes the relationship between building and its surroundings The famous "Bridge School" connects two parts of the small Fujian village of Xiashi that are separated by a small creek On both sides of the creek sit ancient toulou buildings,icons of the traditional introverted Chinese village architecture The school building itself makes no reference to the traditional building style of the toulou.It is a modern steel construction combined with a screen of wooden slatted frames and wooden floors The building spans the creek like a bridge and generating a central social place in the village that connects and integrates its previously separated parts Though modern in design,the building fills a natural need and sits so comfortably it seems as though it has always been there This sense of easy - rather than ingratiating - adaptation is what makes the Bridge School a masterpiece.

The project can also be understood as a critique of the tendency to be too precious with the past The toulous were not only originally physically by the creek,they also symbolised a divided clan structure that was degrading the community The Bridge School overcomes this habit of separation by offering common public facilities - spaces for public performances and encounters - with the toulous as anchors In this way the project contributes to the re-integration of the community,seeding social sustainability with an architectural intervention.

Although LI Xiaodong strongly emphasizes the necessity of using an appropriate modern building vocabulary,construction principles and materials,he also integrates local materials like stones,wood and even branches into his projects "An accomplished work is supposed to be part of and grown from the location." With this kind of connection to the site buildings of native materials and colour can seem to melt into the surrounding landscape and their quiet shapes harmonize with its topography.Protecting the landscape is a major condition for a "within" experience.

The use of local materials also refers to the craft and culture of local people.LI Xiaodong does not offer an easy access to these traditions by using regional or local symbols in a superficial way Instead,he challenges the users of his buildings to understand their spatial logic,and offers traditional spatial,experiential and material references as ways to access this understanding LI Xiaodong,the teacher,guides the careful observation of space and material and the natural processes related to it.

Environmental impact of the buildings is an important issue in Xiaodong's projects Although his buildings do not look like high-tech projects,they are carefully designed with sustainability in mind,incorporate eco-friendly nature-based materials and optimize the use of daylight to reduce energy demand.A good example of this attitude is the Wattle School (Liyuan Library) in Jiaojiehe Village on the outskirts of Beijing.The building is basically a modern steel and glass construction with all its facades covered with wooden sticks (to filter light and generate a cosy interior) What makes the building special is the fact that it provides no power supply for heating or air-conditioning The building is designed to optimise the effect of solar radiation in the winter to create warmth.In the summer,natural ventilation provides a cool indoor climate.

3 Impact

LI Xiaodong's few projects will not have any impact on China's urban climate or the countries social cohesion Their main impact will be as examples LI Xiaodong's modest projects show us: There is an alternative to glossy mainstream architecture with its destructive effects on the environment,social structure and the humanity of our cities This alternative does not cost a fortune It is affordable and feasible It does require a significant paradigm shift: Away from the idea of city as commodity,a tool for simply optimising profits,and towards the idea that the city belongs to its citizens - the space for lives,culture,and the place to earn the money for living.

The projects of LI Xiaodong teach us that we should not concentrate our attention on the (big) cities.Small communities and villages deserve our respect and support as well.And,if thought through carefully enough,this support can be more efficient than the support the blind and infinite extension of urbanisation is thought to provide But the problems of our cities are immense and we have to also be thinking about solutions at their larger scale The research project "From m2to m3" demonstrates the thinking of LI Xiaodong on a broader canvas In this project,the housing problems of migrants to the big city shift the focus from micro to macro,from the small unit to the large structure by upending the fabric of courtyards to create a vertical structure.

Paradigm shifts are not easy to realise and ideas and desires behind them often remain utopian And from utopia we know,that it is a no-place land that does not exist in reality,a land that by no means can become reality.But the German philosopher,Ernst Bloch,taught us that we need utopias and that utopias are essential to maintaining what he called "a necessary condition of the human society: the principle of hope." Maybe this is the real impact of the work of LI Xiaodong,the thing that people recognize in his projects and that makes them remarkable: At a small scale,he provides a principle of hope for urbanised society,one that might direct thinking about future architecture as well as the future city.

The Humble Master: LI Xiaodong as Architect and Teacher

Although LI Xiaodong has only realised a limited amount of - mostly - small projects,often developed with low funding or even as non-profit projects,he has gained an international reputation and won many awards both nationally and internationally His projects show almost contradictory characteristics: They are amazing beautiful; they are popular; they are radical contemporary and they are deeply settled in the Chinese tradition.

tradition and modernity,critical regionalism,"within" space,social and environmental sustainability

尤根·罗斯曼自2010年起任新加坡国立大学设计与环境学院访问教授和代尔夫特理工大学名誉教授。近期，他在清华大学任客座教授，并任国际城市论坛（IFoU）的主席。1982-2010年，罗斯曼曾在代尔夫特理工大学建筑学院担任教授和院长，并创建了荷兰住宅和城市研究所（NETHUR）。他还是研究住宅、城市与交通方向的OTB研究所的董事，城市复兴和管理研究所的主席。他还曾先后担任鹿特丹贝尔拉格学院的理事会成员和监事会成员，并于2000-2010年任该学院主席。

Since 2010 Jürgen Rosemann is visiting professor at the School of Design and Environment (SDE),National University of Singapore and emeritus professor of Delft University of Technology Recently he also is guest professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing and chairman of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU) Between 1982 and 2010 he held a professorship at the faculty of Architecture,Delft University of Technology In this framework he was dean of the faculty,founding member of the Netherlands Graduate School forHousing and Urban Research (NETHUR),member of the boardof OTB-Research Institute for Housing,Urban and Mobility Studies,and chair Urban Renewal and Management Besides,he was member of the Board of Governors,later Board of Supervisors,of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam Between 2000 and 2010 he served as chairman of this institution.

2014-08-26