李晓东工作室

凯特·古德温/Kate Goodwin

路培 译/Translated by LU Pei

李晓东工作室

凯特·古德温/Kate Goodwin

路培 译/Translated by LU Pei

凯特·古德温叙述了其拜访篱苑书屋的体验，并揭示出李晓东以中国式的对自然、静物和人物不设层次的表现方式，表达了建筑与山及其周边环境的关系。李晓东超越传统二元对立的手法，在他的建筑中创造了一系列步移景异式的空间，真实地再现了中国哲学家老子重“用”轻“器”的思想。借用莱瑟巴罗的理论来分析，李晓东建筑中令人迷失的入口空间可以与赖特的罗比住宅相比较，二者都创造了一种强烈的内向性，并使人最终获得类似于赫尔诺特·博梅所说的身心体验。

空间复杂性，内向性，定向，存在，篱苑书屋

李晓东的建筑第一次引起我注意是源于一本国际期刊所报道的丽江玉湖完小，以及之后的福建桥上书屋和北京郊外的篱苑书屋。令人欣喜的是，这几个项目与当代中国的主流建筑之间存在着鲜明的反差。李晓东无疑是正在崛起的中国年轻一代建筑实践者中的先锋人物，与他的同辈人一样，他对中国建筑抱以批判和反思的态度。对一个正在经历迅速变革并以西方马首是瞻的国家，如何塑造属于中国自己的与众不同的当代建筑语言实为一个重要命题。李晓东以他对场地、地方传统和材料的敏锐嗅觉和出色的空间把控能力，对这一命题做出了自己的回答。

直到我亲自参观他的建筑，才对其作品有了更加全面的了解。通过在实际建成环境中的切身体验，人们发现，一系列的展开空间存在于由室外到室内的转换过程中。其建筑所呈现的空间的复杂性，在平面和剖面上反映得尤为明显；然而，若仅凭图纸想要完全理解真实的建成空间及其对感官的影响，就并非易事了。李晓东带我们踏上了一段旅程；这是一段预设好的空间之旅，意图表达清晰谨慎，给人以身体和心灵上的强烈冲击。尽管他为参观者所编制的是一次非常私人的旅程，却最终被赋予了更加宽泛的社会和文化内涵。

我的这种体验最早来源于我与李晓东的一次旅行。从北京市驱车一个小时，我们辗转驶入怀柔县山区，来到一个名为交界河的小村庄，参观篱苑书屋。李晓东将车停在路边，示意我们下车。呈现在眼前的只有一条小河和一条泥土路，以及四周的青山。当我们沿路折弯前行，图书馆便跃然于眼前。它跨水而栖，坐落于谷底；其简洁的几何形体易于辨认，却也不妨碍它融于山景之中。我们越过小桥，走近图书馆，再遍览山脚下一圈长长的立面之前，我们先来到其中的一侧。建筑立面的细节清晰可读：一个玻璃盒子被3层柴火棍包裹着。图书馆有几个入口，但主入口并不明显。顺着通往宽阔的地下室的台阶向下，可来到水岸边。当微风掠过水面，身处在水池近旁的人会感到气温的自然下降。打开右手边的一扇门，可进入图书馆前厅。自然光透过边侧楼梯的上方，照亮整个空间。地下室的混凝土围挡与馆内的木条装饰构成对比，后者可使人即刻感受到温暖。拾阶而上，进入图书馆的中厅，你会置身于一个阶梯式的空间中。玻璃盒子的四壁和屋顶被3层的柴火棍一排排地包裹起来，身处其中，令人感到安全，仿佛与周遭风景融为一体。随着云彩的移动和光线的变化，建筑空间也随之发生着细微的改变。

直到后来，当我坐在附近一所房子的庭院中，被群山环抱，才真正领悟到李晓东之前对我所说的“置身于山中的同时使山空间化”的含义。他曾提到自己身处黄山的一段经历和东方文化中轴测表现技法的独特运用。在中国山水画卷中，自然、静物与人物以不设层次的方式再现于同一幅画面中，可使观者感觉如同置身于所绘山水之中，而非简单地欣赏。我环顾四周群山，体会到山的肌理比其形体更富于力量。此刻，书屋又浮现于脑海，一番新的感受随之油然而生。

中国的文化和空间观对李晓东而言是一个重要的参考要素。在我与他较早之前的一次谈话中，他就曾引用中国哲学家老子的话，认为“用”比“器”本身更重要。在亲历了李晓东的建筑之后，他“凿户牖以为室”的造诣愈发显现出来。他放大、缩小空间，时而实打实地降低天花的高度或使通道变窄，时而通过添设一面镜子或改变照度来影响人的感知。在他的建筑中，内与外、公与私、明与暗、开与合、静默与喧嚣、自然与人工的二元对立统统被打破。

这一点在丽江淼庐中体现得尤为明显。一系列相互连通的院落带你走进一段逐渐展开的旅程，仿佛深入到另一个世界。庭院中，几堵石墙伫立在镜面般的水池旁，外面的自然风光得以收纳进来。尽管淼庐向天空敞开，其空间在诸多其他层面上却是内向性的。这里所创造的是归隐和沉思之地，它所围合的空间使观者体会到一种存在感。

戴维·莱瑟巴罗i的“迷失与揭露”一文或许可以从另一个侧面帮助解读李晓东的建筑。对于莱瑟巴罗而言，定位与迷失是获得空间感和强烈内向性的一种手段。莱瑟巴罗认为，“定位指的不仅是我们在特定环境中找到自己所处的方位，更是当了解其隐含的空间、历史和文化深意之后，见证一个更加丰富的世界的形成。”传统意义中的建筑定位常被用于描述建筑在环境中的位置，但“定位”一词还意味着找寻自身与事物、地点与他人之间的关系。莱瑟巴罗认为，通过“定位”，建筑的双重视域，即建筑的内在性格和氛围与其更广阔的外部景观之间达成了调解。定位不仅是空间上的导向，也是时间上的，它预示着已经发生的和将要发生的。莱瑟巴罗援引约瑟夫·康纳斯ii对赖特芝加哥罗比住宅的描述：

“罗比住宅扰乱了人们对住宅既有形式的预期。没有沿街立面，没有明显的入口……想要进去谈何容易。既然住宅的户门位于不寻常之处……参观者在入户之前必须深入到屋顶之下……不得不与厚重的砖墙来个近距离的接触，以至于这一简单的登堂入室的行为有如攀岩崖壁，令人感受强烈。”

赖特在许多住宅中设计了迷宫式的入口空间，这一“迷失”的手法，使得人们在最终进入室内之时获得一种前所未有的强烈感受。李晓东在他迄今为止所有的建筑中均使用了“定位”和“迷失”的手法，以至于使人在物质环境和社会语境中可以找到一个全新的定位。比如，桥上书屋所创造的远不止是一个物质上的联系，而是一种社会意义和心理意义上的沟通，它重新定位了书屋所在的小镇以及我们与它之间的关系。同样地，淼庐则重新定位了人与山之间的关系，或者说凸显了我们与山之间的关系，这种关系从而成为了淼庐空间品质的内在成因。当你走近篱苑书屋并探究其内部空间，你会发现，它好比是被带入取景框却又不在焦点上的一抹风景。

身处在篱苑书屋之中，令人感到更为惊讶的是它开敞的空间，完全一览无余。站在书屋中央，我可以看到它完整的内部空间，尽管我知道换一个观察角度可以带来截然不同的体验。我试图在屋内变换着位置，或坐或站，向外探探，再向内看看，一度想要发觉一些全新的空间感受。我本可以一连待上几个小时，观察光影的移动以及光的颜色、强度和方向的变化，体会时间的流逝，观察自己对这一切的反应。我深信，我的这种体会与赫尔诺特·博梅iii在“氛围作为空间中的意念性实体存在”一文中所描述的感受是非常接近的。在博梅看来，用身体亲历的空间与那些以身心感知的空间是截然不同；一种有深度的、慢节奏的建筑体验源于的是体验者自身感受力、个人经历与空间品质之间的相互作用。

在李晓东为英国皇家艺术学院的展览“感知空间”所做装置的策展过程中，我见证了他过人的感受力。他对参观者在他创造的空间中所可能产生的生理、感官和心理体验有着敏锐的嗅觉。作为一个经常出没于展览会场的人，每当我亲临他的装置作品，都会发觉李晓东所创造的一个与众不同的时刻，令人愉悦、欢喜、舒服或充满好奇。这些由声音、气味、质地、光和运动所构成的不同层次的空间体验，时常会对我展露出全新的一面，对整个展览而言又何尝不是如此。

译注：

i 宾夕法尼亚大学设计学院建筑系教授、著名建筑理论家

ii 美国艺术史学家，1945-

iii 德国当代哲学家，1937-

LI Xiaodong is one of the pioneers in an emerging generation of young Chinese practitioners with a critical and reflective eye on architecture in China.His architecture first caught my attention when an international magazine published the Yuhu Elementary School Expansion Project in Lijiang,and later the Bridge School in Fujian and Liyuan Library (Wattle School) outside of Beijing These projects provided a stark and welcome contrast to much of what was widely shown of Chinese architecture LI Xiaodong is clearly one of the pioneers in an emerging generation of young Chinese practitioners with a critical and reflective eye to architecture in China For a country which has recently undergone rapid change,often looking towards the West,the forging of a distinctly contemporary expression for Chinese architecture is vital LI Xiaodong offers an acute sensibility to place,local tradition and materials combined with an attuned ability to choreograph space.

It was not until visiting his buildings that I gained a more complete appreciation for his work.Through experiencing the buildings in their settings one discovers a series of unfolding worlds that pass from the outside to the inside There is a spatial sophistication in his work which is evident in the plans and sections,but the material realisation and its impact on the senses is hard to fully grasp from these alone He takes us on a journey; one that is very prescribed and carefully articulated in spatial terms with a strong physical and emotional impact While he choreographs a very personal journey for the visitor this ultimately connects to a wider social and cultural context.

My first experience of this took place after driving an hour from Beijing winding into the mountainous region of Huairou County and passing through the small village of Jiaojiehe We were to visit Liyuan Library,and LI Xiaodong pulled the car to the side of the road and suggested we get out There was nothing in sight but a small river,a dirt track and surrounding mountains covered in a spray of foliage As we walked around the bend in the road,the library came into view across a small body of water,sitting at the base of the valley; its simple geometric form legible yet equally blending into the hillside We approached the library across a bridge,passing slightly to one side of it before being led around its long façade closest to the mountain The detail of the facade - three layers of sticks encasing a glass box - became evident There are various entrance points,but the main one is not entirely obvious Steps to a wide under croft beneath the building lead down to the water's edge The temperature naturally drops as the breeze passes across the water we are now in close proximity to To the right a door opens onto a lobby space,illuminated primarily from light which filters from above a staircase to the side The concrete surrounds of the undercroft contrast with the timber-lined interior that immediately gives a feeling of warmth After ascending the stairs one arrives into the heart of the library which rises up around you through a stepped volume The glass box in which one stands is entirely lined on all sides,including the roof,by three layers of sticks,which gives a sense of being securely inside yet very much a part of the surrounding landscape The space is gently in flux with the changing mood of the shifting light and movement of clouds.

It was only afterwards,sitting in the courtyard of a nearby house surrounded by the mountains,that I came to properly sense what LI Xiaodong had meant when he spoke to me previously of being both within and spatialising the mountains He had referred to his own experiences in the Yellow Mountains and to the sole use of axonometric representation within Eastern cultures The non-hierarchical form of representation used in paintings and scrolls brings nature,objects and people together in a single image so that one can conceive of being within - not simply looking at - the depicted landscape I looked around at the surrounding mountains,seeing their texture much more strongly than their form,and the library returned to my mind,making a new sort of sense.

Chinese culture and spatial concepts are a strong point of reference for LI Xiaodong In a very early conversation we had he cited the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu who said that what is contained is more important than the container itself After experiencing LI Xiaodong's architecture it becomes evident that he is a master at making and containing spaces He expands and contracts them,sometimes literally by reducing head-height or narrowing apassage,and sometimes perceptually by adding a mirror or changing light levels He overcomes dualisms of interior and exterior,private and public,light and shade,contemplative and social,open and enclosed,nature and the man-made.

1 篱苑书屋/Liyuan Library

This is evident in the Water House in Lijiang,with its series of interlocking courtyards that takes you through an unfolding journey deeper into another world With the specific placement of stone walls in the courtyards alongside reflection pools,nature and the outside world are drawn in Although open to the sky and elements,these spaces are inward looking in many other senses They create a space of refuge and contemplation,holding a space for the visitor to be present.

David Leatherbarrow's essay "Disorientation and Disclosure" can perhaps give a different insight into LI Xiaodong's architecture For Leatherbarrow,orientation and disorientation is a means to gain spatial awareness and a heightened sense of interiority Leatherbarrow talks of a "sense of orientation in which we not only find our bearings in given conditions,but witness a richer world coming into being,once its latent depth - spatial,historical,and cultural - has been disclosed" Traditionally,the orientation of a building is used to describe its environmental position,but the word orientation also implies finding ones bearings in relation to things,places and people Leatherbarrow contends that it is through orientation that the "two horizons" are mediated,that of the internal character and mood of a building and its wider outside landscape Orientation is temporal as well as directional,providing an indication of what has come before and what will come after Leatherbarrow cites Joseph Connors description of Frank Lloyd entry to the Robie House in Chicago:

"The Robie House confounds expectations of what a house should look like It has no street facade and no obvious door .. getting in .. is no easy matter,since the doors are located in out of the way places .. one [must] walk deep in under the shelter of the house before encountering the doors .. and the visitor is forced close up against massive blocks of brick,so much so the simple act of ascending is turned into an intense experience,something like scaling the face of a cliff "(1984: 30)

Wright's use of labyrinthine entry sequence in many of his houses plays with disorientation as a means to make the eventual arrival to the "interior" all the more powerful and an intense LI Xiaodong equally uses orientation - and disorientation - in all his buildings to enable one to find a new bearing on the physical and social landscape One thinks here of the Bridge School,which is more than a physical link,it is a social and psychological connection that re-orientates the town and our relationship to it The Water House equally orientates one with the mountains,so that our relationship with them is made apparent and forms an inherent part of the spatial qualities of the house itself The Liyuan Library in its landscape is brought in and out of focus,as you approach and then explore its interior spaces.

What was further striking about being within the Liyuan Library was the fact that the space was completely open and revealed Standing in the centre I could see the entire space,although I knew that being in different parts of it would offer drastically varying experiences.I wanted to discover the new sensations that the space would give; to move to different places,try sitting standing,looking out,looking in I could have stayed for hours and watched the shadows move,the light change in colour,intensity and direction,observing and feeling the slow passage of time,and understanding my own responses to it It was,I believe,the very experience that Gernot Bohme was talking about in his essay Atmosphere as mindful physical presence in space Bohme draws a distinction between spaces where our experiences are bodily,and those where we have a mindful physical presence; an experience of architecture that possess greater depth and a certain kind of slowness derived from a relationship between our sensibilities,experience and qualities of the space.

Throughout the process of commissioning LI Xiaodong's installation for the exhibition Sensing Spaces at the Royal Academy of Arts in London,I witnessed his own strong sensibilities to how a visitor would experience - physically,sensually and emotionally - the spaces he created I was in the exhibition often,and on every occasion would discover a different moment he had created,which would give pleasure,delight,comfort or intrigue Layers of spatial experience that were informed by sounds,smells,textures,light and movement would constantly unfold and reveal something new for me and for the context of the work itself.

Li Xiaodong Atelier

Kate Goodwin describes her experience of visiting LI Xiaodong's Liyuan Library and discovers how the nonhierarchical Chinese representation of nature,objects and people informs the buildings' dialogue with the mountains and surrounding landscape LI Xiaodong transgresses traditional architectural binarisms to create unfolding worlds within his buildings where experiences vary drastically as one moves through the space,a physical manifestation of Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu's assertion that "what is contained is more important than the container itself" His disorientating entrances,in the Leatherbarrow sense,enables comparisons with Wright's Robie House in Chicago to create a "heightened sense of interiority" and ultimately experience a sensation akin to Gernot Bohme's notion of mindful physical presence.

spatial complexity,interiority,orientation,presence,Liyuan Library

英国皇家艺术学院德鲁·海因茨建筑馆馆长，“感知空间：建筑之重新想象”展览（2014年1月25日-4月6日）策展人/ Curator of "Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined" (25 January - 6 April,2014),Drue Heinz Curator of Architecture,Royal Academy of Arts,

2014-08-26