张利/ZHANG Li
当曼彻斯特城足球俱乐部在2008年被阿布扎比集团收购时,当沃尔沃汽车公司在2010年从福特转手至吉利旗下时,世人的扼腕痛惜与悲观预测一度不绝于耳。然而今天,曼城正以赏心悦目的方式踢着欧洲最具竞争力的足球,沃尔沃正以脱胎换骨的产品更新实现着市场认同的全面复兴。它们是传统品牌在多元文化时代下,通过来自新兴经济体的资本注入获得新生命力的佐证。
澳大利亚的PTW建筑事务所亦然。PTW作为一个澳洲设计领域的百年老店,在最近的10年实现了令人刮目相看的改变——不仅在市场占有率的提升规模上,更在建筑与城市设计成果的质量上——这与2013年中国最大的民营设计企业CCDI对其进行的注资收购有着密切的关系。
关于这一设计行业的资本流动如何在经营管理上实现成功双赢是经济学的范畴,不在我们的关注范围之内。我们所感兴趣的是CCDI资本所携带的来自中国市场的设计创作空间,以及其背后的悉尼与亚洲新兴经济体饥渴需求之间的日益紧密的联系,对PTW的建筑创作所产生的积极影响。我们可以认为,这次资本流动促成了一种良性的设计职业精神交融,定义了PTW的新身份——一种结合了英联邦体系的执业操守、专业经验与亚洲新兴国家的冒险魂力与乐观主义的新性格。我们甚至还可以认为,PTW的不少近期作品都在较大尺度的城市干预中搭载了一定的实验性,为类似城市问题的解答提供了具有普遍意义的参照。
高密度都市区域的居住建筑开发显然是PTW百余年来的技术特长,而2014年的悉尼中央公园一号对这一特长给予了一个罕见的新定义。我们可以认为高层空中惊险的水平悬挑来自鹿特丹,我们可以认为交错在立面上的阳台花园与垂直种植模块来自新加坡,但我们不能否认这种恰如其分的组合营造了一个充满21世纪气息的垂直社区,而无论从气候适应性讲,还是从生活方式讲,它毫无疑问都是属于悉尼的。
滨水区域的城市空间更新是PTW传统上的另一个强项。对于这个强项,2015年的布朗格鲁R9住宅也带来了新的元素。与近期伦敦、汉堡、纽卡斯尔等欧洲港区改造的自上而下的景观化公共空间体系不同,R9住宅所试图建立的是自下而上的,基于所有权范围内的公共空间界面(或更准确地说,公共生活界面)由地面向整个立面范围的延续。与悉尼气候的适应性再次说明了这一设计策略的地域特征。
基于2008年北京奥运会国家游泳中心“水立方”合作的成功,PTW近年在体育与文化建筑领域成果不断,精彩纷呈。如果说大尺度建筑的标识性、纪念性和地域修辞法已经是PTW驾轻就熟的方法,那么以2016年澳洲皇家植物园改建为代表的中小型项目则是PTW在这一领域内的新型耕耘。结构理性、几何可读性、通透和绿色体系使这一建筑谦逊地加入到植物园的百年纪念空间之中,平和地提供必要的场所,但不在环境、氛围和识别性上产生任何注意力的分散。其承载的清新的自然观和理智的谦恭让我们对PTW未来的文化建筑作品有更多的期待。
本期《世界建筑》把PTW事务所近期的创作轨迹放到一个多元文化主义的大背景下进行观察,希望借此窥见发生在当代职业领域的一个具有普遍性的现象。
特别感谢CCDI的艾侠先生对本期专辑所提供的帮助。□
When Manchester City was acquired by Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, messages of lament and predictions of dark future filled media. When Volvo was transferred from Ford to Geely in 2010, similar reactions were met. Today, Manchester City is winning games all around in Europe in some of the most impressive ways, while Volvo is retaining its market reputation through radical updates of their cars. They are the success stories of capitals from emerging economies breathing new lives into old brands.
PTW Architects from Australia is another example. Stepping into the 14th decade of its existence, this old Australian design juggernaut has made a number of really brilliant manoeuvres recently – not only in its market share, but in its pure quality of design – all of which can be related to the new owner, CCDI from China, that purchased PTW in 2013.
How this purchase ends up with a win-win situation for both firms is a question of economy and management, therefore not our interest. What we are interested in, however, is how the demand from the Chinese market through the CCDI investment, namely the thirst for something new, and the closing tie between Sydney and emerging Asian economies in the broader range, have affected the PTW approaches. We have good reasons to believe that such influences are mostly positive. We may say that this cross-continent capital flow has generated a desirable blending of different professionalisms – those robust commonwealth systems and solid expertise of a hundred years, and those adventurous (even risky) spirits and bold optimism of the emerging markets. We may even say that, quite rare for a firm of such calibre, PTW has in their recent works some elements of genuine experiments, which can be inspirational to similar projects around the world.
Housing in densely populated metropolises is obviously one prominent line in PTW's history. One Central Park in 2014 gives this line a new twist. When we see the thrilling huge cantilevered terrace high up in the air, we may think of Rotterdam. When we see the undulating balcony gardens and modules of vertical vegetation, we may think of Singapore. Yet we can't deny the fact that the combination of the two, while hosting all the customised solutions in both climate and life style, has created a 21st century vertical community that is unmistakably Sydney.
Waterfront urban renewal is another field in which PTW has great expertise. R9 Barangaroo in 2015 renders some new elements in this field. Different from London, Hamburg, or New Castle, where the renewal of old industrial harbours tends to be based on a top-down landscape system, R9 Barangaroo features a bottom-up approach. Maybe out of limitations of land ownerships, maybe out of sheer design will, the complex tries to extend the public interface from the ground all the way up to its façade. With precise climatic designs fully engaged, this solution is both contemporary and regional.
Partly because of the success of the Water Cube for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, PTW has fared very well in the sports and cultural facilities department. PTW is no stranger to iconography, monumentality plus rhetoric of local architectural motifs of massive sports or cultural buildings. Yet it is medium-to-small-scale projects, such as the Calyx in the Royal Botanic Garden in 2016 that has really taken PTW to the next level. The structural rationality, the geometric legibility, the transparency, and the green systems have made the building an amiable new comer to the centennial space of the Royal Botanic Garden. It silently provides all the space needed, without causing any distraction in environment or character. The fresh attitude to nature, and the overall intellectual humility embedded in this lovely building has made us curious about PTW's future cultural projects.
This issue of WA puts the recent trace of PTW against the backdrop of 21st century multiculturalism, and tries to read the hints of a new identity out of it. We do hope this would give our audience a peek into a common phenomenon that is taking place in architectural practice around the world today.
Our special thanks to Mr AI Xia from CCDI. His help has made this special issue possible.□