张利/ZHANG Li
本期《世界建筑》是我们对热带(包括部分亚热带)亚洲当代建筑观察的第二部分。这一次我们聚焦于“某些”国家:新加坡、马来西亚、泰国、越南和印度尼西亚。
与第一部分以斯里兰卡和印度为代表的研究相比,我们此次所面对的地带与海运贸易的关系更加密切,也更受典型热带雨林气候浸染。出于这些原因,这里的聚居空间原型本身就有着对通透和架空的诉求。这一类型学的基因经过长久的进化,形成了一种更具渗透性和混杂性的特质。
同时,这一地带也对“去殖民化”持有更加轻松的态度,也接受一种更多样化的身份认同方式。这在与周边地区的对比下清晰可辨,是有其背后的地理/历史原因的:马来王国的多公国联合传统(近期呈现为由多州构成的联邦君主政体);新加坡在英殖民后的数年内先入马来再行独立的建国道路;越南和泰国在历史上与它们的北方强大邻国的长久瓜葛使它们的殖民时期相形见绌;以及印度尼西亚国土所拥有的排名全球所有主权国家首位的岛屿总数。包容与多样性,即使并非刻意,也是我们这个时代值得赞誉的特征。实际上,当亚历山大·楚尼斯创造“批判的地域主义”一词——后来被肯尼斯·弗兰姆普顿所采用时,该词的含义略有不同——时,他所关注的 “真正的亚洲”的代表,确实有相当一部分是来自这一地带的。
作为独立的城市国家经济的成功典范,新加坡的影响力远超其微小的国土面积所给人的认识。事实上,几乎从建国以来,新加坡一直是城市发展的范本。社会住宅与建筑的气候适应性很快就使这个国家在成立之初就跨越了建筑的纪念性与国际式的误区。如果说资本的集中和热钱的涌入导致了世界上其他地区屡见不鲜的拥塞不堪与城市恶化,新加坡似乎躲过了这一魔咒。通过规划巧妙地控制密度,新加坡以其城市作为一个持续的发展项目,展现了值得用“健康”一词来形容的连贯的发展进程。进入21世纪以后,这个“健康”的发展项目已经转向对可持续性的更大关注。当然,其中难免会一些杂音,比如滨海湾的那些光怪陆离的物事,但不可否认的是,新加坡国立大学新设计与环境学院四教和绿洲露台两个案例所诠释的主流新加坡方式,既引人注目,又令人向往。
马来西亚的启发性则来自于另一方面。文化、宗教和政治形态的丰富性和复杂性,不仅使吉隆坡这样的城市成为亚洲最具多样性的都市之一,也为马来西亚建筑师提供了反思式设计干预的优渥基础。其中有需要解读的意义,有层次与深度。在马来西亚的当代建筑中,经常看到一些乍看之下令人费解的空间处理方法,在深入阅读体验之后方能心领神会。从吉隆坡C住宅这样的私人住宅,到莎阿南PKNS总部这样的大型综合体,这种多样性和复杂性跨越了不同的建筑类型和尺度。
也许并非显而易见,但当代泰国建筑的轻松与乐观与其深厚的佛教文化脉络有着毋庸置疑的内在联系。在最近的很多国际展览和竞赛中,来自泰国的项目一次又一次给评委与观众留下深刻印象,不仅因为它们拼写复杂和发音困难的名字,更因为它们简单清晰且无可挑剔的概念。有时会是冷静的沉思,就像在大城酒府中;有时则是具有富于创造性的自发秩序,就像在曼谷康芒斯商场中;有时则是纯粹的嬉戏甚至令人忍俊不禁的幽默感,譬如在曼谷的萨拉阿丽雅瑜伽学校与住宅中。
这一地带的另一现象是,在近期的越南和印度尼西亚涌现的一些最令人兴奋的当代乡土实验,正在撼动已有的、关于亚洲当代建筑的论述。这些设计项目通常针对半城半乡的环境,有着相对宽泛模糊的功能,给了年轻的越南和印度尼西亚实验建筑师足够的施展空间。它们通常以抽象的准柏拉图式几何形式开始,然后进行自我指涉、迭代的空间操作,最终通过本土材料和空间语汇来完成与场地的紧密结合。在像河南的S空间和广南的橙青社区中心这样的项目里,屋顶结构中的编织提供了魅力的来源;而在像万隆的比马图书馆和南雅加达的萨利哈拉艺术中心这样的项目中,立方墙壁体积中的丰富质感则使建筑具有了一定的特色。
需要再次重申的是,我们相信对热带(包括部分亚热带)亚洲建筑的已经发生和正在发生的进展的平行观察,是我们的一个重要灵感来源。这并不在于他们采取的什么解决方案,而在于他们是如何找到这些解决方案的。
特别感谢谢玉华女士和她的助手,她们的努力使本期专辑成为可能。□
This WA issue is the Part II of our investigation into the contemporary architecture of tropical (and some sub-tropical)Asia. This time, we focus on a "handful" of countries: Singapore,Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Comparing with Part I of this study, in which Sri Lanka and India were featured, here we are facing a regional strip that is more engaged in maritime trade and is more immersed in rainforest climates. With the intrinsic demand of settlement spaces that are more open and more lifted from the ground, a typological gene has long evolved which is more permeable, and more hybrid.
A lighter attitude to de-colonisation and a more diverse approach to identity can also be identified, not without geographical/historical reasons: the Malay tradition of the unity of kingdoms (and recently the federal monarchy consisting of multiple states); the founding path of Singapore which includes joining in and then independence from of Malaysia in a matter of years;the bigger-and-longer entanglement with their giant northern neighbour making the colonisation period of Vietnam and Thailand looking brief; and the sheer number of islands in Indonesia which tops the world's list of any sovereign states. Tolerance and diversity, even if not deliberate, are traits to be celebrated in our time nevertheless. Actually when Alexander Tzonis coined the term Critical Regionalism, which was later adopted by Kenneth Frampton with a slightly different connotation, he was eyeing this strip for some of the "truly Asian" representatives.
Being a success story of city-state economy, Singapore's influence is way bigger than anything its tiny footprint may suggest. In fact, almost ever since its foundation, Singapore has been a respectable modelon urban development. Social housing and climate adaptation soon overshadowed monumentality and internationalism in the country's formative years. If the concentration of capital and injection of hot money have caused urbanisms of congestion and deterioration everywhere-else around the world, Singapore seems to have been able to elude this spell. By cleverly addressing density through planning, Singapore, the city as a project, has a continuous evolution that can only be described as "healthy". After the turn of the 21st century, this "healthy"project has moved on to focus more on sustainability. There might be some distractions such as the posh and iconic stuff at the Marina Bay. But the overall Singaporean approach, as interpreted in NUS New Schoolof Design and Environment 4, and the Oasis Terraces, is both remarkable and desirable.
Malaysia inspires in another way. The richness and complexity of its cultural, religious and political formations not only make Kuala Lumpur one of the most diverse Asian capital cities, but also give Malay architects good grounds for reflexive interventions. There are meanings to be decoded. There are layers and depth. There are treatments of space that are confusing at first sight but telling at a closer look, and this happens across building types and scales, from private housing like the C-House in Kuala Lumpur, to cooperate structures such as the PKNS Headquarters in Shah Alam.
Perhaps not explicitly, but implicitly linked to its deep Buddhism root, is the easiness and optimism of contemporary Thai architecture. Time and again in recent exhibitions and competitions, projects from Thailand impress by complicated and unpronounceable names with simple and impeccable ideas.Sometime there is composed contemplation, like in the Wine Ayutthaya. Sometime there is creative spontaneity, like in the Commons Bangkok. Sometime there is sheer playfulness and sense of humour, like in the SalaAreeya Yoga School and Residence in Bangkok.
Carrying on some of the most exciting contemporary vernacular experiments, Vietnam and Indonesia have emerged to shake the existing discourse on Asian architecture. The semiurban, semi-rural setups, and the usually open programmes,give the young and experimental Vietnamese and Indonesian architects enough room to fl ex their muscles. A typical experiment of this type usually starts with an abstract, quasi-platonic geometry, moves on with self-referring, iterative operations, and eventually anchors itself to the site through vernacular material and spatial languages. The fabric in roof structure presents the most charm in projects like the S Space in Ho Nam and the Cam Thanh Community Centre in Quang Nam, while the texture in the cubic walls becomes the character giver in projects like the Bima Microlibrary in Bandung and the Salihara Art Compound in Jakarta Selatan.
Again, we believe looking in parallel at what has happened and is happening in the tropical (and sub-tropical) Asian countries is a great source of inspiration, not in WHAT they have in their solutions, but in HOW they come to find their solutions.
Our special thanks to Ms. Fay Cheah and her assistant, who make this issue possible. □