THE EDUCATION OF AN ECO-ARCHITECT
Credit: VerticalCity.org.
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I was born in 1933 to a family of modest means, the youngest of four children. We lived in the Yu Yuan section of Shanghai, which is now a tourist area in the southern part of the city. Toys were expensive and therefore few so I spent my childhood playing chess, making origami, and raising silk worms. In the process I learned to think strategically, to be dexterous and see geometrically in three dimensions, and to appreciate Nature and the delicate balance of its living system.In retrospect I realize that these are the very qualities that predisposed me to become an ecologically-driven architect.During World War II my family moved to the French Concession within Shanghai for betterprotection from the Japanese occupation. When Japan surrendered, I remember vividly how, after years of air raids and huddling under the dining room table, Shanghai exploded with life, flooded by all manner of American war surplus, including everything from C-rations and chocolates to thousands of U.S. sailors. The excitement lasted about two years until civil war broke out between Kuo Ming Tang (the Nationalist party) headed by Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist party under Mao Zedong.
Kuo Ming Tang was riddled with corruption and started printing currency without the necessary reserves. When inflation soared, Chiang Kai-shek sent his son Chiang Jin Guo to Shanghai to restore control. But all of a sudden the goods on store shelves disappeared and the “Black Market” became the only source of provisions. People started losing faith in the Nationalist party. Despite hefty support from the United States, the Nationalists could not prevail and in 1949 Kuo Ming Tang retreated to Taiwan. In December of the same year, shortly after the Communist take-over of China, my father decided to move to Hong Kong, which at the time was still under British sovereignty. In a practice that was common at the time, almost like insurance, he split the family in two, taking me and my oldest brother but leaving behind my middle brother and sister. If Hong Kong didn’t work out, the family could always return to Shanghai. I finished high school in Hong Kong and in 1953 went to London where I studied architecture at Northern Polytechnic, now London Metropolitan University. It was there that I was introduced to modern architecture. I loved the clean Bauhaus aesthetic, its simplicity and rational proportions. But somehow, even while fully in its sway, I never felt that the siting of International Style buildings was really resolved. To the degree that buildings had any connection with their surroundings, it was more by accident than purposeful design. Buildings were typically a-contextual, isolated and imposed on the land rather than meaningfully joined with it. I always felt there should be a better balance. In 1958 I received a full scholarship to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, and received my M.Arch degree the following year. After a short stint in a small Massachusetts architectural firm I settled in New York City, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1965. My early career focused on hospital design. The complex functions of this specialized field, particularly with respect to critical efficiencies and layered circulation systems, led me naturally to learn more about planning. I subsequently became involved in the master planning of Mokkattam, a 10,000-acre development in the hills overlooking Cairo. Today Mokkattam is best known for its sprawling views, ancient caves and quarries, and its thriving modern community. It is also known for “Garbage City.” Zabaleen (garbage collectors in Arabic) transport the trash of Cairo’s growing population, currently about 18 million, and bring it to the foot of the mountain for sorting. In an effective and environmental-friendly system that is far ahead of most modern green initiatives, the Zabaleen have been an integral part of Cairo’s waste disposal for decades. Pigs are fed on organic matter and then sold profitably for food. The remainder of the solid waste is processed and some 80 percent of it is recycled (Western garbage collectors recycle only 20-25 percent). This grassroots venture, operating virtually without cost, has become a model for developing countries. Another project that I later became involved in was the planning of Montazah, a 300-acre recreational development on the rocky bluffs overlooking the sea in Alexandria, Egypt. As it is the planner’s role to envision the future and to recognize possibilities even when others cannot, I started to think broadly about human needs and to explore, eyes wide open, what really works and what does not. I recalled my early days in Shanghai. Given its role as a hub of international banking and commerce, and consequently its greater contact with the outside world, Shanghai in the 1930s was much more developed than other parts of China. In fact, as the rest of the world struggled through the Depression, it experienced a period of unprecedented prosperity and growth, with more skyscrapers than anywhere except Chicago and New York. Outside the commercial district, houses and apartments were grouped around common courtyards or lanes. Bathroom and kitchen waste was discharged into septic tanks, which were emptied periodically and sold as fertilizer. In older parts of the city there were no sewerage systems so people used chamber pots. Some were dumped directly into the storm drains but more often farmers purchased “night soil” as they had for centuries on end. Shanghai’s neighborhoods throbbed with life and in every district there was a conveniently located market with fresh produce, fish, and meat. Since refrigerators were a rarity, most people shopped daily, buying only what they could carry in a reusable sack. There was virtually no waste. Paper, cans and bottles were reused or sold so that even without understanding the broad-scope benefits, people recycled as a matter of course. With all of our industrial waste, consumerism, and disposable mentality, we need to restore the life balance of an earlier, less destructive time. Given the unprecedented urbanization taking place in China and other developing countries, the need is urgent. If China, for example, keeps on building sprawling new cities to accommodate the massive migration that is expected to continue for the next thirty years, there won’t be enough land to grow food. There won’t be enough water or other resources. And if, with their new found wealth, people continue to buy cars in record numbers, the eco-consequences will be calamitous, not just for China but for the world. For years I have toyed with the notion of setting forth my ideas in a book. Ironically my most altruistic and lofty aspirations were unleashed by the base plight of many an urbanite: bumper-to-bumper full stop traffic. What could possibly be the problem? I wondered. It turned out that underground service crews were making a repair. The roadbed had to be opened and excavated, the utility repaired, and then the street resurfaced with heavy equipment. The entire operation took days while the repair itself required just over an hour. The inconvenience and cost, the exasperation, the lost time, and the idling pollution of so many cars for such a long period all struck me as so destructive and unnecessary. There just has to be a better way! This incident was the seed that launched my quest to eliminate as much as possible the urban problems that we’ve inherited, to find a better way to accommodate human needs, and to design a modern sustainable city. This, as much as anything, is the story of my adult life. |
我于1933年出生于上海一个小康之家，全家4个孩子中我是年纪最小的。我们居住在上海豫园，如今该地区以特色旅游闻名。玩具在当年是昂贵且稀少的，因此我的童年伙伴多是象棋，折纸手工和养蚕。从这些童年活动中，我学会了策略性思考，灵活变化以及从几何学角度思考。同时，我还从中培养了对大自然及万物的欣赏。后来我意识到，童年经历与体验对我后来成为“生态型“建筑师起了很大的推动作用。
在第二次世界大战期间，为了躲避日军侵占，我与家人搬到了上海法租界以寻求更好的保护。随着日军投降，在经历了多年空袭及桌下避难的生活后，上海又回复了生机。美军的战时供给大量流入市民家庭，包括各种干粮和供美国水军食用的巧克力。美好的光景持续了两年，直到由蒋介石领导的国民党和毛泽东领导的共产党之间爆发内战。 贪污腐败摧垮了国民党并引发了货币贬值泛滥。当通货膨胀无法控制时，蒋介石派他的儿子蒋经国到上海重整经济。但一夜之间上海所有库存都被席卷一空，而黑市则成为了日常供应品的唯一来源。人民开始不再相信国民党。尽管美国当时对国民党提供了强大的支持，国民党人依然在内战中落败。1949年，国民党退守台湾。 同年12月，仅在共产党执政中国之后，父亲决定搬去当时还属于英国统治的香港。他将金家一分为二：我与长兄随父亲一起搬到香港；而将另外两个儿子和女儿留在了上海。这在当时是很普遍的做法，或者说，是一种保障：因为如果我们无法在香港立足，依然可以回到上海。 我在上海时就读于圣约翰中学，并在香港完成高中学业。我于1953年进入伦敦北岛理工 （伦敦城市大学前身）学习。在那里我接触到了现代建筑学并对以简约及合理比例著名的鲍豪斯建筑美学产生了热爱。然而我始终觉得国际建筑的选址问题没有真正解决。在对待建筑本体与周围环境的联系的问题上，当时更多的处理方式都是“顺其自然”而不是“有目的性的”设计。建筑群的共同特性是彼此无关联，彼此孤立，同时仅仅是“被建立在土地上”而非有意识地融入周遭环境中。我认为需要在建筑与环境间寻找一种平衡，一种建筑与环境间互惠互利的良性关系。 我于1958年以全额奖学金进入位于纽约的伦斯勒理工学院继续深造，并于下一年获得建筑学硕士学位。在麻省的一家小型建筑公司短暂实践后，我于1965年定居纽约并取得了美国居民身份。 我的早年建筑生涯专注于医院建筑设计，一种具有专门功能诉求的综合设施。在对医院建筑关键效能以及分层循环功能的探索中，我对“规划”有了更深的认识。随后，我参与到Mokkattam的总体规划中。Mokkattam 占地一万英亩，是位于开罗山地并俯瞰城市的住宅区。如今，Mokkattam以其具有延展性的视野，古代洞穴，采石场以及繁荣的现代社区闻名。但最出名的还是它对废物的利用。 开罗的人口一直在增长中，目前是一千八百万。Zabaleen (阿拉伯语中的垃圾收集器) 将大量日常生活垃圾运送到位于山脚的“垃圾城”进行分检。这个环保高效且领先于许多现代绿色环保设施的系统，已 经为开罗的废物处理工作了几十年。废物经处理后的一部分转化为有机猪饲料。剩下的固体废料中，80%被分配到住宅区各个家庭进行分检再循环（相比之下，西方国家的垃圾收集站只能循环利用20%到25%的垃圾）。整个系统的运行从实质上来说是零成本，因此也成为了世界上发展中国家环保发展的范本。 另一个我参与设计的项目是位于埃及亚历山大的蒙塔扎皇宫。蒙塔扎皇宫占地300英亩，建于可俯瞰大海的悬崖上，是一座以休闲娱乐功能为主的建筑。在设计初期，我对整座建筑的功能进行了预想并对其功能的延展性进行了规划，从我自己的角度探索“人之所需”以及“可行性”。 我常常回顾儿时在上海的生活。如今的上海享有国际金融中心，联通中西的桥梁等美誉，在20世纪30年代，上海也比当年中国的大部分地区摩登发达。尽管如今的世界经济呈现“衰退”疲态，上海却呈现出令人惊叹的繁荣与发展态势。其中一个表现就是上海拥有除纽约市及芝加哥外最多的超高层建筑。在商业区之外，各种居民住宅成群建设。生活垃圾被丢弃于卫生状况糟糕的垃圾堆砌中心，定期售出并用于农业肥料。在老城区，由于没有正常的排污系统，居民依然在使用夜壶。一些生活垃圾被直接排放于雨水收集通道，更多的则是被农民购买用于施肥。 上海周边地区曾经因“每日新鲜的生活”呈现一片欣欣向荣：人们会在生活区就近的市场购买新鲜农产品。由于当时冰箱尚未普及，大多居民每天都会购买新鲜食物，并使用可重复使用的菜篮。这样便做到了零浪费：不浪费食物，不使用塑料袋。纸张，罐子以及瓶子会被居民重复使用或售出。这样一来，即使当时的人们尚未意识到循环利用资源的益处，人们的行为已经具备可持续发展的雏形。而如今，各种工业废物，消费主义产物以及随意丢弃的坏习惯的形成，使人们抛弃了过去的“环保”生活形态。而我们现在的任务是要将其找回来。 由于中国及其他发展中国家正处于过快的城市化发展中，我们需要更快找到回归可持续发展生活形态的方法。如果中国在接下来30年中为了容纳城市移民而继续过量扩展城市规模，农民将无地可耕，国家也将不会有足够食物养活庞大人口。就连水及其他资源也会短缺。同时，如果人们不停购买汽车以显示经济实力，其造成的环境灾难将是不可预计的。该问题不仅中国有，在全球范围内普遍存在。 退休以来我一直在思考探索《垂直城市》的主旨。颇具讽刺意味的是，在我的研究过程中，一个十分重要的启发来源于大都市诸多问题中的其中一个：混乱缓慢的交通系统。为什么城市交通如此缓慢无序？后来我发现，引起地面交通系统缓慢的原因是对地下交通的修护：路面被打开，挖掘，设施被修复，为了闭合路面引进大型器械。整个操作持续好几天，而真正的维修过程只花费1，2小时。在我看来，为了1，2小时的项目而造成的巨大开销，时间的浪费，大量的污染，实在是既昂贵且不必要。我们必须找到更好的方法！我想要寻求解决城市问题更好的方法，让城市满足更多居民的需求，同时设计一个现代且可持续发展的城市。 以上，如读者所见，就是我作为建筑师的生涯。 |
This article was archived on December 18, 2015.