伊麗莎白·格林威爾·格羅斯曼/Elizabeth Greenwell Grossman
潘麗珂 譯/Translated by PAN Like
本文1-2)[1]最初是2019年10月12日在清華大學(xué)的一次研討會上所作的演講,恰逢當(dāng)時的展覽 “歸成——畢業(yè)于賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)的中國第一代建筑學(xué)家”。本文思考了法裔美國建筑師保羅·P·克瑞的工作(1876-1945,圖1),他教授了許多中國學(xué)生,不僅講授了他的設(shè)計方法,尤其,傳達(dá)了他關(guān)于美好社會的理念。我認(rèn)為,克瑞致力于設(shè)計公民建筑——圖書館、博物館、政府大樓和紀(jì)念館——不僅因為這是鮑扎建筑師所接受的訓(xùn)練,更是因為他深信這些建筑對社會有重要作用。第一次世界大戰(zhàn)期間,克瑞在法國軍隊服役時,寫信給妻子道:“我擔(dān)心自己正在失去長久以來獲得的那點東西,而那正是我的社會價值?!睋Q言之,對克瑞而言,巴黎美院的學(xué)習(xí)使他能夠教授并實踐建筑,而這正是他為社會做出貢獻(xiàn)的方式,或者用他自己的話講,這賦予他“社會價值”。
克瑞的社會價值觀不僅在于設(shè)計實用和適用的建筑,他最希望通過設(shè)計這樣的建筑鼓勵公民參與到公民事務(wù)中來。
克瑞的職業(yè)生涯由他在競賽中獲得的成功所形成。在本文中,我將討論其中的3場競賽,通過比較克瑞與其他參賽者的作品來強(qiáng)調(diào)克瑞獨特的設(shè)計手法。首先從1907年華盛頓特區(qū)的泛美聯(lián)盟總部大樓競賽的獲勝講起,這場競賽使克瑞蜚聲全國。當(dāng)克瑞參與競賽時,他剛剛接受賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)建筑學(xué)院提供的教職工作不久,當(dāng)時他在美國僅待了5年。
要理解泛美聯(lián)盟總部大樓競賽所提出的難點,需要簡單回顧一下該機(jī)構(gòu)的歷史。該建筑的目的是為一個新機(jī)構(gòu)提供場地,而該機(jī)構(gòu)旨在促進(jìn)美國與拉丁美洲共和國之間形成更好的關(guān)系。最初,該建筑只是為了存放被稱為“哥倫布紀(jì)念圖書館”的資料,這些藏書旨在增進(jìn)知識,從而增進(jìn)美國與拉丁美洲成員國之間的了解(圖 2、3)。
然而到了比賽階段,業(yè)主對該建筑的雄心大大增加了——不僅要求做一個“堂皇的”圖書館,而且還要求有一個巨大的集會空間。競賽簡訊還專門要求建造一個庭院,但并未明確說明使用哪種類型的建筑,不過曾提及“家園”和“和平神廟”等概念。
將克瑞的獲勝作品與其他一些參賽作品相比較,可以清晰獲知他贏得競賽的原因。這些比較也闡明了他在職業(yè)生涯中反復(fù)使用的鮑扎設(shè)計策略。
豪威爾斯和斯托克斯的立面以其圓頂和柱廊著稱(圖4、5),但克瑞避免使用這些公共建筑的傳統(tǒng)標(biāo)志,而改用能喚起拉丁美洲建筑記憶的瓦屋面。他的入口采用了3個帶裝飾格柵的拱形門洞,這也暗示了出入大樓的人流組織不那么正式。簡而言之,他的設(shè)計讓人聯(lián)想到一個家,而非一個宏偉的機(jī)構(gòu)。
克瑞的平面也很獨特(圖6、7)。與凱利爾和黑斯廷斯將集會廳構(gòu)思成一個布滿座位的禮堂不同,克瑞提出了法國人能立即理解的宴會廳概念——一種與大型房間中的聚會和社交活動相關(guān)的房間類型。更重要的是,這類房間使用起來十分靈活。它可以用作講演和會議以及更多的節(jié)日聚會 (圖8)。相較凱利爾和黑斯廷斯的設(shè)計,克瑞的平面更為緊湊。他不需要線性走道將房間連接在一起,而是引導(dǎo)游客在景觀中穿越建筑,這些景觀從庭院一直延續(xù)到前花園。
在首層平面圖中,克瑞對該方案的策略被最戲劇性地揭示出來(圖9、10)。圖書館要求有3個小房間——地圖室、一個期刊室和一個閱覽室。然而,克瑞將這3個房間合并成一個大房間,并用書柜來劃分功能。通過這種方式,他創(chuàng)造出一個不僅僅滿足于任務(wù)書實用性要求、而且可以真正值得稱為“哥倫布紀(jì)念圖書館”的空間。
克瑞對圖書館的處理方式是他全部作品的典型,也是他整個設(shè)計的關(guān)鍵(圖11)。從剖面圖中可以清晰地看到,位于花園前端的圖書館為首層的漫游路徑提供了有力的收尾,也為二層更為寬敞的集會廳提供了適當(dāng)?shù)闹巍?/p>
克瑞對剖面進(jìn)行了精心設(shè)計,他表示:
“一個好的平面設(shè)計是可以憑之以良好的順序豎立起良好的房間,因此它的檢驗在于剖面。剖面是整個構(gòu)圖的圖解,并且應(yīng)該是它的來源。”
1 保羅·P·克瑞/Paul P. Cret1-2)
2 克瑞,泛美聯(lián)盟總部大樓(OAS大樓),華盛頓特區(qū),1910年,正立面/Cret, Pan American Union (OAS Building),Washington D. C, 1910, fa?ade
3 泛美聯(lián)盟總部,內(nèi)部/Pan American Union, interior
This paper1-2)[1]was initially given as a talk in a symposium at Tsinghua University on October 12, 2019,in the occasion of the exhibit "Accomplishment - The First Generation of Chinese Architects from the University of Pennsylvania. It considers the work of French-American architect Paul P. Cret (1876-1945, Fig. 1) who taught many of these Chinese students, in terms of both his approach to design and most particularly, Cret's ideas of the good society. I argue that Cret's commitment to designing civic buildings - libraries, museums,government buildings and memorials - was not only because that is what Beaux-Arts architects were trained to do. I think Cret dedicated himself to civic buildings because he believed deeply in their importance to society. He wrote to his wife when he was serving in the French army during World War I that he was worried that he was "loosing that little which I was so long in gaining and which is my social value." In other words,for Cret his study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which enabled him to teach and practice architecture, was his way of contributing to society, or to use his words, what gave him his "social value".
Cret's idea of social value was not just about designing functional and appropriate buildings. Cret wanted nothing less than to design buildings that would encourage citizens to participate in the civic sphere.
Cret's career was shaped by his successes in competitions. In this paper I discuss three of these competitions so as to underscore his particular approach to design by comparing Cret's entries with those of other competitors. I start with his winning entry in 1907 for the Pan American Union building in Washington D.C. which brought him to national recognition. When Cret entered the competition he had only recently accepted an invitation to join the faculty of School of Architecture, the University of Pennsylvania.He had been in the United States for only five years.
To understand the difficulties posed by the Pan American Union Building competition requires a very brief recounting of the history of this institution. The purpose of the building was to provide accommodation for a new agency created to promote better relations between the United States and the republics of Latin America. Originally, the building was just to house what was called The Columbus Memorial Library, a collection intended to advance knowledge and thus understanding among the USA and the member Latin American republics.
By the time of the competition, however, the ambitions for the building had increased signi ficantly -the programme called not only for a "digni fied" library but a large room for assemblies. The competition brief also called speci fically for a patio but it did not make clear what type of building was wanted. A "home" and a "temple of peace" were both mentioned (Fig. 2, 3).
Comparison of his winning entry with those of a few of the other entrants demonstrates quite clearly why Cret won. These comparisons also illuminate the Beaux-Arts design strategies that he used over and over again in his career.
Whereas Howells and Stokes' elevation is notable for its dome and colonnade (Fig. 4, 5), Cret avoided these conventional markers of public buildings and instead used a tile roof evocative of Latin American architecture. His entrance of three arched openings with decorative grilles also suggests a less formal flow of people to and from the building. In short, his design evokes a home rather than a grand institution.
Cret's plans are also distinctive (Fig. 6, 7). Unlike Carrère and Hastings who conceived their assembly room as an auditorium with fixed seats, Cret, in contrast, proposed what the French would recognize instantly as a salle de fête-a room type associated with gatherings and social events in great houses importantly the uses of this room are flexible. It could be used for lectures and meetings as well as for more festive gatherings (Fig. 8). In comparison with Carrère and Hastings, Cret's plan is much more compact. He has no need for linear corridors to knit the rooms together.Instead he invites visitors through the building with vistas that extend through the patio to the garden front.
It is in the first-floor plan that the Cret's approach to the program is most dramatically revealed (Fig. 9, 10).The requirements for the library called for 3 small rooms-one for maps, one for periodicals and one for reading. Cret however, united the three rooms into one large room with bookcases dividing the functions.By doing so he was able to elevate the status of the library beyond the utilitarian spaces that the program suggested to create a room that is actually worthy to be called the Columbus Memorial Library.
His approach to the library is typical of Cret's oeuvre and is the key to his whole design (Fig. 11). Clearly visible the section drawing, the library on the garden front provides a worthy conclusion to the first-floor promenade through the building and an appropriate support for the more lavish assembly room above.
Cret deliberately designed in section. He said:
"A good plan is one from which may rise good rooms in a good sequence its test therefore lies in the section. The sections are the diagram of the whole composition and ought to be its source."
For Cret designing in section was not just a useful skill but, in fact, a key to his efforts to help citizens to feel that civic institutions belonged to them.
In the final design the relation between the two floors was adjusted and perhaps, most importantly, the patio wall was redesigned as a dramatic diagonal cut so that one could look down into the patio from the stair case (Fig. 12). In turn, from the patio the diagonal of the staircase walls revealed the location of stairs and dramatised the ascent to the second floor. The building opens itself so effectively that led by the vistas and light, visitors can find their way around the building as easily as if it were their own home (Fig. 13, 14).
Cret was told that he won the competition because of his "judgment in making it a great private house, unlike others which had large amphitheatres with domes and injured the appearance of their plans by showing a multitude of seats." (Fig. 15, 16)
Significantly, when Cret explained his design he spoke about the public's experience of the building:
"The public is to be accommodated more like guests in a large residence than like the crowds attending paid functions in a public hall."
This is an early and very important statement of Cret's conception of the role of civic architecture. Civic buildings were to make the public feel at home.
Throughout his career, he would avoid monumental domes, imposing staircases, single-purpose rooms and tiresome corridors. He avoided them because he thought of the people who would visit the building, and the people who would work there. As he said:
"The architect must put himself in the place of the future occupant of the building, as the actor on the stage tries to live the character he is called on to impersonate."
In 1919 when Cret entered the post-war Nebraska State Capitol competition, he had just returned from France after 5 and 1/2 years of warfare - serving first as an infantryman in the trenches, and then as an interpreter on U.S. General Pershing's staff (Fig. 17, 18). As a soldier he had witnessed firs-hard some of the most terrible battles of that terrible war. By the time he resumed his teaching at the University of Pennsylvania he was 45 years old and partially deaf from the impact of the ammunition shells exploding over the trenches.The Nebraska competition was his first major design challenge after a long hiatus.
The Pan American Union competition, which had established Cret's national reputation, had required competitors to define the character of a completely new and unique institution. That was not the case with the Nebraska State capitol competition. State capitols were an established institutional type; they imitated the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C with its de fining dome, and classical style (Fig. 19, 20).
Interestingly, in spite of the program language,only two architects among the competitors offered a completely new capitol type. One was Cret, the other was Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. Both of them also understood that the key to the new type lay in the site,which was that of the old capitol. That building featured a dome positioned at the crossing of two streets at the centre of a four-block square in the Nebraska street grid.
4 克瑞,泛美聯(lián)盟總部競賽,1907年,立面/Cret, Pan American Union competition, 1907, elevation
5 豪威爾斯和斯托克斯,泛美聯(lián)盟總部競賽,1907年,立面/Howells and Stokes, Pan American Union competition, 1907,elevation
對于克瑞而言,剖面設(shè)計不僅是一項有用的技能,事實上,這也是他幫助公民意識到這些機(jī)構(gòu)屬于他們的關(guān)鍵。
在最終設(shè)計中,克瑞調(diào)整了兩層之間的關(guān)系,也許最重要的是,將庭院的墻體重新設(shè)計成富有戲劇性的斜線切口,這樣人們就可以在樓梯上俯瞰庭院(圖12)。同樣的,置身庭院中往上看,樓梯墻的斜切揭示樓梯的位置,并戲劇性地展示了通往二層的上升路徑。該建筑在景和光的引導(dǎo)下顯得十分開放,游客在其中穿行自如,就像在自己的家中一樣(圖13、14)。
克瑞被告知他之所以贏得競賽,因為他“將該建筑設(shè)計成一個大型私人住宅,不像其他參賽者將之設(shè)計成大型的圓形劇院,這些‘劇院’帶有典型的穹頂,并且因為布置了過多的座位破壞了平面的圖案關(guān)系”(圖15、16)。
值得注意的是,當(dāng)克瑞解釋他的設(shè)計時,他談到了公眾對它的體驗:
“公眾在這個建筑中被‘款待’,更像大型住宅中的客人而非公共大廳中參加付費活動的人群?!?/p>
這是克瑞關(guān)于公民建筑概念早期且非常重要的陳述。公民建筑要讓公眾感到賓至如歸。
縱觀克瑞的職業(yè)生涯,他總在避免使用紀(jì)念性的穹頂、宏偉的樓梯、單一功能的房間和令人厭倦的走廊。他避免使用這些元素,因為他考慮到了今后來這里參觀和在里面工作的人。正如他所說:
“建筑師必須設(shè)身處地考慮建筑將來的使用情況,正如舞臺上的演員要將自己所扮演的角色演活一樣?!?/p>
城市河岸不僅能夠帶動沿河地區(qū)的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展,甚至對整個城市的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展都起到顯著的提升作用。其濱水住宅帶來土地價值上漲,旅游、休閑、娛樂文化對沿河地區(qū)乃至整個城市的第三產(chǎn)業(yè)經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展起到重要的促進(jìn)作用。此外,由河流廊道帶來的自然景色及活動場所有助于城市居民身心健康發(fā)展,具有重要的潛在社會經(jīng)濟(jì)價值。
1919年當(dāng)克瑞參加戰(zhàn)后的內(nèi)布拉斯加州議會大廈競賽時,他剛結(jié)束在法國為時5年半的戰(zhàn)爭生活——這些年里他先是在戰(zhàn)壕中當(dāng)步兵,然后成為美國潘興將軍的口譯員(圖17、18)。作為一名士兵,他親眼目睹了這場可怕戰(zhàn)爭中一些最殘酷的戰(zhàn)役。當(dāng)他再次在賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)執(zhí)教時已經(jīng)45歲了,并因在戰(zhàn)壕里長期遭受彈藥的轟炸而部分耳聾。內(nèi)布拉斯加州議會大廈競賽是克瑞戰(zhàn)后第一個重大的設(shè)計挑戰(zhàn)。
泛美聯(lián)盟總部競賽確立了克瑞的全國聲譽(yù),該競賽要求參賽者定義一種全新和獨特的機(jī)構(gòu)特征,但內(nèi)布拉斯加州議會大廈并非如此。議會大廈是一種既定的機(jī)構(gòu)類型;它們常以圓頂和古典風(fēng)格來模仿華盛頓特區(qū)的美國國會大廈(圖19、20)。
出乎意料的是,內(nèi)布拉斯加州議會大廈競賽要求建筑師重新考慮這一傳統(tǒng)。該競賽簡訊聲明:“一州的議會大廈是其人民品格的外在標(biāo)志。在內(nèi)布拉斯加州,讓新的議會大廈成為象征?!备鞔_的是,參賽者被邀請“面向建筑更廣泛的遺產(chǎn)”。換句話說,該競賽鼓勵建筑師提供一種州議會大廈主流形式之外的替代方案。因而克瑞在這場競賽中可能提出了一個新的范例。
有趣的是,盡管競賽的簡訊聲明如此,但在眾多參賽者中僅有兩名建筑師提出了全新的議會大廈類型。一個是克瑞,另一個是貝特拉姆·G·古德休。同時他們也明白,新類型創(chuàng)造的關(guān)鍵在于基地,那里有舊議會大廈。該建筑帶有圓頂,坐落于內(nèi)布拉斯加州街道網(wǎng)格中一個四街區(qū)廣場中心的兩條街道交叉口。
然而在克瑞的設(shè)計中,沒有采用圓頂來宣告這是一個州議會大廈(圖21、22)。事實上,他并沒有在街道交叉口設(shè)置顯著的標(biāo)志,而是在廣場中心留下一片空地,將立法會議廳、最高法院和中央紀(jì)念大樓放在了基地外圍各自獨立的建筑中。在廣場的開敞一側(cè),他放置了著名的雕塑——亞伯拉罕·林肯,該雕塑出自丹尼爾·切斯特·法蘭奇之手,并且原先就位于場地上。克瑞的構(gòu)圖以巨大的方尖碑為背景,令人想起華盛頓特區(qū)的華盛頓紀(jì)念碑,他的構(gòu)圖就像傳統(tǒng)的州議會大廈一樣喚起人們對國家首都的記憶。
有趣的是,競賽計劃要求對設(shè)計進(jìn)行“分解構(gòu)圖”。大多數(shù)參賽者用這張詳圖僅為了傳遞更多建筑風(fēng)格的信息。然而,克瑞畫了一個小場景,使他的設(shè)計意圖更為生動:前景中拄著拐杖的人物暗示了從戰(zhàn)爭中回來的受傷士兵,方尖碑將位于紀(jì)念建筑檐壁上的“平等”字樣隔離出來,這個詞令人想起士兵們?yōu)橹畩^斗的理想,更具體地說,是內(nèi)布拉斯加州“法律面前人人平等”的座右銘(圖23)。
克瑞沒有贏得競賽——他獲得第四名。古德休憑借他的“平原之塔”贏得了競賽——該設(shè)計象征了教堂般飛升天堂的夢想(圖25、26)。這座122m高的塔樓在37km的平地范圍內(nèi)可見,成為了城市的顯著標(biāo)志,并以一個巨型尺度的入口向公民致意。
古德休的設(shè)計向內(nèi)布拉斯加州的公民展示了鼓舞人心的精神寄托,而克瑞則為他們提供了集會的場所,令人回想起美利堅合眾國剛成立時低調(diào)的城市廣場。正如其總平面圖清晰顯示(圖24),他的議會大廈盡管3面封閉,但在北界面卻打開了豁口,對著一所公立大學(xué)。因此,克瑞的設(shè)計強(qiáng)調(diào)了一種美國式信念,即加強(qiáng)對受過教育的公民和民主政府之間的聯(lián)系。
該設(shè)計還揭示了克瑞關(guān)于教育對個人和社會的雙重作用的價值信仰。
克瑞對教育的投入部分來自自身經(jīng)歷。他成長于法國里昂的一個工人階級家庭,依靠自身出色的表現(xiàn)獲得獎學(xué)金,從而完成了學(xué)業(yè)。這段個人經(jīng)歷使他對擅用職權(quán)的人表現(xiàn)出極大的厭惡。在戰(zhàn)壕中,他寫信給妻子,講述了他對那些“維護(hù)和擴(kuò)大自己特權(quán)”的精英的厭惡。克瑞看見他們利用自己的職位牟取更多私利而不是為選舉和委任他們的人民服務(wù),這種行為破壞了共和政府的制度。我認(rèn)為很重要的一點是,作為一名建筑學(xué)的教授,克瑞本可以在第一次世界大戰(zhàn)中免于返法服役,但他卻選擇參軍并以一名普通的步兵身份加入。
對于克瑞而言,建立在特權(quán)基礎(chǔ)上的社會恰恰與精英統(tǒng)治相反,在精英統(tǒng)治中,人們是基于個人才能和成就得到認(rèn)可的。這不僅是簡單的個人機(jī)會的問題,而且是要確保最好的想法能得到傾聽,最佳的方式是要根據(jù)想法本身的優(yōu)點來做決定而非決策者的地位??巳鹪谥v座的筆記和信件中倡導(dǎo)“公正”和“擺脫個人偏見”,并明確警告學(xué)生摒棄“思想上的專制主義”,因為這會限制思維,從而干擾尋求社會問題最佳解決方案的努力。
7 凱利爾和黑斯廷斯,泛美聯(lián)盟總部競賽,1907年,平面/Carrère and Hastings, Pan American Union competition,1907, plan
8 克瑞,泛美聯(lián)盟總部,1910年,集會大廳/Cret, Pan American Union, 1910, assembly room
In Cret's design, however, there is no dome to proclaim that this is a capitol (Fig. 21, 22). In fact,instead of a prominent symbol at the crossing of the streets, Cret has left the centre of the square empty,placing the legislative chambers, the Supreme Court and the central memorial building in virtually separate buildings on the periphery of the site. On the fourth side of the square he located the famous Daniel Chester French statue of Abraham Lincoln, which had been on the site originally. Backed with a giant obelisk that recalled the Washington monument in the Washington, D.C., Cret's composition evoked the nation's capital, just as the traditional state capitol buildings had always done.
The programme interestingly called for an analytique Most of the competitors used this detail drawing just to give more information about the style of their building. Cret, however, created a vignette that dramatised the meaning of his design: The figure in the foreground leaning on a cane suggests the wounded soldiers returned from the war, the obelisk in the foreground isolates the word "Equality" on the frieze of the memorial building, a word recalling the ideals for which the soldiers had been fighting, and,more specifically, the motto of the state of Nebraska"Equality before the law." (Fig. 23)
Cret did not win the competition - he placed fourth. Goodhue won with his Tower for the Plains -a work of soaring aspiration meant, like a cathedral(Fig. 25, 26). The 122-metre tower, visible for 37 km across the flat plain is a dramatic presence in the city and addresses citizens with an entrance of monumental scale.
Whereas Goodhue presented the citizens of Nebraska an inspirational symbol, Cret offered a place for them to gather recalling the modest town squares of the new American republic (Fig. 24). As his site plan clearly shows, his capitol. though closed on three sides,opens toward the north and the public university.Cret's design thus underscores the American belief in the connection between an educated citizenry and democratic government.
The design also reveals Cret's own belief in the value of education to both the individual and to society.
Cret's commitment to education was, it seems,partly autobiographical. He had grown up in a workingclass family in Lyon, France and had gone through school on scholarships which were given out based on merit. This personal history may have contributed to his strong distaste for those who exploited their government positions. He wrote to his wife while serving in the trenches, about his distaste for those elites given to "the defense and extension of their [own]privileges." He saw them as corrupting the institutions of republican government by using their positions to advance their own interests rather than the interests of the people they were appointed or elected to serve.It is significant I think that although, as a professor of architecture Cret could have avoided serving in the French army in World War I altogether, he chose to join the army and to do so as an ordinary infrantryman.
For Cret, a society based on privilege was the opposite of a meritocracy, in which people were recognised based on individual talent and accomplishment. And it was not simply a matter personal opportunity. Rather decisions based on merit rather than status were the best way to assure that the best ideas would gain a hearing. In his lecture notes and letters Cret, advocated for "impartiality"and "free[dom] from personal bias", and he explicitly warned students against "absolutism in ideas" that would constrain thinking and thus interfere with efforts to find the best solutions to society's problems.
Directly related to Cret's ideas about the character of civic buildings was a belief, central to Beaux-Arts pedagogy, that it was the architect's role to contribute to the evolution of institutions by understanding their changing functions in society. His winning design for the Indianapolis Public Library competition of 1913 makes this point particularly well.
Historically the function of libraries had been to preserve books for the benefit of those privileged enough to be able to read. As a corollary, library books were read by those with the time to spend in the library's reading room. The reading room was thus the most important room in the building. But at the turn of the 20th century the primacy of the reading room was challenged by the more democratic idea of home borrowing, of taking books out of the library to read at home at one's own convenience. Importantly, at the time of the Indianapolis competition, the traditional function of the library was in flux.
Thus not surprisingly, the Indianapolis Library competition programme was ambiguous about whether to privilege the reading room or, more radically, the delivery room where books were checked out to take home. Most of the competitors chose to design a traditional reading-room type. Cret, however, proposed a brilliant alternative. As the sections show (Fig. 27),he placed the reading rooms on the second floor as was customary. But in his design they on the flanks, not the main fa?ade, of the building,
And, surprisingly, he placed the delivery desk on a plateau between the entrance level and the second floor. There the delivery desk became the signature feature of the building, reaching toward people as they came up the short flight of steps from the entrance vestibule (Fig. 28). Moreover, his delivery room was remarkably spacious, two stories high and encompassed by a balcony. Cret justified the size of this room, which is 50 per cent larger than the programme called for by making it double-function as the circulation space for the library.
Cret's remarkable design skills allowed him to create a building that advanced a progressive evolution of the library type. Featuring the desk for home borrowing was also in keeping his own belief in the value to society of advancing opportunities an educated citizenry.
9 克瑞,泛美聯(lián)盟總部競賽,1907年,一層平面/Cret, Pan American Union competition, 1907, first- floor plan
10 克瑞,泛美聯(lián)盟總部,1910年,圖書館/Cret, Pan American Union, 1910, library
11 克瑞,泛美聯(lián)盟總部競賽,1907年,剖面/Cret, Pan American Union competition, 1907, section
12 克瑞,泛美聯(lián)盟總部,1910年,最終剖面/Cret, Pan American Union, 1910, final section
13 泛美聯(lián)盟總部,從樓梯俯瞰庭院的視角/Pan American Union, view of stairs overlooking patio
14 泛美聯(lián)盟總部,從庭院看向樓梯的視角/Pan American Union, view from patio to stairs
15 泛美聯(lián)盟總部,從門廳望向庭院視角/Pan American Union,view from foyer to patio
16 泛美聯(lián)盟總部,從庭院望向入口視角/Pan American Union,view from patio to entrance
17 克瑞,《睡覺,吃飯,工作》繪畫,1914-1919年 /Cret,Dormir, Manger, Travailler drawing, 1914-1919
18 第一次世界大戰(zhàn)期間克瑞在戰(zhàn)壕中的照片/Photograph,Cret in trench, World War I
與克瑞關(guān)于公民建筑特性的觀念直接相關(guān)的是一種信念,這是鮑扎教育體系的核心,即建筑師的職責(zé)是通過理解機(jī)構(gòu)在社會中不斷變化的功能來促進(jìn)其演變。1913年印第安納波利斯公共圖書館競賽中,克瑞的獲勝作品尤其說明了這點。
從歷史上看,圖書館的功能是存儲圖書,使那些有權(quán)閱讀的人獲益。當(dāng)然,那些有時間花在圖書館閱覽室中的人可以閱讀里面的書籍。因此,閱覽室是圖書館最重要的房間。但是在20世紀(jì)初,閱覽室的主導(dǎo)地位受到更為民主的家庭借閱觀念的挑戰(zhàn)。家庭借閱指的是將書從圖書館借出來,在家方便時閱讀。重要的是,在印第安納波利斯公共圖書館競賽時,圖書館的傳統(tǒng)功能已在不斷變化。
因此并不奇怪,印第安納波利斯公共圖書館競賽對于是將閱覽室賦予特權(quán)還是更激進(jìn)地將借閱室賦予特權(quán)給予了模棱兩可的說明。大多數(shù)參賽者選擇設(shè)計傳統(tǒng)的閱覽室類型。然而,克瑞提出了一個絕妙的替代方案,正如剖面顯示(圖27),他按照慣例將閱覽室放在二樓,但在其設(shè)計中,它們位于建筑物的側(cè)翼而非主立面上。而且,令人驚嘆的是,他將借閱臺設(shè)置在了入口層和二層高度之間的夾層平臺上。在那里,借閱臺成為了建筑的標(biāo)志性特征,當(dāng)人們從入口前廳走上一小段樓梯時,它就能到達(dá)(圖28)。此外,他的借閱室非常寬敞,有兩層通高,周圍有一圈陽臺。該部分的面積比任務(wù)書要求的多了50%,但克瑞使該空間尺寸合理化,因為它可以兼做圖書館的交通大廳。
克瑞出色的設(shè)計技巧使他創(chuàng)造出一座推動圖書館類型發(fā)展的建筑。他將家庭借閱臺作為建筑的特色,堅持了希望促進(jìn)受教育的公民獲得更多機(jī)會的價值觀念。
盡管克瑞的理想根植于自身經(jīng)歷,但有趣的是,克瑞關(guān)于建筑和社會的理想與20世紀(jì)初中國的“五四運動”關(guān)于社會變革的訴求是一致的。在維拉·施瓦茨的《中國啟蒙知識分子與1919年“五四運動”的遺產(chǎn)》一書中強(qiáng)調(diào),參加該運動的中國知識分子提倡關(guān)于開化個人以及知識探索對社會進(jìn)步重要性的新思想[2]。
在施瓦茨引用的眾多著作中,有一篇是羅家倫(1897-1969,圖29)在“五四運動”的核心期刊《新潮》上所寫的:
“我們的思想革命旨在變奴性的思想為獨立的思想,變專制的思想為民主的思想,變昏亂的思想為邏輯的思想?!?當(dāng)然,這些語言比克瑞的更為尖銳,而且是寫在中國社會和政治大混亂時期。但是,獨立思考對良好社會建立的重要性在羅家倫的話語中引起了清晰的共鳴。
在北京大學(xué)人文系主任陳獨秀(圖30)的著作中,對解決社會問題的強(qiáng)調(diào)十分明顯。陳獨秀在1915年提出論點:“中國目前迫切需要的是在特定問題上有清晰思考能力的人而非熱血青年。”作為中國留學(xué)生的老師,克瑞參與競賽項目的方法以及他在其中探索公民機(jī)構(gòu)逐步演變的可能性,與陳對“特定問題的清晰思考”有著明顯的相似之處。
施瓦茨強(qiáng)調(diào)了清華大學(xué)教師在五四運動中的重要作用。值得注意的是,其中一位教授哲學(xué)的金岳霖(圖31),是曾在賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)的建筑師梁思成的密友。當(dāng)然,梁思成的父親梁啟超是本次運動的核心人物(圖32)。還有林徽因也曾就讀于賓夕法尼亞大學(xué),她后來成為梁思成的妻子和建筑事業(yè)的合作者,她也為一些與中國啟蒙有關(guān)的期刊撰稿(圖33)。
何其有幸,克瑞可以教授帶有如此背景從中國遠(yuǎn)道而來的學(xué)生;何其有幸,這些學(xué)生可以找到一位老師,就像他們一樣相信一個重視教育、開明思想、對問題清晰思考的重要性的社會。
關(guān)于克瑞還有最后一點要說明,盡管他明白工作賦予了他社會價值,但他對自己的成就十分謙虛。1938年,他獲得了美國建筑師協(xié)會(AIA)的最高榮譽(yù)金獎。他在致辭中說道:
“在建筑藝術(shù)中,集體努力比個人的努力更能體現(xiàn)時代的理想。也有一些貢獻(xiàn)者,隨著時間的推移,在歷史長河中被淹沒姓名,他們所做的貢獻(xiàn)將歸功于唯一留下姓名的人。能夠成為創(chuàng)造我們這個時代建筑的工匠之一已經(jīng)足夠令人滿足的了?!?/p>
這些言論透露出的不僅僅是他個人的謙虛,而且與克瑞的信念產(chǎn)生共鳴,即一個社會理想的形成需要許多人的貢獻(xiàn)。每個人都有機(jī)會表達(dá)自己的想法,由此最好的想法就會浮現(xiàn)出來,這是多么重要。一個人認(rèn)識到自己對社會的貢獻(xiàn)遠(yuǎn)大于對自己聲譽(yù) (也許是短暫的聲譽(yù)),這也非常重要。(感謝清華大學(xué),特別感謝童明教授邀請我參加這次有關(guān)清華第一代留美建筑師的研討會。此次展覽和“覺醒的現(xiàn)代性”的文章強(qiáng)調(diào)了這些建筑師的工作是多么重要。我還要感謝我的同事和朋友賴德霖教授,是他對建筑的社會責(zé)任感的信念激勵了我。)
19 美國國會大廈,華盛頓特區(qū),1800-1865年/ United States Capitol, Washington. D.C, 1800-1865
20 原先的內(nèi)布拉斯加州議會大廈,1886年/Former Nebraska State Capitol, 1886
21 克瑞,1919年內(nèi)布拉斯加州議會大廈競賽立面/Cret,Nebraska State Capitol competition 1919, elevation drawing
22 克瑞,1919年內(nèi)布拉斯加州議會大廈競賽平面/Cret,Nebraska State Capitol competition 1919, plan
23 克瑞,內(nèi)布拉斯加州議會大廈競賽分解構(gòu)圖/Cret,Nebraska State Capitol competition, analytique
24 貝特拉姆·G·古德休,內(nèi)布拉斯加州議會大廈,1920-1932年,鳥瞰/Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, Nebraska State Capitol, 1920-1932, aerial view
Although Cret's ideas are rooted in his own history, it is interesting to speculate briefly about possible parallels between Cret's ideas about architecture and society and the intellectual ideas of the Chinese reform movement of the early 20th century called the May Fourth Movement. In her book,The Chinese Enlightenment Intellectuals and the Legacy of the May Fourth Movement of 1919,Vera Schwarcz stresses that the Chinese intellectuals who participated in this movement promoted new ideas about the importance of enlightened individuals and open intellectual inquiry to the progress of society[2].
Among the many writings that Schwarcz quotes is one by LUO Jialun (1897-1969, Fig 29) fromNew Tidethe key journal of the May Fourth Movement:
"Our thought revolution aims to change slavish mentality into independent thinking, to change autocratic mentality into egalitarian thinking, to change chaotic mentality into logical thinking."Of course this language is more strident than Cret's and was written at a time of great social and political chaos in China but none theless the importance of independent thinking for a good society resonates clearly in LUO's words.
His stress on solving social problems is clear also in the writings of CHEN Duxiu (Fig 30), who became dean of Humanities at Beijing University. CHEN argued in 1915 that "what China urgently needed instead of emotionally ardent patriots, were people who were capable of thinking clearly about specific problems". As a teacher of students from China,Cret's approach to competition programmes and his searching in them for possibilities for the progressive evolution of civic institutions have clear parallels to CHEN's "thinking clearly about speci fic problems"
Schwarcz underscored the important role that Tsinghua University faculty played in the May Fourth Movement. Signi ficantly, one of them, JIN Yuelin (Fig. 31),who taught philosophy, there was an intimate friend of architect LIANG Sicheng who studied at Penn. Of course, LIANG Qichao (Fig. 32), LIANG Sicheng's father, was a central figure in the movement. And LIN Huiyin, who also went to Penn and would become LIANG Sicheng's wife and architectural collaborator wrote for some of the journals associated with the Chinese Enlightenment (Fig. 33).
How fortunate for Cret that students from such a background came from China to study with him.And how fortunate for the students that they found a teacher who believed, as they did, in a society that valued education, open minded thought, and the importance of thinking clearly about problems.
There is one final point to make about Cret.Although he understood his work as giving him social value, he was modest about his achievements. In 1938 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects, its highest honour. In his acceptance speech he said:
"In the art of Architecture, collective effort counts more than individual industry in giving form to the ideals of a period. There are, [also], contributions which in time become anonymous and are apt to be ascribed to the one name which survives. To be one of the artisans who create the architecture of our time is satisfaction enough".
These remarks reveal much more than his personal modesty. They resonate with Cret's belief that the contributions of many people are necessary to give form to a society's ideals. How important then that every individual has the opportunity to express their ideas so that the best ideas may surface. How important too to realise that it is society to which one is contributing much more than to one's own, perhaps fleeting, reputation. (I would like to thank Tsinghua University and particularly Professor TONG Ming for including me in this symposium about the students of Tsinghua University who studied with Paul Cret at the University of Pennsylvania. The exhibition and the text"The Rise of Modernity" underscore how important the work of these architects is. I would also like to thank personally my colleague and friend Professor LAI Delin whose belief in the social responsibility of architecture has inspired me.)
26 克瑞,內(nèi)布拉斯加州議會大廈競賽總平面/Cret,Nebraska State Capitol competition site plan
27 克瑞,印第安納波利斯公共圖書館剖面,印第安納波利斯,1914-17年/Cret, Indianapolis Public Library, Indianapolis,1914-17, section
28 克瑞,印第安納波利斯公共圖書館借閱室/Cret, Indianapolis Public Library, Delivery Room
29 羅家倫/LUO Jialun
30 陳獨秀/CHEN Duxiu
31 金岳霖/JIN Yuelin
32 梁啟超/LIANG Qichao
33 林徽因和梁思成/LIN Huiyin and LIANG Sicheng
注釋/Notes
1)本文以我的書《保羅·克瑞的公民建筑》(劍橋大學(xué)出版社,1996)中的材料為基礎(chǔ),文中有關(guān)克瑞建筑和競賽作品的資料和插圖均源自這本書。關(guān)于“五四運動”中的中國知識分子的材料是基于我尚未發(fā)表的文章《知識分子的相似性:中國啟蒙運動,保羅·克瑞的作品和來自中國的賓大學(xué)生》。該文章主要引用的文獻(xiàn)來源請見參考文獻(xiàn)[2-3]/This paper is based on material in my bookThe Civic Architecture of Paul Cret(Cambridge University Press, 1996) from which the Cret material and illustrations of Cret's buildings and of the competition entries are derived. The material on the Chinese intellectuals of the May Fourth movement is based on my unpublished paper "Intellectual Parallels: The Chinese Enlightenment, Paul Cret's work and the Penn students from China." The main texts referred to [2-3].
2)克瑞建筑的彩色圖片是我自己提供的。賴德霖提供了中國知識分子和學(xué)生的照片。值得注意的是,克瑞參加競賽時,常與美國建筑師合作。在泛美聯(lián)盟總部競賽中,他與阿爾伯特·凱爾西合作,在內(nèi)布拉斯加州議會大廈和印第安納波利斯公共圖書館競賽中與贊特辛格、鮑里和曼德里合作。關(guān)于內(nèi)布拉斯加州競賽的詳細(xì)討論,請參閱參考文獻(xiàn)[4]/The color images of Cret's building are my own. LAI Delin provided images of Chinese intellectuals and students. It should be noted that Paul Cret most often associated with American architects when he entered competitions. For the Pan American Union Building he associated with Albert Kelsey, and for the Nebraska and Indianapolis competitions with Zantzinger, Borie, and Medary. For an extended discussion of the Nebraska competition see my article which is Ref [4].