在这动荡的时代，建筑师需要具备的四种技能
4 Must-Have Skills Architects Need to Tackle Turbulent Times

由专筑网缕夕，李韧编译

这是有趣的时代。英语俚语如是说，据说这句话来源于中文，也有可能起源于英国人的“愿你生活在有趣的时代”。当然，生活在无趣的时代，将面临着和平的社会与稳定的生活，但这并不是对生活的体验。这样的生活并不美好，这么看来，我们似乎面临着诸多问题，例如各种错综复杂的危机：气候变化、政局不稳定、大规模移民、饥饿和社会两极分化，等等。

这些问题非常复杂，但是有许多聪明人通过专业方式来解决这些问题。然而，建筑师们并不会这么做，但是如果我们自己不多加提升，那么人们对于建筑师的关注度及信任度就会逐渐降低。建筑师不应该只通过建筑领域来证明自己，因为我们毕竟训练有素，不是吗？

事实并非如此。普利兹克奖获得者，如坂茂或智利建筑师Alejandro Aravena的工作表明，建筑设计是一个覆盖广泛的行业。坂茂是一位非常有出色的建筑师，并且以普通客户的预算和程序化的要求，来完成“传统建筑”的设计任务。然而，坂茂还与难民专员办事处密切合作，采用纸张、纸板和当地材料开发新的建筑策略，帮助解决难民危机，在自然灾害之后为难民们提供住所。坂茂利用他的建筑技能来解决建筑以外的复杂问题，并在紧急情况下提供快速高效的建筑作品。Aravena也是如此，他从新的角度处理社会住房问题。他的工作涉及广泛，使业主不仅能够使用社会住房单元，甚至还能参与到设计过程之中。

这并不是单方面的努力就可以解决的全球性问题。即使如此，坂茂和Aravena参与了多项社会性的工作，通过建筑的策略来解决多项问题。也许建筑师拥有的独特技能可能有助于解决当今的危机，无论这些技能是否适用于建筑设计。这些技能是什么？它们又该如何应用呢？


1. 团队合作

建筑师生来是独行侠，但是历史告诉我们，团队合作能更好的创新事物。在一个项目中，建筑师领导了一系列相关学科的专家团队，例如机械和结构工程师、景观建筑师、城市设计师、专业顾问、社会学家、艺术家和平面设计师，不同行业的专业人员服务于同一个项目，相互合作。当建筑师们进行团队指挥的时候，他们汲取每位专家的知识精华，对复杂的情况作出精准的判断。当然，团队合作是当今社会的主要工作模式。但建筑师与各种相关领域的专家进行交流的能力也至关重要，如果运用得好，这将成为建筑师得天独厚的优势。


2. 交互式思维

建筑师认为对于同一个问题的答案并不唯一，但这需要尝试。因此建筑师会不断地进行试验。对于许多工程师来说，迭代过程是一种重要的工作方式，并行开发多个可接受的选项。这样可以更加全面地解决问题。面对问题的复杂性，建筑师能够看到许多可能的方法。


3. 合成和引导

建筑师往往被迫把复杂的想法提炼成一个单一的项目形象。同时，建筑师也善于抽象化，通过感性的方式来解决问题。我们今天面临的许多困难危机似乎距离我们还很遥远。但建筑师可以将许多问题以可视化的方式呈现出来，让人们更加真实地了解真实情况。当提出回应的时候，建筑师有技术和创造性的技巧来对所提出的问题作出回答，给出清晰和直接的解释和表达。当前的媒体注重于包装美好的事物，因此单一的表达方式很难引人注目。然而，建筑师一直使用图形表达来说服、洽谈以及提出建议。这种能力现今比任何时候都更有意义。我们可以通过图像进行综合、交流和引导。当问题复杂时，这些可能是重要的技能，它们能够引起媒体的重视。


4. 基于项目的逻辑

建筑师将他们的工作作为项目来进行分类：不同的、偶尔相关的、起始节点明确的等等。例如，如果我们希望解决气候变化的问题，那么这个任务看起来可能非常遥远和复杂。通过将一个项目拆分成多个小任务，可以让复杂的项目看上去不那么的冗长，并通过协调一致、真实可行的行动来应对系统性的问题。

可以肯定的是，传统的建筑模式和建筑师的传统角色仍然具有重要作用，人性和创新的建筑也是我们未来蓝图中重要的组成部分。但是我认为，建筑师自己可能并不完全了解我们该如何解决复杂的问题，一旦我们开始将建筑师的技术能力与建筑师的传统工作区分开来，那么我们就可以将它们应用于我们当前所面临的直接问题之中，与其他志同道合的人一起工作。

作为一个建筑项目的主管，我很幸运，每天都与年轻、有理想雄心的建筑学生一起工作。许多人告诉我，他们一直想成为优秀的建筑师，他们从来没有考虑过任何其他的职业。许多人即使无法确定未来何去何从，但他们仍然回到建筑高校进行深造。然而，无论大家对建筑行业有多熟悉，无论他们的专业计划多么清晰细致，在许多情况下学生们的想法甚至更具吸引力，因为他们并没有过多条条框框的束缚。实际上，让这些学生建立建筑思维并不容易，因为他们的兴趣点往往非常广泛。

我承认，这个说法有待考究，但是我确实相信学生们可能会向我们展示一条前进的道路。这些建筑学的学生中，有许多人认为某位建筑大师的作品有些过时。相反，其中一些学生将建筑师视为创造性的问题解决者、团队协调员以及能够激发灵感的人。尽管结果并不总是完美，但学生的野心、创造力和对世界状况的关注依然值得我们深思。

因此，建筑可能在这个动荡的时代提供的不仅仅是栖身之所，而且建筑师可能比我们所看到的要做得更多。我们面临的挑战十分巨大，但绝不是无法克服。建筑师可以提供帮助，学生们似乎也能察觉到这一点。越来越多的建筑师也是如此。当我们的建筑师尝试多维思考问题，并且得到社会认可，此时整个建筑行业也许能够更进一步，从而解决复杂的社会问题。我们可能会发现，在确实是一个非常有趣的时代，生活充满了挑战。

These are interesting times. There is in the English language a curse, purported to have been translated from the Chinese, but most likely of British origin: “May you live in interesting times.” The meaning, of course, is that it is better to live in uninteresting times of peace and stability than to experience the curse of living in “interesting” times of conflict and flux. Such a fate would only be wished on one’s enemies. So, yes, it might indeed seem that we have had the misfortune to live in very interesting times. We are confronted with multiple, intertwined crises of great complexity: climate change, political instability, mass migrations, hunger, and social polarization, just to name a few.
There are no easy solutions to these complex problems, but there are many energetic, talented, and intelligent people trying to address them, from a range of academic backgrounds. Architects, however, have largely been excluded from the conversation, or have, in fact, chosen to exclude themselves. The general public cannot be expected to turn to architects for solutions to today’s complex problems if we, ourselves, do not insert ourselves into the conversation. Following the examples of heroic figures in architecture, both past and present, we often understand the legitimate path of the architect to be a narrow one, limited to the built environment. After all, one might reason, that is what we’ve been trained to do. Isn’t it?
No. That most certainly is not it. At least that’s not all. The work of Pritzker Prize winning architects like Shigeru Ban or Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, suggests that architects can in fact play a vital role in addressing the challenges we confront.  Ban is an extremely skilled architect and has produced work in what one might call “conventional architecture,” with ordinary clients, budgets, and programmatic requirements. Yet Ban has also worked closely with the UNHCR, developing new approaches to building with paper, cardboard, and local materials to help address refugee crises and provide shelter after natural catastrophes. Ban has used his architectural skills to solve complex problems that transcend architecture and help provide dignified, economical, and quickly assembled shelter in emergency conditions. Aravena has, as well, addressed the issue of social housing from a novel perspective. His work engages local communities and clients, allowing owners to not merely occupy a social housing unit but to make it theirs, to become part of the design and construction process.
This is not to say that the design of a single building, or even of many buildings, can alone resolve complex global issues. Even the socially-engaged work of Ban and Aravena can be located within the somewhat narrow boundaries of the built environment. Might more be possible? Perhaps the unique skills that the architect possesses may be useful in addressing today’s crises, whether or not these skills are applied to the design of buildings. What are these skills? How can they be applied?

1. Teamwork
The vision of the lone architect genius has given way to a more collaborative model, in which the architect leads a team of experts in a wide variety of associated disciplines; mechanical and structural engineers, landscape architects, urban designers, specialty consultants, sociologists, artists, and graphic designers may all work together on a given project. The architect knows he or she doesn’t know everything. That’s ok.  Architects conduct the symphony, they draw out the best of each expert to produce a rich, complex response to complex situations. Most other fields work in teams, of course. That, in itself, is not novel. But the architect’s ability to converse intelligently (we hope!) with experts in a variety of related fields may be an important asset. It is often said that the architect knows a little bit about a lot. When working in diverse teams of experts, this generalist approach may make the architect a useful team leader, capable of pursuing a collective goal by searching out experts and synthesizing their voices into a concrete proposal.

2. Interactive Thinking
Architects assume there are many good answers to a question. But these answers don’t emerge quickly or automatically. That’s why architects tinker, experiment, try and try again. For many architects, an iterative process is an important way of working, a way in which multiple acceptable options are developed in parallel. The resulting battle of ideas and approaches strengthens the final result. When faced with complexity, the architect sees many possible ways forward.

3. Synthesis and Seduction
The architect often is forced to distill complex ideas into a single project image or slogan. In doing so, architects make the abstract concrete and can make a direct appeal to the senses or to emotions. Many of the crises we face today seem abstract or distant. Architects’ ability to visualize and make visible may help a broader population understand the true scale of these challenges. And when it’s time to propose a response, architects have the technical and creative skills to make seductive, clear, and direct explanations and images of what’s being proposed. The current media environment is saturated in images. It can be difficult to break through the "noise" and make a single clear visual statement. Yet architects have long been using graphic tools to make an argument, to convince, to propose. This disciplinary skill is today more relevant than at any other time. We can synthesize, communicate, and seduce through images. When problems are complex, these may be important skills needed to interest and mobilize a populace seemingly glued to their black screens.

4. Project-Based Logic
Architects approach their work as projects: distinct, although occasionally related, episodes with a beginning, middle, and an end. If we hope to address the problem of climate change, for example, the task may seem impossibly remote and complex. Unending. An architectural way of working may help break down this complex challenge into distinct, actionable phases, and to respond to a systemic problem through coordinated but true and tried actions. Architects can help.
To be sure, the traditional model of architecture and the traditional role of the architect will continue to be valid and useful: humane and innovative shelter is also an important part of our collective future. But I would suggest that architects themselves may not have fully embraced how we can also play a role in solving a broad range of issues, and that once we begin to distinguish the tools of the architect from the traditional work of the architect, then we can apply them to some of the most pressing problems we face, working alongside others with the same goals.
As the director of an architecture program, I am lucky to work every day with young, idealistic, and ambitious students of architecture. Many tell me that they have always wanted to be an architect, that they never considered any other path. Others have had a more circuitous path to architecture school, and even now are not entirely sure that they wish to practice architecture, in the conventional sense. Yet the current generation, no matter how wedded they might be to the architectural profession, no matter how clear or cloudy their professional plans, seem in many cases to be more advanced than the professors in that they do not necessarily see a clear line between what is architecture and what is not. Indeed, it is sometimes difficult to get these students to make a building, as their interests are often sociopolitical, and not always related to buildings.
This presents its own challenges, I admit, but I do believe that the students may, in fact, be showing us a way forward.  Many of these architecture students find the image of the heroic, superstar architect to be somewhat outmoded, perhaps even a bit silly. Instead, some of these students see the architect as a creative problem solver, a coordinator of teams, and someone who can inspire. And while the results are not always perfect, the students’ ambition, creativity, and concern with the state of the world is itself inspiring to me every day.
Architecture may, therefore, provide more than just shelter in these turbulent times, and the architect may contribute more than we may have known possible. The challenges we face are significant but are by no means insurmountable. Architects can help. The students seem to know this, intuitively. A growing number of architects, as well. When we architects try to join the conversation, and when our voices are brought into the conversation, perhaps we might move one step closer to addressing our complex challenges. We may come to see that it has been a challenge and a privilege to have lived in times that are, indeed, very interesting.


出处：本文译自www.archdaily.com/，转载请注明出处。