PUMA City, 2008. Image © Danny Bright

LOT-EK：集装箱促进了新建筑的诞生
LOT-EK: “The Shipping Container Is a Vehicle to Invent New Architecture”

由专筑网李韧，韩平编译

集装箱是一种升级版的建筑材料，但它近期收到了诸多评论，建筑师逐渐意识到它们对于居住空间结构理念的现有优势，同时这也是一种可回收利用的材料。LOT-EK工作室在项目中常常运用集装箱来解决实际问题，其产品的吸引力超越了其他更符合生态实践理念的作品。记者采访了这个位于纽约的工作室，其创始人Ada Tolla和Giuseppe Lignano诉说了他们对于集装箱建筑的理念初衷。

Shipping containers, once a darling of architectural upcycling, have received a lot of criticism recently, as architects are beginning to recognize that their perceived advantages—ready-made habitable space and structure, and an opportunity to recycle a widely available material—are based in little more than hopeful PR spin. But for one of the most prominent practices which regularly uses shipping containers in their work, LOT-EK, the attraction of these architectural ready-mades always went beyond the ecological and practical rationalizations provided by others. In this interview at the firm's New York studio, part of Vladimir Belogolovsky’s “City of Ideas” series, LOT-EK founders Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano discuss the conceptual foundations of their fascination with shipping container architecture.


Drivelines Studios, Maboneng, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2017. Image © Nati Trassierra


Drivelines Studios, Maboneng, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2017. Image © Nati Trassierra

Ada Tolla： Giuseppe和我各有各的想法。我们愿意做自己的工作，这无关乎宣传，我们也不在乎什么是时尚。我们只是单纯地认识到艺术的价值，以及个性和自我理念的价值。我们一直朝着这个方向前进，同时让学生们也是这么做。我们让他们了解到，你应该利用现有的知识去表达属于自己的想法。一旦他们离开学校，我们希望他们能够有自己的意识，不要在乎别人的眼光。事实上，我们几乎从来不鼓励他们使用集装箱，因为这是属于我们的理念。

Giuseppe Lignano：我们的做法比较具有概念性，有点类似强迫症，同时我们也把这些东西教给学生们。

Vladimir Belogolovsky：你从那不勒斯大学毕业后来到了哥伦比亚大学深造，你毕业后做了些什么呢？你是先为别人工作还是从一开始就非常独立？

AT：是的。我们有属于自己的思考方式。我们在市场中发现了一个阁楼，那在90年代来说有些可怕，可是我们却认为这是一个奇妙的场所。在那里我们开始了艺术生涯，同时晚上在餐厅中兼职赚取生活费用。我们喜欢纯净的思想。从一开始，我们的工作就是记录我们在纽约街头的各种发现。当你发现一件家用物品，例如纸箱、泡沫板，你需要思考：它有什么作用？我们不喜欢从有到无的过程，我们比较喜欢从现有的产品中进行改造。在我们的思想意识中，非建筑物品具有强烈的存在感。通过观察与记录，我们进行着头脑风暴。我们喜欢组装和拆卸，对于一样物品，我们也许会尊重其本来面貌，也许不一定。在一开始，我们寻找了一大堆废弃物品，然后根据它们的形状、材料、色彩进行改造，只是我们的想法具有破坏性，我们希望这些东西能够重塑一个空间，让它们具有更加实际的功能用途。我们的早期作品有诸如艺术装置、临时搭建物等等。但是我们的作品有时并不能称为真正意义上的“建筑”。 LOT-EK是一种设计理念，我们要做的是将这一理念物质化。

Ada Tolla: ...Giuseppe and I, we have our own path. We like to do our own work; it is not about following what is preached at the moment. We don’t care about what is trendy. We recognize the value of artistry and authorship, and personal voice, and our own agenda. And we’ve been pushing our work in that direction. We also teach and push our students the same way. We try to suspend them by saying—now you have all this knowledge, do something with it, discover your own voice. You are not just a student, you are an artist, you are a thinker. Show your voice. Once they are out of school I want them to be prepared to take another path, their own path, whatever it may be. For example, we never encourage them to use shipping containers; that’s what we do.
Giuseppe Lignano: Our practice is conceptual and therefore obsessive. And that’s what we teach our students—to be conceptual and obsessive.

Vladimir Belogolovsky: You both graduated from university in Napoli and came here on scholarship to study at Columbia University. What did you do after graduation? Did you work for anyone or were you on your own from the very beginning?
AT: Yes, we were; somehow we knew our own way. We found a loft in the Meatpacking District, which in the early 90s was a terrible place to be in, and yet it was a fantastic place. We started our careers more as artists, while working at restaurants at night to make a living. We like the idea of having our thoughts uncontaminated. From the beginning, our work was all about responding to things we would find on the streets of New York. You come across a piece of furniture, a cardboard box, or foam packing, and you ask a question: What do you do with it? We like the idea of not starting something from scratch but rather transforming what already exists. Things that are not architecture have a strong presence in our intellectual environment. By looking and recording, we are learning and thinking. We like assembling and disassembling; we may be respectful to something or disrespectful. At first, we brought all kinds of junk into our studio and simply organized it by shape, material, color, etc. But our idea was not recycling; it was about doing something new—reinventing space, reimagining functions. Our early works included art installations for galleries and museums, and temporary structures for theater events, and so on. Especially then, our work did not fit general expectations of what architecture is. LOT-EK is a concept and we work to materialize this concept in any format—permanent-temporary, stationary-mobile, urban-object...


Van Alen Books, Flatiron District, New York, USA, 2011. Image © Danny Bright


Van Alen Books, Flatiron District, New York, USA, 2011. Image © Danny Bright

VB: LOT-EK这个名字从何而来？

GL：从一开始，我们的想法是物品的重新利用。我们想通过名字来表达低技与高技之间的关联。因此我们稍稍更改了LO和TEK的拼写方式。其中包含了一种计算语言和对待事物的不同看法。我们认为这是一个好品牌，这也是我们真正想要做的事。

AT：这不仅仅是一个品牌，也是一个想法、概念、方向、视角。

VB: Why did you name your firm LOT-EK?
GL: From the very beginning, what we had in mind was the idea of reusing objects and systems. We wanted to express in our name the idea of tension between low-tech and high-tech, between two of us working together. And we changed the spelling of LO and TEK to LOT and EK. There is something of a computer language in it and the idea of a different way of looking at things. And we thought it was a good brand. This is something we really wanted to do—to create a brand.
AT: Not just a brand but a new idea, new concept, new direction, new vision...


Carroll House, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2016. Image © Danny Bright

VB：你们近期完成了位于Greenpoint的项目，布鲁克林是一个让我震惊的区域。我花费了九牛二虎之力来到这里，但很高兴亲自看到它，因为它应该是真正意义上的纽约实验性建筑，因为这涉及到独立的单身家庭住宅。事实上，这类无视预期殖民模式的建筑并不多见，那么我想提出一个问题，什么是当代住宅？你对于此类建筑的突破有什么看法？

GL：是的。项目委托人就住在这里的公寓中，而不是住在这座住宅里。因此他们想要一座位于郊区而非城市的住宅建筑。

VB: Your recently built house in Greenpoint, Brooklyn was a real shock to me. I made a special effort to find it and I was very happy to see it in person because it is an extremely rare example of truly experimental architecture in New York, which is very conservative when it comes to freestanding single-family houses. In fact, this house is one of not that many here that disregards a predictable colonial model and instead poses a question: What is a contemporary dwelling? What do you think about this breakthrough?
GL: It is true; the people who may commission an experimental house typically live in apartments here, not in houses. So if they want a house, they commission a second home in the suburbs, not in the city.


Carroll House, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2016. Image © Danny Bright

VB：独栋住宅是建筑的基础，也是建筑发展的起点，而纽约这座城市却不具有这样的先决条件，在纽约几乎没有真正意义上的现代住宅，也没有后现代主义建筑，这里大多数建筑模仿的是20世纪前的设计思路。有人认为纽约并没有真正的单身公寓。但在这里有着比其他城市更多的住宅建筑，这个数量毫不夸张的说至少有100万。而且，我们有着不同于洛杉矶、悉尼、墨西哥城的特殊客户群。但是建筑师呢？他们为什么不在这里进行属于自己的建筑理念实践？

AT：是，这里充满了挑战。另一方面，在这里工作也十分令人兴奋，每次我们拿到一个项目，我们总会思考是否还有更多可能性。亦或是我们怎样才能构思出更新的东西。

VB: A freestanding single-family house is the foundation of architecture. That’s where architecture begins and New York is missing it entirely. There are practically no modernist houses in New York City; there are no Post-modernist houses either. House after house is modeled on pre-20th-century ideas. Someone could say that New York does not have freestanding single-family houses. But we have more houses than most other cities. We probably have at least one million houses. OK, let’s say we have very particular clients here who are different from clients in Los Angeles, Sydney, or Mexico City. But what about the architects themselves? Why don’t they build their own experimental houses here?
AT: Well, it is a challenging place... On the other hand, it is very exciting working here and every time we get a project, we always try to see things differently from what we already know. How can we invent something that we haven’t invented yet?


Irving Place Carriage House, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2014. Image © Danny Bright


Irving Place Carriage House, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2014. Image © Danny Bright


Irving Place Carriage House, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2014. Image © Danny Bright


Irving Place Carriage House, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2014. Image © Danny Bright

VB：集装箱是你项目中多次运用到的元素。但是，相对于传统楼板加墙体的建筑来说，使用集装箱有哪些优势呢？

AT：我们在这之前其实并没有接触过集装箱，所以我们折腾了很长时间，我们希望能够用它做成真正的建筑，而不是一个单纯的临时构件。

VB: Shipping containers are an element that you use again and again. Still, in relation to this house, what are the advantages of using containers, as opposed to typical walls and floors?
AT: First of all, we never built a house with shipping containers before, so we had to! We have been playing with them and designing for a long time, always with the ambition to do real architecture with it, not just temporary pop-up structures with cute colors...


Carroll House, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2016. Image © Danny Bright

VB：那在设计过程中集装箱的优势有哪些呢？

AT：其实对于许多材料与物品我们都很感兴趣，集装箱就是其中之一。对于我们来说，这源于一直以来的猜想。我们总是不断地修改容器空间，但是这些项目也激发了我们不同的设计思路。建筑并不是始于一个单纯的集装箱，而是通过不断修改匹配的过程积累而来。通过不同的手法，我们能够充分运用各个物体的优势，将它们聚集在一起，形成更大的空间体量。你现在看到的港口和道路附近的作品就是我们的最初构思。

GL：另一个有趣的巧合是一个位于纽约的典型地块，长100英尺（约30.5米），宽25英尺（约7.6米），因此我们在短边上运用了38英尺（约11.6米）宽的集装箱，而在两侧长边运用了一个40英尺（约12.2米）和一个20英尺（约6.1米）的集装箱。

VB: But what is the advantage of the container in designing a house?
AT: There are materials and objects that we are interested in, and the shipping container is one of them. To us, it is an ongoing speculation. We always modify the container, but this project offered the opportunity to think in a slightly different mode—we started from the container stack, and cut it. The house did not begin with a single container, but with the modification of an assembly, a mass. By doing this, we immediately took advantage of the inherent ability of the container to come together, to form much larger volumes than its own self. We started from the generic stack you see near ports and highways.
GL: The other interesting coincidence is that our lot, which is typical in New York, is 25 feet wide and 100 feet long. So we used three eight-foot-wide containers on the short front, with two 40-foot-long containers and one 20-foot-long container along the side.


Carroll House, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2016. Image © Danny Bright

VB：那主要的思路是什么呢？

GL：我们想通过对于集装箱的操作，然后形成一个整体，充分利用内部私密空间，同时也尽可能地开放相应的功能区域。所以我们将集装箱堆叠在一起，然后在在其顶部或底部进行切割。顶部的切口主要用于将集装箱开放，有时我们会用到玻璃将室内外进行分隔。这样每一层都有相应的室内外空间。而集装箱两侧，沿着建筑约100英尺（约30.5米）的空间则为室外区域带来了隐私感。集装箱的使用让我们有了更多可能性，也尝试了更多的建筑类型。

VB: And what was the main idea?
GL: We wanted to manipulate a container stack and do something monolithic and sculptural to create private space on the inside and, at the same time, open up the space to interesting possibilities. So we stacked the containers and then cut them on the diagonal, both on top and bottom. The top cut opens up containers and, every time the diagonal meets the top of the container, we close it with glass. Now every floor has both inside and outside space. And the sides of the containers, along the 100 feet of the house, provide privacy for these outside spaces, which are very exposed on this corner lot. The use of the containers allowed us to get away from the existing typology and create a new one.


Morton Loft, West Village, New York, USA, 2000. Image © Paul Warchol


Morton Loft, West Village, New York, USA, 2000. Image © Paul Warchol

VB：那为什么是集装箱呢？你是怎么发现这种宝贝的？

AT：我们第一次用于实际项目的物品是铝制的卡车集装箱，这是一种非常轻的集装箱。我们看中了它们能通过卡车进行运输的特点，而且它们也有足够的内部使用空间，并且模块形式易于拆卸。有一次我们去新泽西，碰巧又购买了许多集装箱。它的可能性让人惊叹，最初我们只是喜欢它的尺寸，这就像是一座小城市，其中有街道、广场，以及各种建筑。我们立刻意识到这个大盒子似乎具有无限的潜力，通过相应的改造它好像能满足我们的各项需求，而且这是一种特别普遍的材料。

VB: Why containers? How did you discover them in the first place?
AT: The first objects we used for our architectural projects were truck containers, which are made of aluminum and are much lighter. What we liked was the fact that they were transportable (carried by truck), they contained space, and they were modular. One day we were going to New Jersey and by chance we entered a whole depot of shipping containers. It was incredible and transformative. Initially, what was interesting to us was the scale. It was like being in a city—there were avenues, streets, piazzas, buildings. Immediately we realized that the potential of this box was not simply itself, but what you can do by altering this simultaneously dumb and intelligent object that can be picked up, moved from ship to truck, and that can reach everywhere.


TV-Tank, New York, 1998. Image © Paul Warchol


TV-Tank, New York, 1998. Image © Paul Warchol

VB：有人说LOT-EK公司到处搜集人造物体。你能解释一下你们的工作意图吗？

AT：我们的设计意图很简单，说白了就是解决剩余材料和生产过剩的问题，我们的态度非常乐观。我们喜欢这些钢材制作的东西。我们能用它来做什么？这些想法很让人激动，这其中似乎没有多余的限制，它们似乎有着无尽的可能性。从项目起始，我们就希望把它们分成各个小部分，然后组装起来。使用集装箱最有趣的部分是我们直接面对的是一个实体，而不是单纯的柱子与梁等独立部件。正是这样的体量为了我们些许暗示，因此我们不断地发掘其中的可能性。

VB: It says on your site that LOT-EK scans the environment in search of manmade objects and systems. Could you explain the intentions of your work?
AT: Our intention is to engage with the idea of two things—leftovers and overproduction, and we do it with a positive attitude. We love these big sturdy things made out of steel. What can we do with them? We find this idea super exciting. We don’t see any limitations; we see them as open-ended and endlessly inspiring. That’s our agenda from the very beginning. We are curious about cutting these things into pieces and slices. The most interesting aspect of using the containers is the fact that we are using objects and volumes, as opposed to posts and beams, or a poured material. It is this use of these objects and volumes that suggests certain possibilities that otherwise would not have presented themselves. We are interested in these discoveries as provocations.


APAP Open School, Anyang, Korea, 2010. Image © Kim Myoung-Sik


APAP Open School, Anyang, Korea, 2010. Image © Sergio Pirrone


APAP Open School, Anyang, Korea, 2010. Image © Kim Myoung-Sik


APAP Open School, Anyang, Korea, 2010. Image © Sergio Pirrone

VB：你说到集装箱并不是你唯一的材料。你的工作是否有限制呢？你有尝试过不使用集装箱的项目吗？

AT：对我们来说，使用传统材料相对困难一些。我们在项目中使用不同的物件，只是不全是集装箱而已。同时我们也会回收来自于其他物体的各种材料，例如货车、坦克、飞机机身、钢铁门、水槽、天线、广告牌、管道、脚手架，各种可能运用的物件我们都将其回收。我们的目标不仅仅是将它们当做材料，我们是要开发它们的更多可能性。

GL：首先，我们是建筑师，我们希望自己的工作项目能够具有特色，例如我们使用集装箱。我们把它看做一种材料，而不仅仅只是一个集装箱。对我们来说，集装箱推动了建筑的发展。

VB: You mentioned that containers are not the only material you use. Do you see limits in your work? Would you do a project with no containers at all?
AT: It would be hard for us to do architecture made of conventional materials. We use objects in our projects, but not just containers. We upcycled other manufactured objects and systems—including truck bodies, tanks, airplane fuselages, reclaimed steel doors, sinks, antennas, billboards, ducts, packaging, plumbing, and scaffolding—as structural and spatial interventions to design buildings and interiors. Our goal is to not only recycle an object, but to recycle the intelligence that went into the object’s development.
GL: First, we are architects and we wish our work would be seen independently of the fact that we use containers. We see it as our material but we want to be known not for the containers but for what can be done with them. For us the container is simply a vehicle to invent new architecture.


Qiyun Mountain Camp, Huangshan, China, 2015. Image © Noah Sheldon


Qiyun Mountain Camp, Huangshan, China, 2015. Image © Noah Sheldon

VB：使用集装箱等物体会给你的工作带来一定的约束吗？

AT：那这是肯定的，从某种程度上来说，我们对自己使用的对象仍然存在盲点，意思是我们希望寻求更多的诠释方法。这也是激发我们好奇心的原因。我觉得我们可以做任何事。

GL：一些传统的材料我们也能通过并不传统的方式来表达出来。例如我们喜欢直接暴露建筑构件。我们喜欢找到自己的思维方式。多尝试是重点。我们的工作更加概念化，例如我们总是一次使用一种物件，我们不会将不同的东西混合使用，我们一般会关注于其中的一个特点。而且在一个项目中我们只使用一种主色调。

VB: Using containers and other objects is a way of bringing discipline to your work and having a set of constraints, right?
AT: Absolutely. In a way, we are blind to the objects we use. Meaning, we try to find our own interpretations and new uses for everything that comes our way. It is the objects themselves that guide our curiosity. I feel we can do anything.
GL: Even conventional materials we use very unconventionally. For example, we often expose things that are typically buried behind walls. We always try to find our own way of seeing and using things. Discipline is the key. Our work is more conceptual than compositional. For example, we always work with one object at a time. It’s not only that we don’t mix them up, but we typically use just one operation—diagonal cuts in case of the Carroll House or shifting at the Puma City. And we try to use just one color at a time.


PUMA City, 2008. Image © Danny Bright


PUMA City, 2008. Image © Danny Bright


PUMA City, 2008. Image © Danny Bright

VB：在采访的一开始我们谈论了你的教学方式，你鼓励学生们建立自己的设计理念。那么现在请你总结一下你的想法吧？

GL：构思全新的美学理念十分重要。我们希望创造一种紧张的氛围，一方面，我希望我们的建筑具有低技、手工、肌理、有机、浪漫等特点。另一方面，我们又希望它兼具高技、几何、限制、完美等高端特色，其实这有点像在做梦。我们希望在这些极段的想法中保持平衡。我们通过项目来完成一个又一个构思，而不是单纯地从头开始。

VB: We started this conversation by discussing your ways of teaching and encouraging your students to develop their own agendas and visions. How would you summarize your unique point of view?
GL: The idea of creating new aesthetics is important to us. We try to create tension. On the one hand, we want our architecture to be low-tech, handmade, textured, brutal, organic, and romantic. On the other hand, we want it to be high-tech, geometric, graphic, obstruct, perfect, and otherworldly, like a dream. We want tension and balance between these extreme ideas. We design our projects by making and building things, not by drawing something from scratch.


Whitney Studio, New York, USA, 2011. Image © Danny Bright


Whitney Studio, New York, USA, 2011. Image © Danny Bright


Whitney Studio, New York, USA, 2011. Image © Danny Bright


Whitney Studio, New York, USA, 2011. Image © Danny Bright

VB：用几个词来描述下你们的工作？

AT：原始概念。

GL：原始且精准的强大体量。

AT：机遇与目的的结合体。

GL：有机与超理性。

AT：有趣。

VB: What single words would you choose to describe your work?
AT: Raw and conceptual.
GL: Raw and precise, strong gesture.
AT: Chance and intention, assembly.
GL: Organic and super-rational.
AT: Playful.


LOT-EK's 2017 monograph, "O+O". Image Courtesy of LOT-EK

人物介绍：

VLADIMIR BELOGOLOVSKY是纽约非盈利策展项目的发起者。他是纽约库珀建筑联盟的建筑师，目前已经出版了5本著作，其中有《Conversations with Architects in the Age of Celebrity》（DOM，2015年）、《Harry Seidler: LIFEWORK》(Rizzoli, 2014年)、《Soviet Modernism: 1955-1985》（TATLIN, 2010年）。同时也举办了多项展览，其中有2015年阿根廷的“Anthony Ames: Object-Type Landscapes”、2013年至2015年的“Colombia: Transformed”、起始于2012年的世界巡回展览“Harry Seidler: Painting Toward Architecture”、2008年第11届威尼斯建筑双年展俄罗斯馆的“Chess Game”。 Belogolovsky还是一位柏林建筑杂志《SPEECH》的美国记者，他曾经在20多个城市的高效和博物馆内任职。

Belogolovsky的专栏“City of Ideas”向ArchDaily的读者介绍了他近期与世界各地知名建筑师的对话，他曾经于2016年6月在悉尼大学进行了一次演讲，本次对话的主题与那次演讲的主题相一致，同时这次对话也是即将到来的展览活动的一部分。“City of Ideas”展览将在世界各地的展馆巡回展出，充分探索变化多端的设计理念。

VLADIMIR BELOGOLOVSKY is the founder of the New York-based non-profit Curatorial Project. Trained as an architect at Cooper Union in New York, he has written five books, including Conversations with Architects in the Age of Celebrity (DOM, 2015), Harry Seidler: LIFEWORK (Rizzoli, 2014), and Soviet Modernism: 1955-1985 (TATLIN, 2010). Among his numerous exhibitions: Anthony Ames: Object-Type Landscapes at Casa Curutchet, La Plata, Argentina (2015); Colombia: Transformed (American Tour, 2013-15); Harry Seidler: Painting Toward Architecture (world tour since 2012); and Chess Game for Russian Pavilion at the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale (2008). Belogolovsky is the American correspondent for Berlin-based architectural journal SPEECH and he has lectured at universities and museums in more than 20 countries.
Belogolovsky’s column, City of Ideas, introduces ArchDaily’s readers to his latest and ongoing conversations with the most innovative architects from around the world. These intimate discussions are a part of the curator’s upcoming exhibition with the same title which premiered at the University of Sydney in June 2016. The City of Ideas exhibition will travel to venues around the world to explore ever-evolving content and design.


Sink Wall, Chelsea, New York, USA, 2000. Image © Danny Bright


MDU - Mobile Dwelling Unit, 2003. Image Courtesy of the Walker Art Center


MDU - Mobile Dwelling Unit, 2003. Image Courtesy of the Walker Art Center


Theater for One, 2008. Image © Danny Bright


Theater for One, 2008. Image © Danny Bright


Theater for One, 2008. Image © Danny Bright


Mixer, 2000. Image © Paul Warchol


Band of Outsiders Tokyo, Sendagaya-Tokyo, Japan, 2013. Image © Kozo Takayama


Band of Outsiders Tokyo, Sendagaya-Tokyo, Japan, 2013. Image © Kozo Takayama


New Jalisco Library competition entry, 2005. Image Courtesy of LOT-EK


New Jalisco Library competition entry, 2005. Image Courtesy of LOT-EK


Taichung City Cultural Center competition entry, 2013. Image Courtesy of LOT-EK


Taichung City Cultural Center competition entry, 2013. Image Courtesy of LOT-EK


LOT-EK's 2017 monograph, "O+O". Image Courtesy of LOT-EK


LOT-EK's 2017 monograph, "O+O". Image Courtesy of LOT-EK

           
出处：本文译自www.archdaily.com/，转载请注明出处。