篇首語(yǔ)
《世界建筑》的讀者朋友,
本期的《世界建筑》關(guān)注當(dāng)今中國(guó)建筑的一個(gè)重要領(lǐng)域——?dú)v史保護(hù)。
現(xiàn)代中國(guó)對(duì)現(xiàn)代性的狂熱擁抱曾經(jīng)使我們主動(dòng)摒棄歷史:先是1960年代至1970年代的文化大革命,它留給我們的歷史觀影響遠(yuǎn)未像它的政治影響那樣被自上而下地肅清;后是1990年代中期至今天的消費(fèi)主義和大眾傳媒,我們?cè)?jīng)認(rèn)為班納姆的“沒(méi)有一個(gè)城市不會(huì)從橫掃一切的現(xiàn)代化中受益”或斯汀的“歷史不會(huì)教會(huì)我們?nèi)魏螙|西”是新文明和新解放的代表。終于,在經(jīng)歷近兩個(gè)10年的對(duì)“新”和“更新”的不知疲倦的追求之后,我們開(kāi)始意識(shí)到,文化不是在短時(shí)間內(nèi)僅僅依靠勇氣和激情就可以創(chuàng)造的,文化需要根,而我們的根恰恰存在于一度被我們忘卻的歷史之中。
然而,重新學(xué)會(huì)善待歷史和善用歷史是何等的艱難。當(dāng)主流敘事把歷史從簡(jiǎn)單的“壞”變回簡(jiǎn)單的“好”之后,我們?cè)谥袊?guó)各地的歷史保護(hù)項(xiàng)目中不停看到的是實(shí)現(xiàn)簡(jiǎn)單“好”的愿望與解決復(fù)雜“難”的現(xiàn)實(shí)之間的巨大反差:歷史遺存的真實(shí)性與建成區(qū)域的運(yùn)營(yíng)效果之間的矛盾;原住民社區(qū)的傳統(tǒng)生產(chǎn)生活方式與中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的全球生產(chǎn)生活方式之間的摩擦;誠(chéng)實(shí)記錄差異的形態(tài)演進(jìn)與強(qiáng)調(diào)舊世場(chǎng)景的風(fēng)貌控制之間的對(duì)抗;等等。任何歷史保護(hù)項(xiàng)目都會(huì)成為眾說(shuō)紛紜的焦點(diǎn),任何歷史保護(hù)項(xiàng)目的主持人都必須同時(shí)是勇敢和睿智的人。
所幸的是,總是會(huì)出現(xiàn)勇敢且睿智的人。我們?cè)诒酒谒珍涰?xiàng)目的作者就是這樣的人,不論他們的背景是偏重學(xué)術(shù)、工程還是管理,他們都有一個(gè)共同的特點(diǎn):即對(duì)項(xiàng)目所處地方歷史的通曉與熱愛(ài)。正是這種熱愛(ài)使他們更樂(lè)于把過(guò)去的記憶與今天的生活連接起來(lái),使歷史恢復(fù)其連續(xù)與鮮活的本性,雖然這往往意味著更多的爭(zhēng)論與更大的不可預(yù)測(cè)。
我們真心希望每一位建筑師都能夠?qū)v史有類似的熱愛(ài)——在今天,歷史是還能夠使無(wú)所畏懼的建筑師們變得稍微謙恭些的為數(shù)不多的東西之一了。畢竟,對(duì)于飽受現(xiàn)代性與“后現(xiàn)代性”漂洗的當(dāng)代建筑師來(lái)說(shuō),最大的諷刺就在于,當(dāng)窮畢生之功試圖擺脫歷史之后,你最終發(fā)現(xiàn),你從未真正離開(kāi)過(guò)它。
特別感謝呂舟教授,是他使本期雜志成為可能。
《世界建筑》主編(2013-)
清華大學(xué)建筑學(xué)院教授
Dear Reader,
In this issue of World Architecture, we focus on preservation projects in contemporary China.
The zealous reception of modernity in modern China used to result in voluntary separations with our own history. Firstly, there was the Cultural Revolution from the 1960s to 1970s, the historical argument of which still lingers around in China quite unlike its political argument. Secondly, there has been the consumerism and mass communication from the 1990s up to now. We genuinely believed that Banham's "There isn't a city in the world that wouldn't benefit from some ruthless modernization." and Sting's "History will teach us nothing." are omens of a new and better civilization. Finally, we come to the understanding now that no culture can be forged rapidly by sheer courage and passion. For every culture there is a root. And our root resides right in the history that we have chosen to forget.
Yet what a hard mission it is to retake history. After the mainstream narrative has turned history from "the simply bad" to "the simply good", what we see in all Chinese preservation projects is the stark contrasts between a will of "the simply good" and a reality of the consistently complicated. There are the contradictions between historical authenticity and economic viability. There are conflicts between the local life style of the aboriginal community and the global life style of the newly gentrified community. There are clashes between the honesty of recording the morphological evolution and the scenography of forging a whole scale historical appearance. And so on. Every preservation project is destined to be a focus of public controversy. Everyone who steers such a project needs to be not only intellectual, but also brave.
Fortunately, there are always brave intellectuals, like the ones that we are publishing in this issue. Whether coming from an academic, engineering or administrative background, they share one thing in common: the true love of history of the place. It is out of this love that all of them have tried to connect the memories of the past to the lives of the present in a creative way, even if this means more controversy and more unpredictability.
We do hope that every architect today would have the same love of historytoday, history is one of the few things that still can humble an arrogant architect. For one who has been repetitively washed by the beliefs of modernity (or "post-modernity"), the biggest irony would be that, after a lifetime of endeavors trying to separate from history, in the end he (she) finds out the he (she) has never truly left it.
Our special thanks to Professor LU Zhou who made this issue possible.
Editor-in-Chief (2013-), World Architecture
Professor of Architecture, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University