ART/ARCHITECTURE Le Corbusier
艺术家兼建筑师勒·柯布西耶
If the idea of being a modern person and leading a modern life
做一个现代人 过现代生活
still has an exciting ring to it,
如果这种想法仍然令人兴奋
it’s at least in part down to the influence of an extraordinary Swiss architect
那其中部分原因归功于一位非凡的瑞士建筑师
Le Corbusier,
勒·柯布西耶
who in the first half of the 20th century wrote books,
他在20世纪上半叶著书
put up buildings and designed bits of furniture
建造建筑 设计家具
that conveyed the excitement, sleekness and glamour of the modern technological world.
其作品传达了现代科技世界的热情 圆润和魅力
Le Corbusier began his career
勒·柯布西耶的职业生涯始于
by attacking the architecture of the Victorian age,
抨击维多利亚时代的建筑
and contrasting it with what he saw as the beauty and intelligence of modern engineering.
并将其与自己眼中现代工程的美丽智慧进行对比
“Our engineers are healthy and virile,
1923年他在著名论战书《走向新建筑》中如是说
active and useful, balanced and happy in their work.”
“工程师们在工作中
He exclaimed in his famous polemical book “Towards a New Architecture” written in 1923.
是健康而有魄力的 积极而有成效的 高尚而心情愉快的”
Meanwhile, Le Corbusier added,
同时 他补充道
“Our architects are disillusioned and unemployed, boastful or peevish.
“建筑师们却失去幻想 游手好闲 不是吹牛就是闷闷不乐
This is because there will soon be nothing more for them to do.
这是因为很快他们就无事可做了
We no longer have the money to erect historical souvenirs.
我们再也没钱去建那些历史纪念物了
At the same time, everyone needs to wash.
我们需要洗一个澡
Our engineers provide for these things,
我们的工程师们正为此做准备
and they will be our builders.”
他们将是我们的建设者”
Le Corbusier recommended that the houses of the future be ascetic and clean,
勒·柯布西耶认为未来的房子是禁欲的 干净的
disciplined and frugal.
规整且从简
His hatred of any kind of decoration
他憎恨任何一种装饰
extended to a pity for the British Royal Family,
后来发展到同情英国皇室
and the ornate, golden carriage in which they travelled to open Parliament every year.
同情他们每年去议会开会时要乘坐华丽金色马车
He suggested that they push the carved monstrosity off the cliffs of Dover,
他建议皇室把雕刻好的怪物推下多佛悬崖
and instead learn to travel around their kingdom in Hispano Suiza 1911 racing car.
学习乘坐伊斯帕诺-西扎1911赛车环游王国
He even mocked Rome, the traditional destination for the education of young architects,
他甚至嘲笑培养年轻建筑师基地 罗马
and renamed it “the city of horrors”,
并将其改名为“恐怖之城”
“the damnation of the half-educated”,
“半学历者的诅咒”
and “the cancer of French architecture”,
和“法国建筑的癌症”
on account of its violation of modern principles of architecture
因为它用巴洛克式的细节 精致的壁画和雕像
through all its baroque detailing, elaborate wall painting and statuary.
违反了现代建筑原则
For Le Corbusier,
对于勒·柯布西耶来说
true great architecture meaning architecture motivated by the quest for modern efficiency,
真正伟大的建筑意味着追求现代效率
was more likely to be found in an electricity turbine or a low-pressure ventilating fan.
就像电力涡轮机或低压通风机的效率
It was to these machines that his books accorded the reverential photographs
他书中也有这些虔诚的机器照片
which previous architectural writers had reserved for cathedrals and opera houses.
这是以前的建筑家为大教堂和歌剧院制造的机器
Once asked by a magazine editor to name his favourite chair,
曾经有一个杂志编辑要勒·柯布西耶为他最喜欢的椅子命名
Le Corbusier cited the seat of a cockpit,
他将其命名为战斗机座舱
and described the first time he ever saw an aeroplane
并解释说他再一次看见飞机是在
in the spring of 1909 in the sky above Paris,
1909年春天巴黎上空
it was the aviator the Comte de Lambert taking a turn around the Eiffel Tower,
当时飞行员Lambert伯爵绕着埃菲尔铁塔转了一圈
as the most significant moment of his life.
这是勒·柯布西耶一生中最重要的时刻
He observed that the requirements of flight of necessity
他观察到飞行的必要性
rid aeroplanes of all the superfluous decoration of buildings,
飞机的构造了摒弃多余装饰
and so unwittingly transforms them into successful pieces of modern architecture.
它们不知不觉地成为现代建筑的典范
To place a classical statue on top of the house
对于勒·柯布西耶来说
was for Le Corbusier, “as silly as to add one to a plane”.
在房子顶部放置一尊古典雕像 “就像在飞机上加一个雕塑一样愚蠢”
But at least by crashing in response to this addition,
但至少能证明这个造型只能使飞机失事
the plane had the advantage of rendering the absurdity starkly manifest.
这架飞机的优点就是彰显了荒谬可笑
“‘L’avion accuse,” he concluded.
他总结到“这是来自飞机的指责”
But if the function of a plane was to fly,
但是如果飞机的功能是飞行
what was the function of a house?
那么房子的功能是什么呢
Le Corbusier arrived at a simple list of requirements,
勒·柯布西耶得出了一个简单的需求清单
beyond which all other ambitions were no more than as he put it, “romantic cobwebs”.
除此之外 其它需求都不过是“浪漫的烦琐”
The function of a house was to provide
一座房子的功能如下：
1. A shelter against heat, cold, rain, thieves and the inquisitive.
1. 避暑 遮寒 挡雨 防盗 防窥
2. A receptacle for light and sun.
2. 是光和太阳的容器
3. A certain number of cells,
3. 有一些单间
appropriated to cooking, work, and personal life.
便于烹饪 工作 个人生活
“What modern man wants is a monk’s cell,
“现代人想要的是僧侣的斗室
well lit and heated, with a corner from which he can look at the stars.” wrote Le Corbusier.
光线充足 暖气充足 有一扇能看星星的窗” 勒·柯布西耶写道
His private houses which he built in and around Paris in the 1920s and 30s
20世纪二三十年代他在巴黎修建了自己的个人住宅
were unlike anything that people had ever witnessed,
这种房子人们见所未见
both inside and out.
从头到脚都是标新立异的
Le Corbusier took an interest in their smallest details,
勒·柯布西耶对微小的细节很感兴趣
always with an eye to increasing efficiency.
他一直着眼于效益最大化
He built much of the furniture himself,
自己做了很多家具
and was often to earn more money from it than from his architecture.
而且他的收入来源大多是做家具而非盖房子
Le Corbusier was evidently one of the world’s greatest architects.
勒·柯布西耶显然是世界上最伟大的建筑师
But he was also one of the world’s most disastrous urban designers.
但他也是世界上最灾难性的城市设计师
His manifesto on how to make cities contained in two books,
他在两本书里写到了如何创建城市
“The City of Tomorrow and its Planning” written in 1925,
写于1925年的《未来城市及其规划》
and “The Radiant City” in 1933,
写于1933年的《光辉城市》
called for a dramatic break from the past:
他呼唤过去戏剧性的崩溃
“The existing centres must come down.
“已有的中心必将凋落
To save itself every great city must rebuild its centre.”
城市自救的办法就是重建中心”
Le Corbusier wanted ever taller towers,
勒·柯布西耶想要的是前所未有的摩天大楼
some housing as many as 40,000 people.
这些建筑要能容纳多达4万人
When he visited New York for the first time,
勒·柯布西耶首次访问纽约时
he came away disappointed by the relatively small scale of the buildings.
对纽约的“小房子”流露出了失望
“Your skyscrapers are too low.” He told a surprised journalist.
他告诉震惊的记者“你们的摩天大楼太低了”
By building upwards, two problems would be resolved at a stroke:
要想建造高层 需要同时解决两个问题：
overcrowding and urban sprawl.
过度拥挤 城市无计划扩张
Le Corbusier planned to abolish the city street.
他计划废除城市街道
In his vision of the future, people would have footpaths all to themselves,
在他对未来的设想中 人们将拥有专属人行道
while cars would enjoy massive dedicated motorways,
汽车可以享受宽敞的专用高速公路
with smooth, curving interchanges.
条条大路的交汇处平滑弯曲
Even more than Paris,
对于勒·柯布西耶来说
New York was, for Le Corbusier, “the epitome of an illogical city”,
之于巴黎 纽约更像是一个“不合逻辑城市的缩影”
“because it had managed to graft skyscrapers, the buildings of the future,
“因为它成功地将未来的摩天大楼
onto a tight street plan better suited to a medieval settlement.”
插进类似中世纪居民区的狭窄街道”
On his trip around the United States,
在勒·柯布西耶的美国之旅中
he advised his increasingly bemused American hosts
他对蜂拥而至的接待者说
that Manhattan ought to be demolished
曼哈顿应该被拆除
to make way for a fresh and more cartesian attempt to the urban design.
并尝试设计新鲜的更笛卡尔式的城市
Ironically, what Le Corbusier’s dreams helped to generate
讽刺的是 勒·柯布西耶的梦想催生的是
were the dystopian housing estates that now ring historic Paris,
现在环绕着历史悠久的巴黎的反乌托邦住宅区
the wastelands from which tourists avert their eyes in confused horror,
游客们怀着莫名其妙的惊恐去避开眼前的荒地
and disbelief on their way into the city.
对城市建设之路充满怀疑
To take an overland train to the most violent and degraded of these places
乘陆上列车抵达最暴力最堕落的地方
is to realise all that Le Corbusier forgot about architecture,
就会意识到勒·柯布西耶对建筑的疏忽
and in a wider sense, about human nature.
并在更深层次上体察人性
For example, he forgot how tricky it is
例如 他忘记了人性是诡诈的
when just a few of one’s 2699 neighbours decide to throw a party or buy a handgun.
——当某个人的2699个邻居中只有少数人决定举办聚会或购买手枪时
He forgot how drab reinforced concrete can seem under a grey sky.
他不知道灰色天空下的钢筋混凝土看起来有多单调
He forgot how awkward it is when someone lights a fire in the lift shaft
他忘了有人在电梯井里点火取暖有多尴尬
and home is on the 44th floor.
因为他家在44层高
When Le Corbusier died in 1965,
勒·柯布西耶死于1965年
having had a heart attack in the South of France where he’d gone for a swim,
他在法国南部游泳时突发心脏病
he was responsible for building some of the most beautiful private houses of all time.
他负责建造了有史以来最漂亮的私人住宅
But his ideas had also destroyed some of the great cities of Europe and the United States.
但他的想法也摧毁了欧洲和美国的一些大城市
For a man whose ambition was to change the world,
作为一个志在改变世界的人
we can revere him paradoxically for the more modest things about him:
他功大于过 因为他比较低调：
his beautiful white washed villas, his door handles and his armchairs.
他漂亮的白色水洗别墅 门把手 扶手椅
Our book “What Is Culture For” help us find compassion, hope and perspective in the art.
我们的书《文化是为了什么》帮助我们在艺术中找到同情 希望和视角