新闻与事件

一份礼物， 一个大家的“家”

A Gift, a "Home" for All

——在设计大楼启用仪式上的讲话

Speech at the Inauguration of the School of Design Building

阮昕  RUAN Xing,

上海交通大学设计学院院长、设计大楼建筑师

Dean of the Shanghai Jiao Tong School of Design, and Architect of the Design Building

2023年4月7日

April 7, 2023

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尊敬的校领导，亲爱的同学们，老师们：

Dear Students, Colleagues and Friends:

      大家早上好！

      Good morning!

歌声把我们带到了“如愿”的时刻；前面绕梁的巴赫也都让我们胸中充溢着一种幸福感。大楼虽未完工，但我们已“迁”心似箭。在这个时刻，作为设计学院的院长，恰巧也是大家现在身处其中设计大楼的建筑师，我有千言万语，却不知从何说起… …

The choir we just heard has brought us to the moment of “fulfilment"; the sound of Bach resounding in the hall has filled our hearts with happiness. Although the building is not yet complete, we cannot wait to move in, for our conviction holds fast like the path of an arrow. At this moment, as the dean of the School of Design, who also happens to be the architect of the building where we now find ourselves, I have a thousand words to say. But I do not know where to start.

我猜大家会希望我借今天这个机会讲一讲设计的理念。林校长有一次当众说道：“阮昕，你把设计大楼和学校的事情当作自己家的事来做了。”无论当表扬还是批评，我后来仔细盘算了一下，在我30多年的设计生涯中，有两幢房子我把它们当作“家”来设计和建造：一个是我和建筑师妻子在遥远的“对跖之乡”为我们自己和孩子们打造的家；另一个就是我们设计学院大家的“家”。

I’m guessing, you hope that I will take this opportunity to talk about the concept of design. President Lin once said in a public remark: "Ruan Xing, you take designing the building and the School as a family affair". Whether it was praise or criticism, after having carefully considered these words, I have realized that in my career of more than 30 years in the design profession, there have been two buildings that I designed and built as "homes": one that home built together with my architect wife for ourselves and our children in the distant land “down under"; the other being the "home" for all of us in the School of Design.

“家”是什么？除了遮风避雨，还需珍藏我们生活中的希望，也还需要为我们生活中的失望提供庇护。在设计学院这个家里，我的奢望是：早晨当你迫不及待要从床上跃起，怀着喜悦的心情走进设计大楼时，这个大堂和你房间里灵动的日光会令你的精神为之一振；而当你沮丧被迫拾步进入大楼时，它温馨的氛围会是你情感的“避风港”。

What is "home"? In addition to providing shelter from the elements, it ought to enshrine hope in our lives and provide sanctuary from disappointment. My wild wish for this home of the School is that when you jump out of bed eagerly in the morning and walk into the Design Building with joy, the animated daylight in this hall and your room will lift your spirits; and when you are frustrated and forced to step into the building, its warm ambience will constitute an emotional "harbour".

以上是近乎电影般的场景，但当一个设计师沉浸于一种浪漫的想象时，往往无法自拔。至于“设计”的初心和含义，这个厅堂来源于中国春秋还是古罗马？伟岸的天花是宋代编木拱还是欧洲古代的穹隆？栏杆的纹样和木柱收分的建筑学含义为何？日光经由窗的“训化”而产生了何种体积感和质感？林林总总的房间为何更像一群性格迥异的角色？报告厅的座椅是云彩之下漂浮于池塘中的百合花吗？这个厅堂是剧场？还是城市中的广场？粗糙和细腻的外墙面经由岁月的侵蚀会如何老去？… …

The above is an almost cinematic scene, but when a designer is immersed in romantic imagination, he often cannot extricate himself. As for the original intention and meaning of "design", does this hall originate in the Spring and Autumn Period of China, or in ancient Rome? Is the soaring ceiling a levered wooden arch from the Song Dynasty or a classic European vault? What is the architectural significance of the balustrade pattern and, the fluted and taped timber columns? What kind of volume and texture does daylight create through the "taming" of windows? Why do all kinds of rooms look more like a group of characters with different personalities? Are the seats in the auditorium lilies floating in a pond below the clouds? Is this hall a theatre? Or a piazza in the city? How will the coarse and fine exterior walls age over time?

如此这般，都是这幢大楼作为一个“设计实验室”的一些粗浅尝试。不过借用钱钟书先生的一个表达，我也不妨建议，吃鸡蛋就好，不必去管那只下蛋的母鸡… …

These are all the first attempts to use this building as a "laboratory for design". But borrowing an expression from the writer Qian Zhongshu, I might as well suggest that one shall just eat eggs and not worry about the hen that lays them.

既然这幢大楼的每一条线、每一个面、每一片色彩、每一种质感，我都尽了力去想象、勾画和实施。虽未能做到尽如人意，我倒是想凭这点苦劳给自己一个特权，以便向这个家未来的成员和访客提一个使用要求：借用英国19世纪设计师和社会主义作家William Morris所言，“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”（家中勿存无用和不美之物！）

Since I tried my best to imagine, draw and materialise every line, facet, colour, and form of texture, though I did not realise all what I expected, I would like to grant myself a privilege based on this hard labour: To request future members and visitors of this home by using the words of William Morris, the 19th-century British designer and socialist writer: "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful".

大家会发现，我们这个家很简朴，或者说俭节：没有所谓的“精装修”，一切均所见即所是。Morris的要求其实仅是表象，因为他远没有理解到我们中国古代大贤的哲理境界，那就是“大道至简”以求 “无用之大用”。

You will find that our home is very simple, or even frugal: There is no so-called "exquisite fitout." Everything is as meets the eye. Morris's request is in fact only superficial, because he is far from an understanding of the philosophical contours of ancient Chinese sages, that of "the great principle of approaching simplicity" in pursuit of "the usefulness of the uselessness".

其实，我今天最主要的任务是感谢和感恩。在座的各位和许多不在现场的人都是我感谢的对象，有太多的人为这幢大楼付出了心血。挂一必漏万，但我今天只能“挂一”，先请大家原谅，下次再择机尽力做到周全吧。我今天必须表达的是，如果设计大楼背后有任何设计理念，那就是：建筑即是一个礼物！

In fact, my most important task today is to express thankfulness and gratitude. Everyone here and many people who are not here are the ones whom I want to thank. There are so many people who have devoted their efforts to this building. "If you get one right, then ten thousand are left out," but I can only "get one right" today. I must ask for your forgiveness in advance, and I will try my best to be thorough next time. What I have to say today is that if there is any design philosophy behind the design of the building, it is this: architecture is a gift!

法国现代建筑师Le Corbusier在他设计的印度昌迪加尔行政中心的广场上做了一只形似张开之手的雕塑，取名Open Hand - open to receive and open to give. （去接受，去给予。）

The French modern architect Le Corbusier made a sculpture shaped like an open hand in the square of the administrative centre he designed in Chandigarh, India, and named it Open Hand—open to receive and open to give.

当一个建筑师接到一个设计任务时，以我们的设计大楼为例，是学校和林校长对设计学院和我个人的一种高度信任。一个设计任务也因此而变成了一份沉甸甸的礼物！接受这份礼物，对建筑师而言意味着巨大的责任和冒险。那么最终建筑师又能回馈什么呢？如果他还有点运气，经历了千辛万苦后还未被完全挫败，他或许可以为他热爱的一群人打造一个“家”：如前所述，他希望给在大楼各个角落的“居家”生活添一分情趣，也希望大堂顶棚之下每一个人生活工作得更有尊严！

A high degree of trust was placed in me and in the School of Design by President Lin in this instance of assigning the responsibility for the design, with me serving as the architect.  A design task has thus turned into a weighty gift! Accepting this gift represents a huge responsibility, as well as risk for the architect. So ultimately what can the architect give back in return? If he has some luck and has not been completely defeated after all the hardships, he may be able to build a "home" for a group of people that he is very fond of: as mentioned, he hopes to add delight to the life in the "homes" in every corner of the building, and hopes everyone under the uplifting ceiling of the hall can live and work with more dignity！

除此之外，我还有一点私心，今天向大家坦白：小的时候我梦想长大后能成为一个画家。可惜我一直都画得很拙劣。成为建筑师后我一直在思忖：建筑能否为人画像？通过这幢设计大楼，我希望描绘的是一种宽广无边的胸怀和格局，也是一个一生以交大为家的师长。钱钟书先生曾嘲笑作者在书的扉页上将书献给某人，是“精巧地不老实”，因为书无论优劣都是作者的。但作者的诚意则需有表达的渠道！

In addition, I have a little self-indulgence, and today I shall confess: When I was a child, I dreamed of growing up to become a painter. Unfortunately, I've always been terrible at drawing. Since becoming an architect, I have often pondered: Can architecture be a form of portrait of people? Through this Design Building, I hope to depict a vast mind and magnanimity, in addition to a teacher who has called Shanghai Jiao Tong University his home throughout his career. Mr. Qian Zhongshu once ridiculed an author for placing a dedication to a certain someone on the book’s title page, calling this "cleverly dishonest", because a book belongs to its author no matter whether excellent or poor. But an author’s sincerity needs a channel through which to be expressed!

敬爱的林校长，请允许我个人，我希望也代表设计学院，将这幢设计大楼视为一种人格画像，作为礼物送给您！

Dear President Lin, please allow me, and I hope also on behalf of the School of Design, to regard this Design Building as a sort of portrait of character—as a gift to be presented to you!

丁校长最近在毕业典礼上阐述了交大学科交叉和科艺融合的格局，以及在兴趣驱动和问题导向下，主动创新的交大人标签。在我看来，这就是丁校长为设计学科和设计学院人才培养精心而作的一幅学术画像！我相信，设计学院全体“家人”定能以大楼启用为新起点，不负众望，更上层楼！

President Ding recently explained at the graduation ceremony the structure of cross-disciplinary work and the integration of the sciences and arts at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, as well as the characteristic of its people who actively innovate driven by their own curiosity and by nature of problems they encounter. In my view, this is an academic portrait carefully illustrated by President Ding of the design discipline and the educational ethos in the School of Design! I believe that the entire "family" of the School of Design will take the inauguration of the building as a new starting point, live up to expectations, and reach new heights!

在此，我也要代表设计学院向学校表达一个开放的态度：诚邀大家常来做客和使用设计大楼！我们希望设计大楼成为一个打破学科以及人与人交流边界的校园厅堂，一个所有交大人的“家”。

Here, on behalf of the School of Design, I would also like to express an attitude of openness for the entire university: I sincerely invite everyone to visit and use the Design Building more oftern! We hope that the Design Building will become a civic hall on campus that breaks the boundaries that divide both disciplines and communication between people, to be a "home" for all members of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

最后，感谢在座的各位对我个人和设计学科、学院的信任和支持！再次谢谢大家亲临现场，见证这个历史时刻！

Finally, I would like to thank everyone here for your trust and support in me, in the design discipline, and in the School! Thank you again for coming and witnessing this historical moment!