意馀于形——人类学与民居杂谈

The Meaning Surpasses the Form:Musings on Anthropology and Vernacular Architecture

以意义与形式的关联为线索,在理论层面回顾了建筑师围绕这一话题的历史纠葛。从列维-斯特劳斯、布迪厄等人类学家对原始住屋形式背后的社会理念的阐释,到里克沃特、拉普卜特、鲁道夫斯基等建筑学者对传统聚落及民居形式意义的探究,建筑师时常陷入形式与意义的若即若离关系所塑造的两难境地之中,即便柯布西耶、路易·康等亦不可跳脱。中国合院式住宅提供了一个可能的答案,因在中国人理解的"天-地"关系之下,合院中生活的意义远高于形式,这亦可推演至中国艺术"大象无形"的理念。由此提出,建筑行业存在的真正理由就是为人居环境创造意义。

Following the thread of a supposed connection between meaning and form,this essay presents a theoretical reflection on a history of it as understood by architects.From the elaboration of the social ideas behind the form of primitive houses by anthropologists,such as Levi-Strauss and Bourdieu,to the study of traditional settlements and houses by architectural scholars,such as Rykwert,Rapoport and Rudofsky,the author concludes that architects too often have been caught in a dilemma caused by an ambiguous relationship between form and meaning;even great architects,Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn for example,could not escape.A possible answer lies in the Chinese courtyard house,given its"heaven-earth"relationship as understood by the Chinese,the way of living in a courtyard is far more important than its physical form,which is linked to an idea in Chinese art:the great form has no image.The essay thus contends that the true reason for the existence of the architectural trade is the creation of meaning for the built world.