On a beautiful day, just a few years ago my wife and I entered a hospital near our home in Oakland, California for the birth of our first daughter, Maya. We had responsibly toured the birthing center in advance and yet we were somehow still startled to find ourselves in the place where we would experience one of the most significant moments of our lives. We were stuck in a windowless room with no hint of the bright and sunny day that we had left. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, the paint on the walls was beige and machines beeped inexplicably as a wall clock indicated day turning to night. That clock was placed above a door in direct line of sight to where my wife lay as her contractions increased hour after hour. Now, I've never given birth --
幾年前,風和日麗的一天, 我和我太太前往一家醫院, 在我們家附近,位於加州奧克蘭, 去迎接我們的第一個女兒 瑪雅的出生。 我們事先參觀了分娩中心, 但是我倆仍驚訝地感到不真實 我們即將在這裡 經歷生命中最重要的時刻之一。 我們被安排在一個無窗的房間裡, 完全感受不到我們入住時的好天氣。 日光燈在頭頂上嗡嗡作響, 牆上的油漆是米色的, 設備還莫名地嗶嗶作響, 壁鐘顯示時間的流逝, 白天轉為黑夜。 那個鐘掛在門的上方, 正對著我太太。 她躺在床上,經歷為時數小時 愈來愈強的收縮疼痛。 當然我沒生過小孩──
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
but she assured me that the last thing that a birthing woman would ever want is to watch the seconds tick by.
那時她向我保證, 產婦最不想要的 就是看著分秒緩慢流逝。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
An architect by training, I've always been fascinated watching people experience design in the world around them. I believe design functions like the soundtrack that we're not even fully aware is playing. It sends us subconscious messages about how to feel and what to expect. That room that we were in seemed completely misaligned with the moment that we were experiencing -- welcoming a human being, our daughter, into this world.
身為專業的建築師, 我總著迷地看著 人們體驗日常生活中 環繞著他們的設計。 我相信設計的功能就像原聲帶, 人們甚至沒察覺它的存在。 但它會在我們的潛意識裡 留下感受和期許。 當時我們待的房間 似乎與我們所經歷的那一刻 完全錯位── 當時我們在迎接一個人── 我們的女兒──走進這個世界。
At one point a nurse, without any prompt, turned to us and said, "I always think to myself, 'I wish I had become an architect, because I could have designed rooms like this better.'"
那時有位護士突然間 對著我們說 「我一直有個想法, 真希望我是建築設計師, 因為我能設計出比這更好的房間。」
I said to her, "An architect did design this room."
那時,我跟她說, 「這房間是出自設計師之手啊。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Despite the immense joy of our daughter's birth, the messages of that hospital room stick with she and I to this day. Those messages are, "You are not at home, you are in a foreign place." "You are not in control of anything. Not even the lighting." "Your comfort, simply, is secondary." At best, a hospital room like this might just be described or dismissed as uninspiring. At worst, it is undignifying. And I use it to point out that none of us, anywhere in the world, are immune from bad design.
雖然女兒的誕生 帶給我倆莫大的喜悅, 至今我們仍記得待在那病房的感受。 那時的感受是, 「這不是家, 你是在一個陌生環境。」 「你無法掌控任何事, 連燈光你也不能動。」 「你的舒適感是次要的。」 說好聽一點, 像這類的病房 只能被形容為平淡無奇。 講難聽一點, 這設計無法讓使用者覺得被尊重。 我想用這例子點出: 沒有人,不論來自哪裡, 會對爛設計無感。
I went into architecture because I believed it was about creating spaces for people to live their best lives. And yet what I found is a profession largely disconnected from the people most directly impacted by its work. I believe this is because architecture remains a white, male, elitist profession -- seemingly unconcerned with some of the greatest needs in the world or even the relatively simple needs of an expectant mother. Students are trained in school using highly theoretical projects, rarely interacting with real people or actual communities. Graduates are funneled through a long, narrow unforgiving path to licensure.
當初我學建築是因為我相信 我能夠為人們創造最棒的生活空間。 但我卻發現設計這個行業 幾乎與被他們的設計 影響最大的人們脫鉤。 我想這是因為建築業還殘留著 白人觀點、男性思想、菁英主義⋯⋯ 覺得其他事情都不重要。 他們不關心這世上 一些最重要的需求, 甚至一位準媽媽的小小心願。 建築系學生在學校接受的訓練 是基於高度理論的方案, 極少接觸到實際的人物或團體。 畢業生們歷經層層關卡, 才能取得專業證照。
Meanwhile, the profession holds up a select few through relentless award programs focused almost exclusively on the aesthetics of buildings, rather than the societal impact or contributions of them. It only goes to reinforce a warped view of professional responsibility and success and yet this isn't why so many young, hopeful people go into architecture. It's not why I did. I believed then, though I didn't have a language for it, and I know now, that design has a unique ability to dignify. It can make people feel valued, respected, honored and seen.
同時,少數菁英也被 很殘酷的設計競賽所綁住, 因為這些競賽幾乎 只專注於作品的美感, 而不是帶給社會影響力或貢獻。 這種情況加重價值觀的扭曲, 只追求專業責任與成功。 但這不是眾多前途似錦的年輕人 投入建築界的原因。 那不是我入此行的理由。 雖然難以言喻, 但我從那時直到今日都深信 設計能獨特地建立使用者的尊嚴。 它能讓人們感受到個人價值、 被尊重、 榮耀感與被看見。
Now I'd like for you to just think about some of the spaces that you inhabit. And I'd like to have you think about how they make you feel. Now, there are places that make us feel unhappy, unhealthy or uninspiring. They may be the places that you work or where you heal or even where you live. And I ask, how might these places be better designed with you in mind? It's a really simple question and it can somehow, sometimes be very difficult to answer. Because we are conditioned to feel like we don't have much agency over the spaces and places that we live, work and play. And in many cases we don't. But we all should.
現在,請你們想想你的居住空間。 並想想你對那些空間的感受。 有些地方讓我們覺得不開心、 不健康 或者無趣。 也許是你的辦公空間, 或是你療癒的地方, 或是你的住所。 我想問,這些地方如果 有考慮到你會不會設計得更好? 這問題很簡單, 卻有時也最難回答。 因為我們已習慣性地 認為我們無權改變 我們的生活、工作和遊樂的地方。 多數的情形是我們的確沒有。 但我們應該要有才對。
Now, here's a potentially dumb question for any women watching: Have you ever stood in a disproportionately long bathroom line?
接下來,容我問女性觀眾一個蠢問題: 妳們是否曾經排過 不成比例的長的隊伍, 就只是為了上廁所?
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Did you ever think to yourself, "What is wrong with this picture?" Well, what if the real question is, "What is wrong with the men that designed these bathrooms?"
你是不是也覺得這很扯? 好吧,如果真正的問題是: 「設計這些廁所的男人 是不是有問題?」
(Applause)
(掌聲)
It may seem like a small thing, but it's representative of a much more serious issue. The contemporary world was literally built by men who have rarely taken the time to understand how people unlike them experience their designs. A long bathroom line might seem like a minor indignity. But the opposite can also be true. Thoughtful design can make people feel respected and seen. I've come to believe that dignity is to design what justice is to law and health is to medicine. In the simplest of terms, it's about having the spaces you inhabit reflect back your value.
雖然看似一件小事, 但它代表了很嚴重的議題。 現代社會幾乎是由男性建造的。 他們極少花時間在 了解與他們不同的群體 對他們的作品的體驗。 廁所前的長龍也許是 很微小的不尊嚴。 但反之亦然。 體貼設計使人們感到被尊重、 被看到。 我發現尊嚴對設計而言, 就像正義之於法律, 健康之於醫療。 簡而言之, 就是使你居住的空間 反映出你的價值。
Over the past two years I had the opportunity to interview over 100 people from all walks of life about their experience of design. I wanted to test my hunch that dignity and design are uniquely related.
在過去兩年來, 我採訪了 100 名以上 各行業的民眾, 以了解他們對於設計的經驗。 我想要印證我的直覺, 那就是尊嚴和設計息息相關。
I listened to Gregory, a resident of this cottage community designed specifically for the 50 most chronically homeless people in Dallas. Gregory had been living on the streets, drifting from town to town for over 30 years. A broad coalition of social service agencies, funders and designers, created this place. Each 400 square foot cottage is designed beautifully as a permanent home. Gregory now has a key to a door to his own house. He describes the sense of security that it brings him. Something he had lived without for three decades. When he arrived with little more than the clothes on his back, he found everything: from a toaster, Crock-Pot and stove to a toothbrush and toothpaste awaiting for him. He describes it simply as heaven.
受訪者之一的格里高利, 他居住的社區 是為了達拉斯 50 名長期無家可歸者 特別設計的。 格里高利長期無家可歸, 30 多年以來流離於不同的城市。 這社區是由 社會服務機構、 捐款者與設計師們 所組成的聯盟所創立的。 每間 400 平方英尺的小屋 都設計得很美, 就像一個永久的家。 格里高利現在擁有一支 自己家門的鑰匙。 他敘述這帶給他的安全感, 是他 30 年來未曾體會的。 入住時,他僅有一身的衣服, 卻在小屋裡找到所有物品: 從烤土司機、燉鍋、火爐 到牙刷、牙膏都為他準備齊全。 他形容這小屋 簡直是天堂。
On the other side of the world, I listened to Antoinette, the director of this training and community center for women in rural Rwanda. Hundreds of women come to this place daily -- to learn new skills, be in community, and continue rebuilding their lives following the country's civil war. These women literally pressed the 500,000 bricks that make up the 17 classroom pavilions like this one. Antoinette told me, "Everyone is so proud of it."
在世界的另一邊, 我採訪了瑪莉安東尼, 她是這個訓練和社區中心的主任, 該中心支援住在盧安達鄉間的女性。 每天都有數百名女人來這裡 學習新技能、 融入社群, 並在這國經歷內戰後 重建她們的生活。 這些婦女親手 砌了50 萬塊磚, 來搭建 17 間像這樣的 做為教室的空間。 安東尼告訴我, 「大家都感到很自豪。」
And then back here in the US I listened to Monika, the director of a free clinic primarily serving the uninsured in Arkansas. Monika loves telling me that the doctors, who volunteer at her free clinic routinely tell her that they've never worked in such a beautiful, light-filled place. Monika believes that even people experiencing poverty deserve quality health care. And what's more, she believes they deserve to receive that care in a dignified setting.
在美國這裏, 我認識了莫尼卡, 她的診所 為沒有健保的阿肯色州居民 免費醫療。 莫尼卡很愛對我說, 在她的診所義診的醫生們 經常告訴她 他們從來沒有在如此美麗 又光線充足的環境工作過。 莫尼卡相信, 即使是窮人, 也值得擁有高品質的醫療照顧。 並且, 她相信他們也應該 在受尊重的環境下 接受照護。
People like these are invaluable ambassadors for design and yet they are roundly absent from architectural discourse. Similarly, the people who can most benefit from good design often have the least access to it. Your cousin, a homeless veteran; your grandma or grandpa who live in a house with a kitchen that's no longer accessible to them; your wheelchair-bound sister in a suburban area planned without sidewalks.
這些人都是極為珍貴的 好設計代言人, 雖然他們完全沒上過建築課程。 同樣地,迫切需要好設計的人 通常擁有最少的資源。 像是退伍後無處可去的表親; 你的爺爺奶奶, 他們家的廚房設計已不符需求; 你的坐輪椅的姐妹 住在附近沒有人行道郊區。
If good design is only for a privileged few, what good is it? It's time designers change this by dedicating their practices to the public good in the model of firms like Orkidstudio, Studio Gang and MASS Design Group. Their clients are orphaned children in Kenya, foster children in Chicago and pregnant women in Malawi. Their practices are premised on the belief that everyone deserves good design. Dedicating more practices to the public good will not only create more design that is dignifying, but it will also dignify the practice of design. It will not only diversify the client base of design, but it will also create new, more diverse forms of design for the world.
如果好設計只鎖定給優勢族群, 那還算「好」嗎? 是設計師們改變這種現象的時候了。 藉由將實務經驗付諸公共事務, 向模範企業學習。 例如:Orkidstudio, Studio Gang, 還有 MASS Design Group。 他們服務的對象 是肯亞的孤兒, 芝加哥的寄養兒童, 還有馬拉威的孕婦們。 他們行動背後的團隊信念是: 「每個人都值得好設計。」 將實戰經驗投入公共設計, 不僅能創造更多有尊重感的設計, 也讓設計本身令人尊重。 不僅為顧客導向設計增添多元性, 也為世界衍生出 嶄新多樣的設計型式。
Now, in order to do this, my architecture and design friends, especially my fellow white guys, we must simultaneously and significantly diversify our ranks. If we want the public to believe that design is for them and for everyone. Today, barely 15 percent of registered architects in the United States are women. And a far smaller percentage are persons of color. Other professions, like law and medicine had made far greater strides in these crucial areas. How might our shared built environment -- our homes, our hospitals, our schools, our public spaces -- be shaped differently if women and people of color were behind half of the proverbial blueprints? It is not a question of whether, but to what extent our buildings, our landscapes, our cities and our rural communities are less beautiful, less functional, less equitable and less dignifying because women and people of color are less likely to be creating them.
為了做到這點, 我的建築師和設計師朋友們, 尤其是白人男性, 我們必須同時和大幅地 擴展我們設計層次。 如果我們想讓大眾相信 設計是為了他們 也是為了所有人。 今天, 在美國有建築師執照的 女性僅佔 15%。 而有色人種又更少了。 其他領域,像是法律界和醫界 在這方面已經進步很多了。 我們身邊的建築 ──包括自家房屋、醫院、 學校和公共空間── 其設計會多不相同, 如果設計的人中 有半數是女性和有色人種呢? 這不是會不會的問題, 而是會到什麼程度。 我們的房屋、街景、 城市、鄉間社區 被設計得不美又缺乏實用性, 既不公平也不尊重人, 是因為女性和有色人種 較無機會設計它們。
As Winston Churchill famously noted in 1943 when he called for the rebuilding of London's war-damaged parliamentary chambers, "We shape our buildings, and afterward, they shape us." The good news is that we can change how we build and who we build for. Be that a health worker in rural Rwanda, or a birthing mother and nervous new father in the United States. We can do this by recommitting architecture to the health, safety and welfare of the public. This will pay dividends. Because once you see what design can do, you can't unsee it. And once you experience dignity, you can't accept anything less. Both become part of your possible.
1943 年,英國首相邱吉爾 說過這個名言。 當時他呼籲全國重建 戰時受災嚴重的倫敦議會。 他說:「我們先設計出建物, 然後這些建物塑造我們。」 幸好我們還能改變我們的設計, 來針對我們的目標族群, 不論是住在盧安達的 偏鄉醫療工作人員, 或在美國的待產媽媽和 緊張兮兮的新手爸爸。 我們能針對他們的需求 重新進行設計, 注重健康、安全、公眾福祉。 這對社會很有幫助。 因為你一旦見識過好設計, 就再也無法忽視它了。 一旦你體會過好設計帶來的尊嚴, 你就不會接受低質感的設計。 這兩個會成為你可以做到的。
One of my favorite conversation partners is my 90-year-old grandmother, Audrey Gorwitz, from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After one of our conversations about design, she wrote me a letter. She said, "Dear Johnny, I thought the other day, as I sat in my doctor's office, how depressing it was, from the color on the wall, to the carpet on the floor.
我的奧黛莉奶奶,她 90 歲, 是我最愛的談話對象之一。 她住在威斯康辛的奧旭寇旭。 有次我們剛聊完有關設計的話題, 奶奶寫給我一封信。 內容是:「親愛的約翰, 有天,我坐在醫生的辦公室裡 發現那房間的設計沈重無比。 從牆上的顏色到樓層的地毯。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Now I will have to call to see who is responsible for the drabness in that place."
我現在必須找出 這樣死氣沈沈的設計出自誰之手?」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
In the same letter, mind you, she said, "I did call, and I got the man in charge, and he said he appreciated someone calling him. My doctor's office is now on the list for an upgrade."
在信中,我奶奶也寫到 「我後來真打給相關單位, 承辦人說很感謝我聯繫他。 那間醫生辦公室已被列入 升級改造的清單中。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
She signed it by saying, "It is always good to express one's opinion if done in a proper manner."
信件署名下方還寫上 「表達個人意見永遠是對的, 只要用對方式。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
(Applause)
(掌聲)
I love my grandma.
所以我超愛我的奶奶
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Like my grandma Audrey, you deserve good design. Because well-designed spaces are not just a matter of taste or a questions of aesthetics. They literally shape our ideas about who we are in the world and what we deserve. That is the essence of dignity. And both the opportunity and the responsibility of design for good and for all.
如同我奶奶, 你們都值得更好的設計。 因為好的設計空間, 不只牽涉品味與美學問題, 而直接影響了我們的人生觀 和價值觀。 那才是尊重的本質。 設計的機會和責任都在於 為了美好, 為了所有人。
Thank you.
謝謝大家。
(Applause)
(掌聲)