The school of architecture that I studied at some 30 years ago happened to be across the street from the wonderful art gallery designed by the great architect Louis Kahn. I love the building, and I used to visit it quite often. One day, I saw the security guard run his hand across the concrete wall. And it was the way he did it, the expression on his face -- something touched me. I could see that the security guard was moved by the building and that architecture has that capacity to move you. I could see it, and I remember thinking, "Wow. How does architecture do that?"
我在三十年前就讀的建築學院 對面是一座令人驚豔的美術館 是由名建築師路易斯.康設計 我很愛這棟建築,也經常造訪 有一天 我看見警衛用手輕輕劃過水泥牆 而看著他這樣的舉動 還有臉上的神情 某種東西觸動了我 我可以看出警衛也深受那棟建築感動 建築就是有這樣的魔力 足以感動人心 這個場景仍歷歷在目,我當時想著 哇,建築要怎麼擁有這種力量
At school, I was learning to design, but here -- here was a reaction of the heart. And it touched me to the core.
我在學校裡學的是設計 但在這裡的—卻是心靈的真實反映 那深深觸動了我
You know, you aspire for beauty, for sensuousness, for atmosphere, the emotional response. That's the realm of the ineffable and the immeasurable. And that's what you live for: a chance to try.
我們知道,人們追尋美麗的事物 是為了感官愉悅或氣氛 這類情感上的需求 這是個無法言喻 也不可丈量的領域 這就是我們生活的目的: 擁有嘗試的機會
So in 2003, there was an open call for designs for the Bahá'í Temple for South America. This was the first temple in all of South America. It's a continental temple, a hugely important milestone for the Bahá'í community, because this would be the last of the continental temples and would open the door for national and local temples to be built around the world.
2003年時有場公開徵選 徵的是南美洲巴哈伊靈曦堂的設計圖 這在當時是全南美第一間靈曦堂 且是間洲際性的靈曦堂 是巴哈伊信仰的重大里程碑 這是最後一座洲際性神廟 也促使地區靈曦堂遍布於 世界各地
And the brief was deceptively simple and unique in the annals of religion: a circular room, nine sides, nine entrances, nine paths, allowing you to come to the temple from all directions, nine symbolizing completeness, perfection. No pulpit, no sermons, as there are no clergy in the Bahá'í faith. And in a world which is putting up walls, the design needed to express in form the very opposite. It had to be open, welcoming to people of all faiths, walks of life, backgrounds, or no faith at all; a new form of sacred space with no pattern or models to draw from. It was like designing one of the first churches for Christianity or one of the first mosques for Islam.
它的結構看似簡單 在宗教史上卻是獨一無二 它是由一個圓廳 九面牆、九個入口及九條小徑組成 讓民眾能夠從各個方向進入靈曦堂 「九」這個數字象徵完整 以及完美 建築中沒有講道壇、沒有佈道 因為巴哈伊信仰中沒有神職人員 在這個充斥隔閡的世界 設計必須藉由形式上表達 一個完全相反的概念 也就是開放與包容 各種信仰、階級、背景 或是沒有任何信仰的人 這是神聖空間的全新形式 別出心裁 不落窠臼 就像在設計第一座基督教教堂 或第一座伊斯蘭教清真寺
So we live in a secular world. How do you design sacred space today? And how do you even define what's sacred today?
既然我們身處在世俗的世界 當今的我們該如何建築神聖空間 更甚者,我們該如何定義「神聖」
I stumbled across this beautiful quote from the Bahá'í writings, and it speaks to prayer. It says that if you reach out in prayer, and if your prayer is answered -- which is already very interesting -- that the pillars of your heart will become ashine.
我曾偶然發現一句優美的巴哈伊禱文 那是關於禱告的意義 它說,若你誠心祈禱 並真的得到回應-這本身就夠神奇了 那就會點亮你的心房
And I loved this idea of the inner and the outer, like when you see someone and you say, "That person is radiant." And I was thinking, "My gosh, how could we make something architectural out of that, where you create a building and it becomes alive with light? Like alabaster, if you kiss it with light, it becomes alive. And I drew this sketch, something with two layers, translucent with structure in between capturing light. Maybe a pure form, a single form of emanation that you could imagine would be all dome and everything we kept making was looking too much like an egg.
我很喜歡這個內在與外在的概念 就像是你看到一個人時 你說,這人真是容光煥發 我就心想: 天啊,我該怎麼把這運用到建築上? 要怎麼讓一個建築物 因為光而生動呢 就像是雪花石膏 它會因光的襯托而有了生命 於是我就畫了這張圖 它有兩層,而且半透明 中間的結構能捕捉光影 若提到發散光芒最簡單的形式 我們都會直接聯想到 圓頂的樣式 我們所建築的一切都長得太像蛋了
(Laughter)
(觀眾笑聲)
A blob.
或是水滴
So you search. You all know this crazy search, letting the process take you, and you live for the surprises. And I remember quite by accident I saw this little video of a plant moving in light, and it made me think of movement, reach, this idea that the temple could have reach, like this reach for the divine. You can imagine also that movement within a circle could mean movement and stillness, like the cosmos, something you see in many places.
所以我們追尋 我們都知道這段瘋狂的探尋 會帶給我們無限驚奇 而我恰巧記得 曾經看過一部植物趨光性的短片 這讓我想到了動態 與追尋 這都可以應用在靈曦堂上 就像是對神聖的追尋 我們也能想像 在圓圈內的移動能同時展現動與靜 和宇宙的旋一樣 隨處可見
(Laughter)
(觀眾笑聲)
But rotation was not enough, because we needed a form. In the Bahá'í writings, it talks about the temples being as perfect as is humanly possible, and we kept thinking, well, what is perfection? And I remember I stumbled into this image of this Japanese basket and thinking our Western notions of perfection need to be challenged, that this wonderful silhouette of this basket, this wonkiness, and that it has the kind of dimple of what you might imagine a shoulder or the cheekbone, and that kind of organic form. And so we drew and made models, these lines that merge at the top, soft lines, which became like drapery and translucent veils and folding, and the idea of not only folding but torquing -- you remember the plant and the way it was reaching. And this started to become an interesting form, carving the base, making the entrances.
但這樣的旋還不夠 因為我們需要一種形式 在巴哈伊的篇章中曾提到 靈曦堂應盡可能地完美 而我們所要思考的就是:什麼是完美? 我記得當時無意間瞧見這張日本籃子的圖片 就覺得西方對於完美的觀念必須被挑戰 這籃子的輪廓奇妙,外觀有些歪斜 表面的凹陷或許會讓人聯想到肩窩 或酒窩 這類有生命的形式 所以我們設計、製作出模型 也就是這些在上端匯合的線條 這些柔軟的線條 像是垂墜的帳帘 與半透明的面紗及褶層 不只是折疊的概念,還有扭轉的形式 還記得剛剛那株植物伸展的方式吧 這開始成為一種引人入勝的形式了 挖掘基地,建置入口
And then we ended up with this. This is this temple with two layers, nine luminous veils, embodied light, soft-flowing lines like luminescent drapery. 180 submissions were received from 80 countries, and this was selected.
我們最終得到這個結果 這就是那間雙層靈曦堂 九道發光的紗帳 蘊含其中的光源 柔美流動的線條 就像是透著光的帷幕 我們收到超過80個國家的180份提案 最後這份雀屏中選
So we went to the next stage of how to build it. We had submitted alabaster. But alabaster was too soft, and we were experimenting, many experiments with materials, trying to think how we could have this kind of shimmer, and we ended up with borosilicate. And borosilicate glass, as you know, is very strong, and if you break borosilicate rods just so and melt them at just the right temperature, we ended up with this new material, this new cast glass which took us about two years to make. And it had this quality that we loved, this idea of the embodied light, but on the inside, we wanted something with a soft light, like the inner lining of a jacket. On the outside you have protection, but on the inside you touch it. So we found this tiny vein in a huge quarry in Portugal with this beautiful stone, which the owner had kept for seven generations in his family, waiting for the right project, if you can believe it. Look at this material, it's beautiful. And the way it lights up; it has that translucent quality.
接下來就要思考如何建造 我們原先想用雪花石膏 但那太軟了 所以我們又用其他材料做了實驗 試圖讓它產生這樣的微光 最後我們決定用硼矽酸玻璃 硼矽酸玻璃很強韌 若要重塑玻璃得先把它融化 還必須在特定溫度 我們最後選用這種新材料 這個新鑄造的玻璃花了我們兩年的時間 我們很喜歡這種玻璃的特質 因為它能夠透光 但也希望內部有個柔和的光源 像是外套的內襯一樣 外層提供保護,內層則會實際接觸到肌膚 我們在葡萄牙發現一條小礦脈 礦脈中富含這種美麗的石頭 這些石頭在礦主家傳了七代 只為等待合適的計畫,信不信由你 看看這個石材,多麼美麗 點亮它後,會呈現半透明的狀態
So here you see the structure. It lets the light through. And looking down, the nine wings are bound, structurally but symbolically strong, a great symbol of unity: pure geometry, a perfect circle, 30 meters in section and in plan, perfectly symmetrical, like the idea of sacredness and geometry. And here you see the building going up, 2,000 steel nodes, 9,000 pieces of steel, 7,800 stone pieces, 10,000 cast glass pieces, all individual shapes, the entire superstructure all described, engineered, fabricated with aerospace technology, prefabricated machine to machine, robotically, a huge team effort, you can imagine, of literally hundreds, and within three percent of our $30 million budget set in 2006.
這邊可以看到建築架構 光線能夠透過去 而往下俯瞰 九面側翼一同匯聚 結構堅固且意義重大 那是合一的象徵 也是純粹的幾何與完美的圓 每部分高達30公尺,就跟設計圖上的一樣 完美的對稱 就像是神聖與幾何的概念 我們一路看著建築向上興建 2000個鋼骨節點 9000片建築鋼 7800片石材 一萬片鑄造玻璃,每片獨立成形 剛提到的整個上層建築 是以航太技術設計、打造 以多臺機器預先製造 過程精密準確 這是大規模的團隊合作 由數百人組成 只用了三千萬預算中的3% 這是在2006年訂下的
(Applause)
(觀眾掌聲)
Nine wings bound together forming a nine-pointed star, and the star shape moving in space, tracking the sun.
九面側翼匯聚 形成一顆九芒星 這顆星星會隨著時空移動 追隨著陽光
So here it is.
這就是最終樣貌!
Audience: Wow!
(觀眾驚呼)
(Applause)
(觀眾掌聲)
Hopefully, a befitting response to that beautiful quote, "a prayer answered," open in all directions, capturing the blue light of dawn, tent-like white light of day, the gold light of the afternoon, and of course, at night, the reversal: sensuous, catching the light in all kinds of mysterious ways.
我們希望這能呼應那句優美的禱文 「蒙應允的祈禱」 向四面八方開展 捕捉破曉時的藍光 白晝時有著帷幕狀的白光 午後則有金黃色的光芒 當然,到了晚上,一切翻轉: 這是感性的 以各種神祕的方式捕捉光
And the site: it's interesting; 14 years ago when we made the submission, we showed the temple set against the Andes. We didn't have the Andes as our site, but after nine years, that's exactly where we ended up, the lines of the temple set against nothing but pure nature, and you turn around and you get nothing but the city below you, and inside, a view in all directions, radiating gardens from each of the alcoves, radiating paths.
有趣的是,我們14年前提交建案時 是把靈曦堂設立在與安第斯山相對的位置 我們沒有要將安第斯山當作靈曦堂的位址 但9年之後,卻真的建在安第斯山旁 靈曦堂的輪廓與純粹的自然相映 轉過身便能俯瞰整座城市 室內則有360度美景 放射狀的花園 從各壁龕外旋 形成輻射狀的步道
Last October, the opening ceremonies -- a beautiful, sacred event, 5,000 people from 80 countries, a continuous river of visitors, indigenous people from all over South America, some who had never left their villages. And of course, that this temple belongs to people, the collective, of many cultures and walks of life, many beliefs, and for me, what's most important is what it feels like on the inside; that it feel intimate, sacred, and that everyone is welcome. And if even a few who come have the same reaction as that security guard, then it truly would be their temple. And I would love that.
去年十月的開幕儀式 既美麗又神聖 來自80個國家的5000位參與者 接踵而至 包含許多南美洲原住民 當中有些甚至不曾離開自己的村莊 而這座神廟當然屬於人民 這些人民來自不同文化背景及各行各業 擁有不同信仰 對我來說,最重要的是內在的感覺 那是種親密的感覺 神聖的感覺 我們歡迎所有的人 而要是真的有些人 有和警衛相同的反應 那就真的是屬於他們的神廟 我也會很高興
Thank you.
謝謝各位
(Applause)
(觀眾掌聲)