原型建筑之进化——浅析BIG的设计理念与实践方式

陈曦/CHEN Xi

1.“建筑进化论”投射出的设计思辨

正如BIG事务所主创建筑师比亚克·因格尔斯在其著作《是即是多》里所写到的：

相比于革命（revolution），我们更感兴趣的是进化（evolution）。就像达尔文把造物描述为一种过剩和选择的过程，我们建议让各种社会力量、每个人的多元利益关系决定哪些想法可以存活，哪些想法必须消亡。幸存下来的想法通过变异和杂交，变成一种全新的建筑形式，继而演化发展。[1]

这样一种名为“建筑进化论”的设计理念，支撑着BIG事务所近年来在设计实践中不懈地探索。“进化而非革命”这一概念曾在1950年代被著名工业设计师艾略特·诺伊斯提出，然而50年后，丹麦建筑师比亚克·因格尔斯第一次将之拓展到了建筑创作的具体语境中：“生活在不断进化，我们的城市和建筑也需要相应地进化以适应我们期待的生活方式”。[2]

“建筑进化论”的核心假设在于认定环境会对创作过程提供营养，而这一接受式的态度在比亚克的新书中被描述成了其标志性的口号：“是即是多”。他的理论是，那些喊着“不”、通过反对前人而树立自己的建筑师，不过是以一种极端的方式追随着前辈，由此产生了一系列后人不断推翻前人的矛盾循环[1]。与此相反，“是”所表达的是一个不断赞同外界的价值系统，使置入的建筑原型在外界环境的评价与选择中自我进化。

1.1. 建筑作为达成城市“共识”的斡旋手段

不可否认的是，“是”与孕育它的社会环境息息相关。作为一个强调“共识”的福利国家，丹麦的社会制度基于“使每位公民都有同等的权利”、“每个观点获得尊重”这些原则，最终达成的共识往往是某种妥协或者匀质的平庸。哥本哈根街头各样相同材质、相同细部、相同预制件组成的建筑物代表着这样一种“平等=妥协”的游戏规则。然而，BIG对这一原则提出了挑战：为了达成妥协，是否必须要以牺牲各方利益为前提呢？BIG将建筑师定义为以空间为战场的政治家，提出一种“不是忽视冲突，而是从冲突中得到养分，吸收和整合各种差异”的理念，塑造出一个“兼容的而非排斥的建筑”。[1]

1.“Architectural Evolution” and its design philosophy

As BIG's founding architect Bjarke Ingels writes in his book YES IS MORE:

“rather than revolution, we are interested in evolution. Like Darwin describes creation as a process of excess and selection, we propose to let the forces of society, the multiple interests of everyone, decide which of our ideas can live,and which must die.”[1]

This so-called "architectural evolution" was developed through BIG's exploration during the last five years. Although it was raised up by industrial designer Eliot Noyes in 1950s, "evolution instead of revolution" was introduced to the field of architecture design for the first time by architect Bjarke Ingels.[2]

The "architectural evolution" depends on the assumption that environment would feed the architecture creation, and this idea was later transformed into the title of Bjarke's new book: YES IS MORE. He believes that since the traditional avantgarde were saying "No" to everyone, they defined themselves by what they are against rather than they are for. As a result, it led to an succession of contradictions where each generation vote for the opposite of the previous.[1]On the contrary, "YES"represents a "pragmatic utopian architecture" that allows architects to say yes to all aspects of human life. By saying "YES", architecture would get evolved through the evaluation and selection of environment.

1.1. Architecture as an approach to reach city's consensus

Undoubtedly, "YES" is derived from its society. As a welfare country emphasizing "consensus", Denmark was built on the ground principles like "each citizen has equal rights" or "each viewpoint deserves same respect". However, it usually leads to compromise or equal boring. A gray goo of sameness accounting for the vast majority of the Copenhagen city stands for this rule of "equity = compromise". BIG challenged this rule by asking "what if trying to make everybody happy did not have to lead to sacrifice of different sectors?" Regarded themselves as "politicians" of space, BIG points a way to incorporate and integrate differences by tying conflicting interests into an inclusive rather than exclusive architecture.[1]

Thus, BIG's architecture creation serves as a way to approach social consensus in accordance with specific context. In some projects, "evolution" extends architects' vision from instinct geometric creation into deliberation on context programs, users and life styles. In other words, architects transformed their task from purely beautification into negotiation of multi-interests in urban space.

Copenhagen's Clover Field project is a good example of this idea. In 2005, the social democratic mayor Ritt Bjerregaard was elected and going to fulfill her promise of making 5 000 homes for low-incomes.BIG was invited to design a new residential community on a large playground zone in the center of Amager.However, this new residential program would no doubt encounter strong objection from football lovers and adjacent neighborhood. Home or football field? BIG suggested a third way to get both by building a narrow strip of residential program along the edge of the playground.

Continuing with this initial idea, BIG curved around existing club facilities and varied the height to respect the neighbors. This set of operations well achieved the requirements of politicians, developers and existing community. The plan soon got admiration from the major and greatly influenced the Danish Society.

因此，BIG的建筑创作成为在相应社会诉求下建筑师达成社会“共识”的斡旋手段。在具体的设计项目中，“进化”的方式将创作的考量维度从一次性的形式创造，拓展到回应不同功能属性、使用人群、生活方式的应答式研究，使建筑师从既定城市功能的美化者，上升为城市利益的空间协调者。

哥本哈根三叶草运动场项目就体现着这样的“进化”思想。2005年，哥本哈根新市长丽特·比耶高在竞选中获胜，并准备兑现其竞选诺言——兴建5 000处中低收入住宅，BIG被邀请在阿迈厄区中心一片巨大开阔的足球场上设计新的社区。不难预料，该项目满足低收入者居住要求的同时，势必将受到周边市民及运动爱好者的强烈反对。要住宅还是足球场？两难境地之下，BIG在第一轮住宅替代球场的方案基础上，提出了新一轮共赢方案，通过沿球场的外围新建住宅，形成长城式蜿蜒漫长的构筑物，从而确保其内部的城市公共空间丝毫未损。

这一创造性的方案得到认可后，BIG又在新一轮的方案中考虑了原有足球俱乐部的使用要求与周边工业建筑的影响，并重新调整了居住建筑的高度与轮廓。这一系列的设计演进成功地回应了政治家、开发商、原有居民和工业遗迹的要求，实现了场地内外各种社会利益的共存，不仅得到了比耶高市长的首肯，也在丹麦社会各界引起极大轰动。

1.2. 基于空间类型研究的可持续性建筑设计

“建筑进化论” 不只回应政治与开发利益中的复杂矛盾，同时也将可持续设计的理念作为“进化”过程中的选择标准。BIG认为，科技的不断进步，往往使得建筑表皮成为了一种以机械方式消耗能量而对建筑的不舒适进行补偿的方法，然而，建筑师事实上可以将某些环境品质在建筑的设计过程中加以考虑，而不只是简单地依赖各类机械设备。[3]

比亚克·因格尔斯常常引用丹麦生态专家比约恩·隆伯格在“哥本哈根共识”中提出的观点：生态问题的解决只有符合社会经济模型才可能实现，而生态与经济的相互对立是一个原则性的误读。传统环境保护要求人们克制一己私欲、限制空调、热水浴、控制碳排放，把可持续技术发展与生活品质对立起来，BIG则从类型研究角度提出新的可持续设计的理念：即利用功能的互补特性，最大化每个功能单体的效用。

在概念方案小丹麦项目中，BIG观察到不同的建筑活动对应着不同的能耗模式，比如，居住单元需要更多的供暖能耗，而办公室消耗更多能耗在制冷上。于是，设计师们提出了假设，即通过对全社会不同功能的能耗分析，我们可以得到具体关于水、热、能的需求与过剩指标，并利用互补式组合优化建筑的能耗。例如，通过多方案比较与选择，许多符合能量互补原则的设计方案整体上构成一个能量自给系统：酒店设有一个游泳池与超市，超市的冰箱与游泳池可以互相进行热量交换，一者供暖，一者供冷。而居民楼带有一个南向的阳台，并有树木植于其上，夏天植物会提供自然的遮阳，而冬天光秃秃的枝干会保证阳光直射室内。

1.2. Sustainable concern based on typological studies

"Architectural evolution" is about not only social conflict, but also sustainable design. BIG believes that building surfaces essentially is an energy consuming and mechanical way of compensating for the fact that building is bad for what it is designed for. So BIG's architects put attribute to the physical design of the building instead of the machine room.[3]

Bjarke Ingels sometimes cites Danish ecologist Bj¿rn Lomborg's viewpoint on "Copenhagen Consensus",which seeks to establish priorities on Earth's environmental challenges based on the theory of welfare economics. It uncovers a fundamental understanding that ecology against economy as good vs. evil. Traditional environmentalists recommend people to limit their uses of air-conditioning, hot bath, and etc. Thus,sustainability is erected as a contradictory term against life quality. However, BIG concerns about sustainability by doing typological studies on complementary programs to ensure the utilities of each program can be maximized.

In the conceptual project "Little Denmark", BIG's architects discovered that different activities had different energy consumption patterns. For example,houses spent energy on heating while offices spent more energy on cooling. So they argued that by analyzing the consumption pattern of each program in our society, we can get an overview of the particular needs and excesses一of energy, heat and water. As a result, they can design buildings with complementary program adjacent to each other to optimize the energy consumption. For instance,a self-sufficient system can be created by designing a swimming pool and a supermarket, where heat exchange happens between the refrigerators of the supermarket and swimming pool.

2. “原型进化”所指导的设计实践

2.1. 原型的进化

建筑原型的进化是BIG设计实践的一条重要线索，即以相同类型的空间构思，运用于不同的设计项目中，并随着具体的设计要求、环境特征而演变。

例如，上文中所提到的小丹麦项目构成了BIG的一个主要原型：层叠而起的住宅单元与其下公共功能或活动相结合。像这样以台地形式将小单元私密功能置于上方，将大型公共空间置于其下的山型建筑，在之后的各类项目中不断发展和涌现。

2009年接受一次采访时，比亚克曾指着办公室里一个很旧的模型谈到，“这是我的毕业设计项目，混合了住宅与体育场等不同功能。这个项目进化成了你左手边的模型，也就是‘山’住宅的前期草模。甚至，你可以发现这些想法被发展到你右手边的炮台公园项目中，台阶状住宅在外，公共功能在内。”[3]

从比亚克的毕业设计发展到炮台公园，一些元素保存了下来，例如，台阶状的住宅，叠落式的阳台，近乎三棱锥状的建筑轮廓。然而，根据不同的项目要求与场地特征，山型建筑的原型不断演变着：位于哥本哈根市区的炮台公园项目中，学院、清真寺、商业开发等不同功能的竞逐，使山型的底部形成了各类大型公共功能和连续的商业街区；而坐落于哥本哈根市郊新区的“山”住宅则将底部的中空空间作为停车场，避免了另建独栋停车楼，使住宅成为一个自我供给的微型城市，更促使顶部庭院式住宅享受一望无际的郊野景观。BIG相信，通过不断审视并挖掘过去的作品，更丰富的环境要素、更深刻的思考会使概念推进到更高的层次，从而完成“进化”。

3 KUBE竞赛研究模型（部分）/Model thinking of KUBE

4 BIG建筑事务所模型库（局部）/BIG’s archive

2.2. 设计方式：模型思考与原型档案

如果说，根据政治、经济、环境要素而生成的设计成果体现出了BIG“建筑进化论”中的自然选择理论，那么，BIG设计概念在不同方案中的再生、变异、杂交则反映了“进化论”的另一基本前提：过剩繁殖——它的实现，有赖于BIG事务所以模型为载体的设计方式及档案机制。

在笔者参与过的KUBE哥本哈根社区中心竞赛中，大量的实体模型超越了计算机在呈现空间尺度和环境方面的局限，给团队提供了不同的视角。一个月的时间里，我们的3人设计小组完成了近100个1:500至1:200的方案模型。首先，根据场所和功能做体块模型，随后，选定了几个有趣的概念进行多方案测试，确定方案后按照大比例尺的模型测试比例、调整细节。这一系列工序与“进化论”的思路惊人地吻合。在英国TED讲座中，比亚克·因格尔斯也曾经将事务所的设计活动比作达尔文的树状进化结构：一个设计项目要从多代设计讨论中的无数概念中经过筛选、发展，甚至与其他项目进行杂交（比如一个形式优秀的样本与一个功能合理的样本），才可以得到最终的设计结果。[4]

这样的实践方式，一方面，秉承着北欧建筑师固有的模型传统——即运用模型作为设计而非表现工具，推敲从概念至细节的全部设计过程；另一方面，也折射出丹麦的预制建筑文化及其中体现出的功能理性与空间模数。二战之后，预制技术的蓬勃发展使得建筑业彻底摒弃了现浇工序，促使建筑师运用一种模块化的眼光看待建筑物。比亚克曾经在一次采访中谈到，丹麦就好像个巨大的乐高乐园，由不同的预制建筑原件拼装而成。可以推断，以模型为主的推敲方式，也与这样的视角相吻合。在乐高塔等强调模数的概念项目中，模型超越了其传统的表现工具地位，深刻地影响着建筑物的形式逻辑。

对于BIG而言，许多“进化”过程中产生的巧妙创意无法满足眼前项目的具体要求，但可能完美适用于另外的客户或者环境要求，所以，BIG从不轻易抛弃自己的概念。事务所设置了一系列工序，将各种工作模型、档案完整保存下来，成为一个多样化的档案库，以备不时之需。

在《是即是多》的最后，一张说明图用细线勾勒出不同项目之间的相互影响，描绘出BIG实践的关键工序：通过建立思想库，不断测试并演进其中的设计思想。作为一个成立仅5年的公司，BIG以其独特的工作方法和设计哲学获得了广泛的关注，让我们试目以待，这场建筑实验将会在未来带给我们怎样的新启发。□

2. "Prototype Evolution" and its design approach

2.1. Prototypes' evolution

Architectural prototypes' evolution is one of the most important clues of BIG's design practice, which applies similar spatial prototypes in different circumstances and requirements. As a result, those prototypes will evolve into different outcomes better fitting their circumstance.

The Little Denmark project mentioned above,represents a symbolic prototype of BIG: the stepping residential units above + large public space underneath.This classical mountain-like structure consistently emerged in a number of BIG's projects.

In an interview of 2009, Bjarke pointed at a very old model and told me that it was his thesis project in school which served as a great example of "evolution".That model clearly showed a hybrid structure with housing above and sports hall below. Bjarke said, "that building evolved into the first model for the Mountain,and some of these ideas have been carried further in the Battery project, where you have the housing terraces outside and public programs inside".[3]

From his thesis project to the Battery, many of the elements were remained, such as terraced housing and gardens, public hall, pedestrian path, and pyramid shape. However, according to different clients and contexts, "mountain" has been evolved in different directions: in the Battery project, schools, mosque,commercial uses are competing against each other within the site boundary, eventually led to large public amenities like library, mosque and commercial street at ground level; but the Mountain utilized the bottom space as parking facility to support garden housing units with great views on top, and they all together serve as a self-sustained community in the wild suburbs of Copenhagen. BIG claims that by continuously visiting the key ideas of their work, they can absorb new gradients and advance it to the higher level, and gradually "evolve" the idea.

2.2. Design approach: model-thinking and prototype-archiving

On one hand, the design outcomes shaped by political, economic and environmental concern represent the idea of "natural selection" according to BIG's "evolution" theory. On the other hand, BIG's design method based on model-making and archiving support the platform of "excess production", which is also fundamental to the mutation and multiplication process of the "evolution".

In the Copenhagen KUBE competition I participated in 2009, a large amount of model making provided the team helpful visions, beyond the limitation of computer in terms of dimension and context. In just one month, a team of three people made more than one hundred 1:500 and 1:200 models.Earliest weeks we kept doing massing models to test different site plans, then comparative tests on several interesting schemes, later zoomed into large scale models to test spatial quality and architecture details.This sequence of model works suited the idea of"evolution" theory surprisingly. In the TED lecture,Bjarke Ingels once described the way that office worked as the "Evolution Tree" diagram: a project evolved from a series generations of design meetings, muted with other models (for instance, a beautiful model and a functional one), and then generated the final design outcome as a survival sample out of the architecture selection.[4]

5 BIG建筑方案之进化/Architectural evolution

（1-5 图片来源：Bjarke Ingels Group）

This process on model-making inherited the tradition of Scandinavian architects who usually use model as a design tool rather than representational tool from conceptual studies to details. Moreover, it reflects the culture of prefabricated architecture in Denmark that the entire building industry is based on prefabricated modules and concrete elements. This circumstance urges Danish architects to think about architecture in module. As Bjarke once said,"contemporary Denmark has become a country entirely made from lego slabs," model-making as a work method perfectly suits the vision of modular architecture. In some projects like Lego Towers, models even had a clear impact on the geometry of the architecture.

Furthermore, another important work method in BIG is the way of archiving models and ideas due to the fact that many great ideas that do not fit the current context may be suitable for a different client and culture.As a result, BIG never throws anything out. Instead,architects keep all working models for the archive in case that they would be needed. Ideally, in future architects can easily grab ideas and mute them into the new ideas that our society would be looking for.

At the end of YES IS MORE, one single diagram describes the influences of different projects on each other, which illustrates the key methodology of BIG's"architectural evolution": archiving, muting, evolving and testing ideas. As a young firm with only five-year history, it has attracted world-wide attention owing to its unique design philosophy and working method.Let's see what it would become for this experimental practice in the future.□

[1] INGELS B, BIG Bjarke Ingels Group. Yes is More : An Archicomic on Architectural Evolution. Dansk arkitekturcenter, eds, Koln: Evergreen, 2010.

[2] JANTZEN U. TEXT MESSAGE: Bjarke Ingels.Metropolis Magazine, 2010(1): 90.

[3] 因格尔斯 B，陈曦. BIG的更多意义.城市·环境·设计，2010(10):112-117/INGELS B, CHEN X. BIG IS MORE.Urban.Environment.Design. 2010,47(10): 112-117

[4] TED Talk, Bjarke Ingels at TED, http://www.ted.com/talks/bjarke_ingels_3_warp_speed_architecture_tales.html