Pei Luming First Person Singular

 

 

I do, of course like people to enjoy my work, no question about it. The ¹⁾durability¹ of the idea, the ²⁾relevance of its durable², it’s more important to me.  But that doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in instant fame. That’s nice to have it too, but to have something that lasts, that means you’ve really got hold of the essence of things and that’s the only thing that can last, is really the essence of the thing really otherwise its ³⁾transitory, its fashion. 

To me, architecture is something you do to serve a certain function, it’s for people, there have to be something that somehow relates to life itself of that particular time and place.  I’m not an architect who has, as some people say a body of theories. I don’t have that, I don’t think that’s the way my architecture should be looked at.  But if you are true to yourself, you have a signature, and a signature will come out. 

I like to make a comparison with the music of ⁴⁾Bach, constant variations, of a simple theme, you have to learn to ⁵⁾eliminate and come to the heart of the problem, you have to start from the very complex program, to reduce it to the simplest and having found the simple solution of the heart of the matter, let’s say, then you have to make it work. 

I prefer not to use labels. To me, it’s just architecture, there’s no such thing as modern architecture, post modern, deconstructivist (deconstructionsm), you can use all the isms you want. I don’t believe in any of them. They come and they go. And the one that really survived, lasting³, is architecture, architecture of that time. CE

 

08、天才建筑师贝聿铭

 

我当然希望别人喜欢我的作品，这是毫无疑问的。我更看重一个创意的持久性，它的适度持久。但这并不是说，我对快速出名就不感兴趣。有名是好事，但要想不朽，就得抓住事物的精髓，只有抓住了精髓而不是短期内的时尚性，事物才能流传下去。

对于我来说，建筑是为了达到一定的功用，是为了人们，在某个特定的时间和地点通过某种方式来与生命本身产生关联。我并不像一些人所说的，是一名满脑子都是理论的建筑师。我并不是这样，也并不希望别人这样看待我的建筑。但如果你展现真实的自我，你就会有自己的风格，你的风格就会显现出来。

我喜欢将我的作品和巴赫的音乐作比较，变化繁复，而主题却十分简明。你必须学会去芜存精，抓住问题的要害。你必须从非常复杂的程序开始，将其降至最简单，也就是说，用最简单的方法来解决最关键的问题，而且卓有成效。

我不喜欢分类标明建筑风格。对我来说，建筑就是建筑，不存在什么现代建筑、后现代建筑和解构主义建筑。人们可以使用他喜欢的任何一种主义名称，只是我不认同。它们来得快消失得也快，只有建筑本身才能最终存在并流传下来，反映那个时代的特色。CE

 

1) durability [djurE5biliti] n. 经久，耐久力

2) relevance[5relivEns] n. 中肯，适当

3) transitory [5trAnsitEri] adj. 短时间的

4) Bach [ba:h] n. Johann Sebastian Bach，约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫（1685-1750），德国作曲家

5) eliminate [i5limineit] v. 消除，淘汰

 

1 durability   

n.经久性，耐用性

参考例句：

• Nylons have the virtue of durability.尼龙丝袜有耐穿的优点。

2 durable   

adj.持久的，耐久的

参考例句：

• This raincoat is made of very durable material.这件雨衣是用非常耐用的料子做的。
• They frequently require more major durable purchases.他们经常需要购买耐用消费品。

3 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。