不定期邀请国内外建筑、工程、艺术、设计等领域的杰出人士，分享他们在本专业中的知识、经验和见解。促进设计行业健康交流与发展的同时，旨在让更多的朋友得到启发，勇于去探索更多未曾探索的可能。
本期『观筑会客厅』，我们邀请了原SOM中国区总监Silas Chiow周学望来给大家分享他对城市规划与总部设计的见解，其中涵盖
01总部设计阶段划分
02总部设计各阶段的关注点
03总部设计的未来
04挑战高度
05材料选择
06城市规划
07千城一面
08给年轻建筑师的建议
SOM最早应该是在五十年代，在我们的建筑史中有一个非常重要的设计，是美国纽约利华大厦。这个建筑物作为一个总部大厦，当时是类似于将密斯·凡德罗的现代设计语言运用在城市核心区域的总部的这样一个设计。
所以我特别关心，SOM在总部建设和发展始终，自身是如何看待这个阶段各方面的划分？这个阶段有没有什么各自的特点？同时呢，像我们中国涌现大量的总部设计，SOM在这一阶段能够给予我们什么好的建议呢？
This is interesting. Because I’ve been involved in projects in China ever since the mid 1990s. Of course, at that time, the China market was totally different. I still remember very well when I first visited Shenzhen. More than 25 years later, Shenzhen is one of the most modern and advanced city in China. Currently Shenzhen is attracting all these technology companies there to build their headquarters there.
这是非常有意思的一个问题。我从九零年代中期开始接触中国市场的项目。当然，那时候，中国的市场还是特别不一样的。我还记得非常清楚我初次到访深圳的景象。25年后的现在，深圳已经成为了中国现代化发展的前沿城市，也吸引了大量的科技企业总部进驻。
▲90年代的深圳 （图源网络）
▲现代化深圳 （图源网络）I would like to point out the economic changes in China. In the 1990s when I first came to China, China was the production and manufacture (center) for the whole world. Today China is exporting technology, innovations are being exported from China rather than just manufacturing things and products for the rest of the world.
我为什么要提及这一个经济发展呢？当我在20世纪90年代第一次来到中国的时候，中国当时是世界的制造业工厂。而现在中国也在向外输出技术和创意，而不仅仅是为其他国家和地区批量生产零配件和商品。When you build a headquarter for a manufacturing company, back then maybe it’s just a simple office building next to the factory. In the 1990s, in the urban area, the only headquarter buildings that existed were for the financial institutions or banks. However, in the last 5 years, we have witnessed the growth of all these technology companies. 5 years ago, we never had headquarters project coming our way. Today, I think when we look at just the last year. We have over a dozen invitations from different companies wanting to build their headquarters in China, particularly from technology companies. 当你要为一家制造业公司打造总部的时候，可能就只是在工厂边上建一栋简单的办公楼。1990年代的时候，城市里唯一存在的总部大楼基本是属于金融机构或是银行。而就在过去的5年里，我们见证了这些科技企业的成长。5年前，我们基本没有做过总部设计的项目。而现在回看上一年，有十几个甲方希望邀请SOM为他们设计位于中国的总部，特别是科技企业。So if we are talking about "the early stage", this was when companies were building small functional headquarters within their manufacturing production site. Today, these technology companies, they are looking for prime real estate site. They want to build buildings that become symbol of their company or for their brand.
关于我们谈论到的总部建设的阶段——早期，人们可能只是想要在工厂边上建一小栋具备相应功能性的总部大厦；而现在的科技企业，更多的是希望占据地利优势的同时，打造可以成为公司或者品牌标志的大楼。SOM自1936年成立开始，做了美国大量的一些建筑总部，包括花旗银行等等，那个时候对总部设计的关注点是什么？同时，SOM作为一个横跨历史那么长阶段的公司，对于总部设计的关注点有没有发生变化？这个过程中有没有阶段的划分？每个阶段又有什么特点呢？
Well, what’s interesting about the firm, about SOM's approach - because we do projects all over the world. We don’t import a particular approach or idea to projects to different parts of the world. Actually, our design ethos is to understand the location of the project site, understand the user, the owner, and the culture of the surrounding location. Having those understanding before we approach design for the project. 我想这也是SOM比较有趣的地方，虽然SOM的项目遍布世界各地，但SOM并不会把一种固定的设计手法或是想法强加到不同地区的项目上。SOM的设计理念是要从当地出发，了解项目的区位、了解用户、了解业主以及当地的文化。对项目做详尽的调查和了解后，才开始进行设计。
Since the founding of SOM from 1936, until now, the biggest change comes from the technology of the buildings. Many of our projects, even though they were built fifty years ago, and still, today they can easily accommodate the new technology that’s required for the functions of modern headquarters offices. 自SOM从1936年成立以来，最大的变化应该是发生在建筑技艺上。SOM有很多项目虽然是在五十多年前建的，但直到今天它们仍能保持高度灵活性，根据现代总部办公功能的需要适应新的技术。
Aside from these changes, our approach to headquarters design, office building design is first looking at how "the company people" is organized to work. From that junction, then you develop the appropriate relationship of spaces to plan the overall building. Some headquarters building, 95% of the purpose is for internal management of the company, others become R&D centers, etc.. So different and various functions change the form of the building. That is really important. And this relationship of where different departments should be located, and the proximity to other departments is something that we consider when we start thinking about the plan of the building. 除了应对技术上的变化，SOM在进行总部办公楼设计之前，总会先去了解将在里面办公的人们的需求。整理之后，你就能得出项目所适合的空间关系来综合打造整个大楼。部分总部大楼95%是用于公司内部运营，其他则用作研发中心等。不同的功能决定了建筑的不同形态，这是非常重要的。不同部门应该如何分布，以及部门间的相邻关系，都是我们在思考建筑平面的时候要考虑的。
Another thing that’s very important is: the building becomes a symbol as a headquarters for a company. When that happens, we need to understand the culture of this company, and how the company would like to be portrayed? We have worked with two different car companies in terms of their R&D headquarters design before. We have completed one for GM (General Motors), and another one for KIA. 还有一个非常重要的考虑因素——总部大楼同时也是一个公司的标志。因此，SOM的设计师需要深入了解这个公司，理解应该如何通过建筑来展现它的企业文化。SOM曾经和两个车企合作，设计他们的研发与设计中心：一个是通用汽车公司，另一个是起亚汽车。
In the case of GM, they wanted the design laboratory to be "closed" from the rest of the world, to visitors, to company employees, they don’t want any of their design secrets to get out. 对通用汽车公司来说，他们希望将研发中心与外界隔离开，不想把研发设计的机密泄露给访客或是其他公司员工。
▲GM办公楼内部 ?SOM
But at KIA, they wanted "transparency". They want visitors, employees, to all see the kind of design their designers are coming out with. So when you look at these two buildings’ interiors, it’s very clear that KIA is very transparent in both interiors and in architecture design. And in the meantime, the design for the GM headquarters, the design center becomes very secretive, "kind of undercover", people don’t know, visitors don’t know where it is. So there is this customized approach to understanding the "headquarters culture/value". When you understand that, then how we represent to the world will be obvious from the architectural design.
但对于起亚汽车来说，他们更重视透明度。他们希望来访的人和公司的员工都能了解到他们研发人员的最新设计。所以当你对比这两个建筑内部，很明显起亚汽车在设计上也能体现出透明化的企业特色，同时，通用汽车公司的设计中心则显得更加隐秘，让人不易察觉它的位置。了解企业文化/价值观，做定制化的设计，当你充分理解这个原则之后，也就能理解SOM是如何向外界呈现我们的设计的。
One other example I would like to bring up. Mr.Qiu actually pointed out Lever House - which is one of my favorite buildings that SOM has completed. Now, I think the building is around 70 years old. After her 50 years, SOM was invited to upgrade the building, upgrade the technology, upgrade the material. But because this building, in the 1980s, has already received a New York Landmark Status, we were not able to change anything from the exterior "look" of the building. So the glass color and the exterior design, the mullion profile and detail remained the same - we can only replace the original "material" with the modern material.我还想跟大家分享另外一个项目，是邱总刚刚提及的利华大厦，也是SOM做过的这么多项目中我最喜欢的大楼之一。我想这个建筑现在也有70年的历史了。（建成后的）五十年后，SOM受到邀请翻新大厦，更新建筑的技术和材料。但因为利华大厦在1980年代的时候被评为纽约市地标建筑，因此不能改变建筑的外观。所以在外立面设计上，无论玻璃色彩、窗框或是其他设计细部节点都没有发生变化，只是更新了立面材质。
▲利华大厦 ?SOMGoing back to the building, and as a representative and relating to the city. It’s a very simple, open office slab tower that rises in the east-west direction. It is perpendicular to Park Avenue, the main road (in Manhattan, New York). And people would always wonder why the building sits perpendicular to the main front of the street. The main reason that the designer had set the building slab perpendicular - the narrow side by zoning, allow the slab to be much closer to the street. Because you cannot enclose the street. You would have to set it back, if you have such a wide surface facing Park Avenue. So that’s one thing, and the other thing: the workers in the building, with the narrow side perpendicular to Park Avenue, the views up and down the Park Avenue become visible to the people that are working in the building. As well as for the people driving up and down Park Avenue. This feature was critical to reflecting the company’s culture at Lever House. 回到这个城市地标建筑本身，它是一个东西向的开放办公塔楼，垂直于城市主路公园大道（位于曼哈顿，纽约）。经常有人会对这个垂直于主街道的设计提出疑问。设计师将较窄的这部分体块垂直设置，是因为这样分区，就能更靠近街道。因为不能完全把街道包围起来，如果立面做得很宽，就要做退台处理，这是其一。另外一点，是出于对在这个总部大楼办公的人们的考虑。这样他们的视野会更开阔，可以更好地观赏街道景象。对于开车经过的人们来说也是。这是利华大厦内部的企业文化在设计上的一个重要体现。
The other thing is how the building deals with the ground and how it relates to the city. We purposely lifted up the building so that on the ground floor becomes a plaza that people can walk through. During the rain or snow, people can stand under the building covered and wait for their taxis or buses. That public plaza space becomes connected to the rest of the city and the passers-by. I think this also makes a very welcome gesture to pull visitors and workers into the building.
另外一个设计的重点是如何处理这个建筑与地面的关系、与城市的关系。SOM的设计团队在设计时特意把地面层抬升，这样可以形成一个可供人行的地面广场。雨雪天气下，等的士或者巴士的人也可以选择在广场上暂时停留，这样，这个公共广场空间就和城市以及行人连接了起来，以一个欢迎的姿态迎接访客和员工进入大厦。
我在这里也很想利用这个机会，请周总透露一下SOM对于总部设计的未来有哪一些全新的畅想？
That’s a very good question. Because the SOM designers and the SOM team, believe in the importance of innovation. Because technology is so much part of our daily life now. I mean, twenty years ago, we didn’t have iphone. But today, we communicate with iphones, we can control our cooker at home. With iphone, we could watch what our baby’s doing at home. It’s not just a simple phone tool anymore. 这是个很好的问题。SOM的设计师、整个团队都非常重视创新。现在科技已经在很大程度上融入了我们的生活。回想20年前，我们都还没有智能手机。但今天，我们通过手机可以相互远程沟通，可以远程控制家里的电饭煲，甚至可以随时查看家里孩子的情况。手机的作用已经远大于通话
In the office, it’s the same thing. The technology is so integrated into our daily life, you cannot escape that from office or headquarters design. So I think the innovation in technology, and AI will help and support in the efficiency operation and communication amongst the team. It is really something that’s really critical and important part of the designing headquarters building today.在办公室里也是如此，科技无处不在，这是我们在设计中无法回避的。所以我觉得，创新、科技和人工智能在提高团队运营和沟通效率上，对今天的总部设计是非常重要的。
您刚才特别谈到了，将来我们的设计可能跟科技的发展要有一个更好的衔接。其实我也发现，在人类做建筑的过程中，我们掌握了更多的科学技术，我们把它用于放在去挑战高度、克服重力。我想在这个过程中，SOM是一个弄潮儿。我可以举例说就像芝加哥的最高的大厦——西尔斯大厦、纽约现在最高的大厦——自由塔，还有包括迪拜的哈利法塔。
▲西尔斯大厦 ?SOM
▲自由塔 ?SOM
深圳，也是中国200米以上超高层最多的一个城市。我也特别关心我们的SOM在这个时代，在摩天大楼、在高层设计这方面，作为这样一个很重要的专长，对于挑战这个内容，或者说未来在这个方面可以给我们中国的设计一个什么样的建议呢？
Well, this is a very interesting topic. Because even within SOM, architects, structure engineers and urban planners, we have always debated how tall high-rise building is appropriate for cities. At some point, when you reach a certain height, the efficiency of the building and the material that requires to achieve the height become a debatable question. Whether building height is the only solution, this is something that we struggle with all the time. 这是一个挺有意思的话题。即使在SOM内部，建筑师、结构工程师、城市规划师们也经常讨论关于超高层与城市尺度是否相符的问题。当建筑达到一定高度的时候，这个建筑的使用效率以及建成所需要的材料就成了问题。高度是不是唯一的解决方式，这是一直被反复讨论的问题。
Because we have clients that come to us, they all wanted to build super tall, very tall, they all wanted the landmark projects. But actually, there are many ways that we can design landmark buildings. Some landmark building can be short. We’ve just completed one for the Shenzhen Rural Bank, which is only 150m tall. But even in this short building, it packs a lot of innovative ideas in both building design and technology, as well as the structure design. 因为总会有客户找到SOM，希望能为他们设计超高层大楼，想打造地标项目。但其实，除了达成一定高度以外，我们还有很多其他的方式来打造地标，就像SOM不久前为深圳农商银行设计的总部大厦一样。即使不是超高层大楼，仍然可以创意性地实现设计、技术以及结构的有机统一。
▲深圳农商银行大厦 ?SOM
I think the market or the opportunity to build tall will continue to exist all over the world. Although I think there’s more and more "consciousness" connected to in the efficiency of material required and the sustainability design of tall building. Because of that, the number of tall buildings will naturally reduce. I think the current trend in China where government is trying to curb tall buildings, and forcing the architects, engineers, as well as the owners to think more intelligently about tall building. I think a 200m height building can make a landmark in city. It just depends on how you plan and design them. I believe the 200m tall building is going to become more common in the future. Because, it’s tall enough to become a landmark, and at the same time, it still maintains efficiency for the users moving up and down. I mean you don’t want to spend all day just getting up and down super tall building. In the tallest building in the world, once you go up there, you probably don’t want to come down, so everything would have to happen up there. 我觉得在世界范围内，超高层仍有它的市场需求，但同时也有越来越多人关注到材料的使用效率以及建筑的可持续性问题。我想超高层建筑的数量也会因此而慢慢减少吧。中国政府目前其实在限制超高层的发展，这也迫使建筑师、工程师和业主们要更理智对待建筑。我觉得200米高的建筑也可以成为城市的地标，这就看你如何去打造它了。同时，我也认为200m高的建筑在未来会越来越普遍，因为它既能达到成为地标的高度，同时，也能具备高效的交通流线。你肯定也不想把整天时间都花费在乘坐电梯上吧？在世界上最高的大楼里，一旦你去到最高层，也许你就不想下来了，也因此所有的活动都要安排在高层空间。
I think, as for the future, we should focus in designing buildings that are not only functional and adding value, but can improve the quality of lives and the environment for the users.我想未来的建筑应该追求的是功能性和附加价值，以及为使用者提供更优化的生活和环境体验。
我还有一个特别有趣的小问题，也许是一个玩笑，但我也很想借助这个机会向周先生来求证。我有建筑师朋友，他们谈到过关于SOM公司去设计总部大楼或者是超高层这样的一个小故事：他们说SOM的设计师会建议业主选择这块石头，因为它非常合适你，而且我要建议你为了能够保证这个建筑的品质和它的特性，你最好将这座矿山买下来，当你用完了之后，我们还可以把这座矿山再卖出去。我想利用这个机会向您求证这是真的吗？
It’s possible that someone from SOM said this. But it doesn’t really fit our ethos. So I would more likely to think that maybe it’s meant to be "ironic". If there’s a stone mine close by a project site, then we should actually use that particular stone. Not just for the mine's relationship to the project location, but more importantly, considering carbon neutrality. Because if you ship stones from Italy to China, which is very common, I think that shipping, the carbon that you use, is not in line with today’s designers’ culture.也许真的有SOM的员工这样说过，但这并不符合SOM一贯的价值观，所以我更倾向于相信这是为了开玩笑所说的。如果在场地周围真的有一个石矿，那我们的确需要考虑在建筑中使用这里的石材，这不仅仅是出于对场地关系的考虑，更是为了实现碳中和。从意大利运石材到中国（这其实非常常见），这个运输过程的碳排放，跟现在设计师们的价值观念是相悖的。
So I would more likely to believe that a conscientious designer or architect anywhere in the world, including those at SOM should always consider using material that are sourced or produced close by the site, then that material will relate to the project to the location. I mean, buying from a mine in Italy and constantly shipping that stone to a distant project site location, no matter how beautiful that stone is, I don’t think it’s the most sustainable concept or approach to the building of the future.所以我更倾向于相信，无论是否在SOM，一个有行业责任感的设计师或者说是建筑师，他们会使用场地周边的材料，在当地寻找有场域关联性的材料。我想表达的是，从意大利的矿山购买石材并持续运回来，无论材料本身有多么精美，这对建筑的未来来说，并不是一个可持续的概念或者说可持续的方式。
我在很多的建筑设计中，看到了SOM在中国的足迹。其实在很早时期，我就关注到了SOM不仅仅在超高层建筑，还有很多总部设计上有了非常的成就，也很多地参与了世界范围内大量的城市设计和城市规划。比如说像英国的金丝雀码头，好像也是从80年代开始建设和规划的；我也看到了SOM在我们深圳市很早地参与了深圳福田中心区的城市设计；我前不久也看到了SOM为我们中国的雄安新区的建设提供了设计方案，也非常棒能成为实施方案的载体。
▲金丝雀码头总体规划 ?SOM
我想在这里也借这个机会问一下，SOM在城市规划和设计中坚守的观念是什么？而且针对我们中国目前的城市发展和规划设计，能够给我们一些什么样好的建议吗？
Urbanization has been going on since 1980s in China. Of course, China has already reached 60%, now I think it’s already 65% urbanized, this is astounding when you think about how fast they have been able to do this. Part of the urbanization means regenerating existing cities and expanding cities for the new population. 中国从1980年代开始了城市化进程，现在已经实现了60%，我想甚至达到了65%的城市化进度。这个发展速度其实是非常惊人的。城市化在一定程度上意味着为了容纳与日俱增的人口数量，进行城市更新和城市拓展。
When I first arrived in Shanghai in 1994, there were maybe around 10 million population in the city - I was told. Back then, there’s about 2 million of migrant people. Today, the residents have reached over 20 million; and maybe those migrants has reached around 5 million? So that is an average of around 25 million people today, which is slightly more than double than 25 years ago. A very astounding rate.在我1994年第一次到上海的时候，我听说上海大概有1000万的城市人口，再加上差不多200万的外来人员。现在，上海的城市常住人口已经超过2000万，外来人员大概有500万？加起来差不多有2500万人。这个数量比25年前涨了不止一倍，这个增长速度也是同样惊人的。
Because of this phenomenon of regenerating cities and expanding cities to accommodate urbanization, planning and urban design has become a very critical component to the work in China. "Very smartly" - both the Chinese government officials and planning bureau have spent much time thinking about how to build cities. You know, these Chinese officials have learnt very fast. I remember back around the late 1990s and early 2000s, the way that they approached projects in China was to invite foreign architects and planners to come up with different concepts, ideas. They called it "idea or scheme collections". And then they would take these different ideas and have the local design institute combine them as the final scheme. That was the kind of approach that they had then. They actually didn’t think that the foreigners really understand how Chinese people live, and that’s probably accurate. This was back before 2000 and around 2000, but since then, by around 2010, only 10 years later, China has made so much progress - tremendous growth. 如今为了适应中国城市化发展，而大范围开展的城市更新和城市扩张让城市规划和城市设计显得更为重要。中国的政府和规划部门是非常机智的，我想他们在如何建设城市这个问题上花了很多时间。当然，大家都知道中国人学习能力很强。我还记得20世纪90年代末、21世纪初的时候，当有新的项目时，相关部门会邀请国外的建筑师和规划师一起来出谋献策。当时这个方式叫方案征集。然后这些政府和规划部门会把征集到的这些不同的方案整合在一起，最后由本地院深化成落地方案，这是当时的做法。事实上，他们并不认为外国人真正理解中国人的生活方式，当然这可能不无道理。这是2000年前后的情况。但从那时起到2010年，仅仅十年时间，中国取得了很大的进步，发展突飞猛进。
Because a lot of officials and planning bureau have travelled overseas. They understand how cities work, they also understand more and more how to work directly with architects and planners. And SOM took part in many of these projects. We were one of the first company that pushed to produce 'design guidelines for the buildings', so that we can control how the building looks and functions. Because in the end, a plan, is one dimensional; the city is three dimensional. So having a beautiful plan is not good enough. The form of the buildings create space for the street, creates space in-between buildings. That design and planning for that part is the most important, SOM team understood this.因为很多政府官员或是规划部门的人员，他们开始出国旅游、了解国外城市的运作方式，也开始慢慢熟悉和国外建筑师以及规划师的合作方式。这个过程SOM也参与其中。SOM是中国第一批推动建筑设计导则出台的设计单位之一，这样设计师就可以对建筑外观和功能有一定的掌控权。你知道，因为平面图只是一个平面维度的展示，城市则是3D立体的，所以仅有一个好看的平面图是不够的。建筑的形态塑造了街道空间、塑造了建筑之间的城市空间，这一部分的设计和规划是最重要的。SOM也深知其中的重要性。
Myself, I have pushed and built the urban design services with the then design planning partners Philip Enquist beginning around 2004 and 2005, to really focus on the urban design in China. At one point, Philip and myself, I remember in a span of two years‘ time, we repeatedly visited 7 or 8 cities in different parts of China - Wuhan, Tianjin, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, etc.. We travelled to these cities, talked to the planning bureau and talked to the district officials. And then, from that point on, we started to do projects for many of these cities. We did a lot in Wuhan, and we also did a lot for Tianjin. Those opportunities actually really helped us to develop best practices and methodology to successfully collaborate with the Chinese government and planning bureau. These experiences led to our win for Xiong’an. Because after like 13, 14 years of working within China, we started to really understand what’s best for Chinese cities, and Xiong’an was such an opportunity. 我本身也和我在SOM的规划合伙人Philip Enquist合作，大约从在2004、2005年开始，把精力放在推动中国的城市设计上。我记得有一次，大概有两年的时间，Philip和我反复走访了中国7、8个不同的城市——武汉、天津、成都、重庆、广州、杭州、深圳等等。我们去到这些城市，和规划局的领导，有时候是区域政府部分的官员进行沟通。也是从那时候起，SOM开始在这些城市里做项目，现在在武汉和天津都有很多建成项目。这些项目机会让SOM得以和中国政府形成良好的合作模式，这也在一定程度上促成了雄安新区项目。SOM在中国这13到14年的发展中，慢慢摸索出了中国城市发展与规划的理想模式。这次雄安新区的项目，也是实践这个理想模式的良好契机。
我还特别关心一个问题，就是我们中国在这么短期内能够实现55%的城市化水平，我作为一个生活在中国的公民，我也感觉到周边非常大的变化。但同时我也看到因为这个城市化运动地非常的快，在短时间内建设的东西特别多。我个人感觉在建设得特别快的同时，我们大量的城市出现了很多的copy，导致我们的城市千城一面，到处都是同一性。无论是最东北的城市，还是最海南的城市，在这个建筑形体、城市空间上都很相似，现在已经看不出来到底是哪个区域的城市了。
我想呢，这个里面可能会涉及到一些城市规划设计以及城市生长发展中的问题。我感觉我们的城市在这一套城市化的运动发展过程中似乎丧失了一些差异性、多样化。我想在这个方面，SOM能够给我们中国城市设计和规划一些什么样的好的建议吗？或者说SOM在这个过程中有什么样的对策？
I think again, that's a very good question. The way we approach urban design and planning is the same. We have the same design ethos - relating to the local climate, relating to the local culture and relating to the local users. 这也是个很好的问题。面对城市设计和规划项目，我们的设计原则其实也是一样的——要回应当地的气候、文化，要与当地居民产生互动。
The city plans that we do in Beijing and Shenzhen, they have got to be different. The climate is different in these two locations; the culture is slightly different - and still in China; but of course, the type of people that live in those particular communities will have different outlook. I think that all comes into play to the kind of plan you were to relate to the city. A good plan cannot be imported or exported from one location to another location.为北京和为深圳做的城市规划当然是要有所不同的。首先，这两个地方气候不一样；其次，虽然同处中国境内，但两地的文化还是有些许差异；当然还有生活在当地社区的居民，这些都是规划的影响要素。一个好的规划是不能简单地把一个地方的模式照搬到另一个地方的。
Actually, we really enjoyed many of these opportunities that we had in China. When working in different cities - understanding the city’s history, understanding the geography before we get into a plan, that process itself, probably is the most enjoyable part of the design process. I, with Philip Enquist, we’ve took many site visits. It’s so enjoyable when we first discovered the site, discovered what was there and what are the surroundings, how people lived. We would always look at all the neighborhoods close by the site. And, in the end, it gives us "the" inspirations for our project.
其实SOM一直非常享受在中国的这些项目机会。各个项目组会去到不同的城市，去了解当地的历史、了解当地的地理人文。这个调研的过程可能是设计项目中最有趣的部分了。我之前和Philip Enquist一起，做了很多次实地考察。每次我们去到场地，观察周边的环境、观察当地居民的生活、观察邻近的社区，这些观察体验到最后，都会启发我们的设计灵感。
I do want to take the opportunity to talk about a true story. We were invited to design and plan the Taipingqiao Area in Shanghai, which included the now famous "Xintiandi". This was back in 1996, at the time, we had to work with the district and with the state-owned developers. Originally, the directive was to just tear down all these Shikumen blocks. To make way to build new buildings as a mixed-use development complex: office, residential and retail. I think it was in the August of 1996. Back then, those lane houses or Shikumen, they were like these 13-foot wide per unit row houses. Originally, was designed for one family use. But back then in 1996, sometimes you see, 2 or 3 families or even more in "one" of these lane houses. Even different families could be living in one floor, just separated by curtains between for the families’ privacy. And then we watched kids playing Ping Pong in this very narrow lane. We watched old ladies washing their vegetables, to prepare for their lunch that they cooked in their lane houses courtyards. All these things actually really inspired us and informed us - the designers and planners, that we need to keep that "memory from that lane houses". So we convinced the district to maintain, or preserve these two blocks that become known as Xintiandi today.
我想借此机会跟大家分享一个真实发生的故事。1996年的时候，SOM被邀请做上海太平桥区域的规划，其中包含了新天地。当时，设计师去到当地和区政府以及国有开发商进行沟通合作。最开始的指令是直接拆除这些石库门街区，然后新建一个包含办公、住宅、零售功能的大型综合体。我还记得那大概是在8月份，那些街巷排屋，每个单元差不多是13尺宽。起初这些排屋，每一个单元就是为一户人家设计的。但那时候，你可以看到2户、3户人家甚至更多，住在一个单元里。他们可能住在同一层，仅用帘子分隔开几家人的生活空间。房子外面，孩子们在窄巷里打乒乓球；妇女们在庭院里洗着蔬菜、准备午餐，这所有的一切都对我们有所启发，也是一个讯息：我们作为设计师和规划师，要保存这些街巷老屋的记忆。后来我们真的成功说服了相关部门，保留了两个街区，也就是后来的新天地。
That happened, at the time when both Beijing and Shanghai kept tearing down old buildings. By 1996, 90% of the Shikumen has already been torn down. It was a very sad phenomenon. We were very happy that we get to work on preserving that. The only reason that the idea of preserving the area came from walking down those lanes, and watching all these life that was happening in the lane, that informed us that we needed to preserve that history. 那正是北京和上海在大范围拆旧建新的时期，90%的石库门老房子在那时候都被拆除了，这很让人惋惜。我们很高兴我们能把这两个街区的老房子保留下来，而这个把历史留存下来的想法，如果不是亲自在那些街巷里走过，观察在街头巷尾居民们生活的点点滴滴，也许就不会存在了。今天利用这个很宝贵的机会，确实也向我们展示了一个非常真实的SOM。这里有SOM的工作、他们的观念、他们的信念等等。对于我们中国的建筑师，我觉得都有很大的受益。
我想在最后，也借这个机会请周先生对我们中国刚刚新生的这么多设计事务所，还有中国的年轻建筑师们提一些建议。
Well, I love this quote from quite a while ago. The best graduation speech from Steve Jobs. It’s very simple, “Stay foolish and stay hungry.”我很喜欢乔布斯在一次毕业致辞中所说的一句话。很简单的一句，就是“Stay foolish and stay hungry”。
It’s important to stay foolish. Because if you are foolish, then you will be open to new way of thinking. And stay hungry will force you to take in this foolish attitude to learn new things. So for young architects, I think it’s really important. Not just for architects, you can be an engineer or researcher or laboratory technician, etc.. 保持一个“愚蠢”的状态非常重要。因为无知，就会对更多新事物、新想法保持一种开放的态度，而求知若渴的心态则会督促你带着“无知”的状态去学习。我认为这对年轻建筑师来说是非常重要的。甚至不止是建筑师，这也适用于工程师或者研究员、实验员。
I think this is such a great period in history today and all over the world. I know that we are going through different crises, with the pandemic and also economic and political tensions. But it’s a really interesting time where technology is becoming so prevalent and people are pushing the envelopes. These technologies, in the next 20 years, will totally change how we work, how we live and how we do different things. It’s all gonna change! You know what’s interesting is that the pandemic is going to force new ideas with the use of the technology as it relates to just overall life. So I see the future optimistically, that this will actually help young people to invent or to be hungry for new ideas. That’s what I would like to recommend to young people today.我觉得现在正是一个大好时期。虽然我们身边有很多不同的危机在发生，无论是疫情还是经济危机、政局动荡。但也正是在这个时期，科技在人们生活中越来越普及，也催生出了涵盖各个领域的创新应用，每个人都在尝试突破自己的极限。这些科技的创新将在未来20年大大改变我们的工作、生活以及做事方式，这些都会发生变化。所以我对未来还是很乐观的。年轻人可以有更多的机会去创造、去了解更多未知。这就是我对现在年轻人的建议。
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