• NEW SQUARE

    新广场

  • We searched “the tallest monument in the world” out of curiosity and found out that it was the Jiujiang Victory Monument in Jiangxi Provence of China. It resembles the Washington Monument in its appearance and was also emphasized as the 200.6-meter-high obelisk that “replaced the 169-meter-high Washington Monument in the United States and became the tallest monument worldwide”. The Jiujiang Victory Monument was built in 2007. In comparison with the ongoing competition of skyscrapers, the contest in the architectural form of monument is no longer in favor.
    有一天基于好奇,我们搜索了“世界上最高的纪念碑”,得出的结果是中国江西的九江胜利碑——一座外形上类似华盛顿纪念碑,描述中也强调“取代了高度169 米的美国华盛顿纪念碑,而成为世界最高的纪念碑”的200.6米的方尖碑。它的建成时间是2007年。显然,和仍在持续的摩天大楼竞争相比,纪念碑这种建筑形式的竞争似乎已不被热衷。
  • “When you approach a medieval town, the cathedral is the tallest thing in the place. When you approach an 18th century town, the political palace is the tallest thing in the place. And when you approach a modern city, the tallest places are the office buildings, the centers of economic life”, Mythologist Joseph Campbell states in The Power of Myth. On one hand, these “tallest buildings” pressure and make people feel diminutive with their massive scale; on the other hand, they provide one or more centers for the society. People gain a sense of place in history and community by associating their residences with those centers (The Ethical Functions of Architecture, Karsten Harries). Therefore, the tallest buildings are not only physical, unconventional, but also ethical – they symbolize the standard of a city. Monuments have functioned as such standard throughout the last century, an era when different consciousness collided. They represent the prominent, critical, everlasting moments (morals, events, historical experiences or consciousness) in the history their authors composed. The cities try to connect the people with the abstract or grand narratives through the monuments.
    “当你来到一个中世纪小镇,会发现天主教堂是那里最高的建筑;在一个18世纪的小镇,政府大楼是最高的,而在当代城市,最高的建筑主要是办公楼,当地经济活动的心脏地带。”神话学家Joseph Campbell在《神话的力量》中写道。这些“最高建筑”一方面用远超人的尺度来对人产生心理压迫,让他们自觉渺小;一方面,“给社会提供了一个或多个中心。每个人通过把他们的住处与那个中心相联系,获得他们在历史及社会中的位置感。”(《建筑的伦理功能》,Karsten Harries)所以它们既是物理性的,超常规的,同时充满了伦理意味——一座城市最高的建筑,往往象征着这个城市的准则。在意识形态纷争激烈的上个世纪,纪念碑更是作为这样的准则存在,它们是建造者们各自撰述的历史中那些显著、重要、持续价值(可以是道德、事迹、历史经验或意识形态)的指代,城市意图通过它们串联起人们跟这些宏大叙事或抽象事物的关联。
  • Nowadays, with the surrender in physical scale as well as the seemingly ending battle of consciousnesses, the ethical function that was once enacted by monuments is gradually transferring to skyscrapers.
    而现在,随着意识形态纷争(看起来的)落幕,和物理尺度上的让渡,纪念碑的伦理功能,正被摩天大楼继承。
  • In terms of appearance, skyscrapers are imitations of monuments. However, when compared to the tallest architecture in the past, such as temples, churches, government buildings or monuments, skyscrapers show a higher capacity of engagement. Its ethics is not only manifested through height and distance, but also participation. When a city builds a new skyscraper, people not only can admire it from a distance, they also can take the crowded elevator to get to the top and view the entire city in the clouds – people can engage in this new type of monument. We became a part of the symbol of wealth, opportunity, resources and power, a part that was formerly out of reach, when we are inside the skyscraper. Even though we are just there for a buffet.
    在外形上,摩天大楼是对纪念碑的仿照。但与神庙、教堂、政府大楼、纪念碑这些往日的最高建筑比起来,摩天大楼体现出更强的可参与性,它的伦理不是仅通过高度、距离描绘的,还可以实际体验和参与。当一座城市建起新的摩天大楼,人们不仅可以仰视它,还可以挤上电梯抵达它的最顶端,掌握一座城市全景的俯视,参与到这种新的纪念碑性当中。当我们身处摩天大楼,就成为其象征——财富、机会、资源、权力的一部分;原本遥不可及的一部分;意义的分子。即便有时候,只是上去吃一份自助餐。
  • Bussiness Bay• Dubai

    迪拜•商务港湾区

  • Bussiness Bay• Dubai

    迪拜•商务港湾区

  • Bussiness Bay• Dubai

    迪拜•商务港湾区

  • Bussiness Bay• Dubai

    迪拜•商务港湾区

  • Minato-ku•Tokyo

    东京•港区

  • Minato-ku•Tokyo

    东京•港区

  • Minato-ku•Tokyo

    东京•港区

  • Minato-ku•Tokyo

    东京•港区

  • Central London•London

    伦敦•伦敦中心区

  • Central London•London

    伦敦•伦敦中心区

  • Central London•London

    伦敦•伦敦中心区

  • Central London•London

    伦敦•伦敦中心区

  • Hence, the significance of a skyscraper is more accessible than that of a monument. “I will eat there when I have the money” or “I will work there one day” is more specific and relatable than any morals, achievements, historical experiences or consciousness. Certainly, this also makes it easier to target. The Twin Towers, the target of the relentless incident of 9/11, were a symbol as well as a practical architecture that contains people who operates in the wealth, capital and authority that the building represents. The target of the attack was the amalgam of symbolic meaning and physical entity.
    因此,摩天大楼的意义和纪念碑比起来更容易触及。“有钱了我要去那吃饭”或“总有一天我要去那工作”是比道德、事迹、历史经验或意识形态更具体的联系和位置感。当然这也让它更容易成为目标。在“911”这个残酷的事件里,世贸中心既是财富、资本、中心话语权的象征物,同时又是实在的、实用意义上的建筑本身,装载了在财富、资本、话语权运转机制中工作的实质的人。他们攻击的对象,一个象征物,它的象征和实质是重合的。
  • Central Moscow•Moscow

    莫斯科•莫斯科中心区

  • Central Moscow•Moscow

    莫斯科•莫斯科中心区

  • Central Moscow•Moscow

    莫斯科•莫斯科中心区

  • Central Moscow•Moscow

    莫斯科•莫斯科中心区

  • Manhattan•New York City

    纽约•曼哈顿

  • Manhattan•New York City

    纽约•曼哈顿

  • Manhattan•New York City

    纽约•曼哈顿

  • Manhattan•New York City

    纽约•曼哈顿

  • Pudong•Shanghai

    上海•浦东

  • Pudong•Shanghai

    上海•浦东

  • Pudong•Shanghai

    上海•浦东

  • Pudong•Shanghai

    上海•浦东

  • The level of engagement, realized through city panorama, fast transportation (elevator), exceptional service and complacent entertainment, facilitates the distribution of city guidelines. But since rejecting these guidelines is just as easy as accepting them, one may wonder if the core is not sharing, but possessing. If the criteria for monuments are abstract and old-fashioned, then the standards for skyscrapers are precise and on-going. What a monument commemorates is known and fixed, what a skyscraper honors are fluid. The work that people continuously operates in it constitutes its meaning. Leaving of employees or bankrupt companies as well as introduction to new business and people implies the change of environment, the metabolism of society. Nothing is commemorated, this is what a skyscraper celebrates.
    这种可参与感也看似让城市准则更容易分享了,城市全景、快捷的交通(电梯)、优质的服务、舒适的娱乐,但因为排斥和接纳对它来说一样容易,因此让人怀疑它的内核并不是分享,而其实是占有。如果说纪念碑的准则是过去式的、抽象的,摩天大楼的准则则是现时的、具体的、创造中的。在纪念碑中,纪念的内容是已知、稳定的,摩天大楼的纪念性则是流动的,人们在其中持续运转的工作构成了它的意义,而破产公司或失业的人离开,新的公司和人进驻,其中隐含了环境、政策、行业的更迭,是社会自身意义的新陈代谢。什么都不纪念,才是摩天大楼的纪念之物。
  • The “New Square” is a new are that we embodied and mapped around the buildings that are taller than the “tallest monument in the world” (200.6 meters).
    “新广场”正是我们测绘出的围绕着那些比“世界上最高的纪念碑”(200.6米)还高的建筑展开的“广场”,每个城市中纪念碑意义更迭的全新界面。
  • City of Sydney•Sydney

    悉尼•悉尼城区

  • City of Sydney•Sydney

    悉尼•悉尼城区

  • City of Sydney•Sydney

    悉尼•悉尼城区

  • City of Sydney•Sydney

    悉尼•悉尼城区

  • Central and Western•Hong Kong

    香港•中西区

  • Central and Western•Hong Kong

    香港•中西区

  • Central and Western•Hong Kong

    香港•中西区

  • Central and Western•Hong Kong

    香港•中西区

  • City of Johannesburg•Johannesburg

    约翰内斯堡•约翰内斯堡中心区

  • City of Johannesburg•Johannesburg

    约翰内斯堡•约翰内斯堡中心区

  • City of Johannesburg•Johannesburg

    约翰内斯堡•约翰内斯堡中心区

  • City of Johannesburg•Johannesburg

    约翰内斯堡•约翰内斯堡中心区

  • Loop•Chicago

    芝加哥•卢普区

  • Loop•Chicago

    芝加哥•卢普区

  • Loop•Chicago

    芝加哥•卢普区

  • Loop•Chicago

    芝加哥•卢普区