The Wall: Strength and Power in Fundamental Architecture

[美 ]詹姆斯 · 沃菲爾德 James Warfield

顧心怡 譯 Translated by Gu Xinyi

沒(méi)有什么比墻的筑造更能引領(lǐng)建筑的發(fā)展了。在中國(guó)，長(zhǎng)城在山河間綿延千里，展現(xiàn)著帝王的權(quán)力與建筑者的規(guī)劃和筑造技藝。在秘魯，薩克塞瓦曼堡巨大的“之”字形城墻將帝王的權(quán)力與石匠的技藝結(jié)合，創(chuàng)造出一種放眼世界前無(wú)古人，后無(wú)來(lái)者的石墻精確砌筑的技藝。這兩處偉大的紀(jì)念性建筑代表了人類(lèi)在建造最基本的建筑部分——墻體上最為原始的努力所達(dá)到的建筑技藝的高度。

總而言之，那只不過(guò)是墻上的又一塊磚而已。

——平克·弗洛伊德《迷墻》

比起建造行為的其它方面，承重墻的建造最為基本，也最具有邏輯性。美國(guó)詩(shī)人羅伯特 · 弗羅斯特在其詩(shī)作《修墻》中生動(dòng)描繪了砌筑最簡(jiǎn)單的石墻所具備的清晰的建造方法。

我們走的時(shí)候，中間隔著一垛墻。落在各邊的石頭，由各自去料理。有些是長(zhǎng)塊的，有些幾乎圓得像球。需要一點(diǎn)魔術(shù)才能把它們放穩(wěn)當(dāng)。①《修墻》的中文表達(dá)使用梁實(shí)秋譯文?！g者注

一塊塊石頭、一步步慢慢壘起墻面，這一簡(jiǎn)樸的建造努力代表了自原始時(shí)代開(kāi)始的服務(wù)于人類(lèi)需求的筑造方法。對(duì)建造者而言，幾乎立刻就能感到一種實(shí)在的成就感，得到一座可見(jiàn)的建成品，同時(shí)也是辛勤勞動(dòng)的回報(bào)。多數(shù)文化中最早出現(xiàn)的遮蔽物是基本的，由地方材料手工建成，或者用石塊壘疊起來(lái)。隨著時(shí)間的推移，有些文化發(fā)展出一些石造技術(shù)，墻也成為了用于處理防衛(wèi)、隱私、土地所有權(quán)，甚至城鎮(zhèn)規(guī)劃等更加復(fù)雜的社會(huì)和文化問(wèn)題的設(shè)計(jì)工具。最早的墻體可能出現(xiàn)在鄉(xiāng)村地區(qū)，通過(guò)清理地上的石頭，建起石圍墻來(lái)劃定種植地塊。此后，用當(dāng)?shù)厥慕ㄔ斐兄貕Φ募夹g(shù)作為一種房屋的基本建造方法發(fā)展起來(lái)，農(nóng)場(chǎng)也增加了圍墻，以圈養(yǎng)牲畜并宣示土地所有權(quán)。最終，石造墻體圍合出了農(nóng)場(chǎng)主家的房子，鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)社區(qū)也隨之逐漸形成。城鎮(zhèn)中的墻體限定出街道，并且在將公共活動(dòng)分流的同時(shí)為墻背后的居民提供私密性。

我在造墻之前，先要弄個(gè)清楚，圈進(jìn)來(lái)的是什么，圈出去的是什么，并且我可能開(kāi)罪的是些什么人家，有一點(diǎn)什么，它不喜歡墻，它要推倒它。

——羅伯特·弗羅斯特《修墻》

隨著文明的進(jìn)步，防衛(wèi)需求也逐漸增加。加固的城墻成為普遍需要，這一最基本的建筑元素也具有了文化意義。在弗羅斯特優(yōu)美的詩(shī)作中提到了建造任何墻體內(nèi)在的社會(huì)學(xué)意義。從前羅馬時(shí)期到文藝復(fù)興，帶有城墻的防衛(wèi)性城市與紀(jì)念性的城塞成為人類(lèi)保護(hù)其社區(qū)免受懷有敵意的外來(lái)者的破壞與侵犯的需求的可視的建筑表達(dá)。墻再也不是簡(jiǎn)單的、只需要大量非技術(shù)性勞作的建造問(wèn)題。中國(guó)長(zhǎng)城的各個(gè)區(qū)段，西班牙阿維拉的城墻，以及印度杰伊瑟爾梅爾的巨大城堡都使用了成千上萬(wàn)的勞工。由于經(jīng)常使用奴隸、戰(zhàn)俘和最底層的市民，這些墻也象征了其建造者低微的社會(huì)地位。這里再次引用平克 · 弗洛伊德：

總而言之，你只不過(guò)是墻上的又一塊磚而已。

——《迷墻》

No aspect of construction leading to the development of architecture is more significant than the wall. In China, the Great Wall cascades through the mountains and across the landscape for thousands of miles, reflecting the power of emperors and the planning and construction skills of its builders. In Peru, the colossal zigzag walls of the fortress Sacsayhuaman combine the power of the emperor with the skilled stone artisans to create a precision in stone wall craftsmanship that has never been accomplished in the world before or after. These two great monumental works celebrate the apex of architectural skills that began with man’s most primitive efforts in the construction of that most fundamental feature of architecture: the wall.

All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall. (Pink Floyd,The Wall)

More than any other aspect of construction, the loadbearing built wall represents the most basic and the most logical aspect of the act of building. In his poem ‘Mending Wall’, American poet Robert Frost eloquently described the clear building method of erecting the simplest of stone walls:

We keep the wall between us as we go.To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls. We have to use a spell to make them balance.

Rock by rock, placement by placement,step-by-step, this simple effort represents the building methodology employed from most primitive times to build for man’s needs. For the builder, there is a true and almost instantaneous sense of accomplishment, a visible built work, a reward for hard labour. The first shelters in most cultures were elemental, built by hand of local materials, stone stacked up on stone. With time, some cultures developed masonry skills and the wall became a design tool utilised to address more sophisticated social and cultural issues such as defence, privacy, land ownership and even town planning.The first walls were likely developed in rural areas where stones were cleared from the land and stone fences were built to define planting fields. Loadbearing walls built from local stones were developed as a basic construction method to build houses, and more fences were added to corral farm animals and establish land ownership. Eventually, stone walls were constructed to house farm families, and in time, town communities were formed. Walls in towns defined the streets as served to separate public movement and provide privacy for the residents behind the walls.

Before I built a wall, I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling out,and to whom I was like to give offense.Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it down. (Robert Frost,‘Mending Wall’)

As civilisation progressed, defensive needs increased. Fortified town walls became a common requirement and this most basic of architectural features took on a cultural significance. In Frost’s beautiful poem, he addresses sociological meaning inherent in the construction of any wall. From pre-Roman times until the Renaissance, defensive walled cities and monumental forts arose as visible architectural expressions of man’s need to protect his community from aggression and the ravage of hostile outsiders. The wall became no longer a matter of simple construction, the one requiring a large, if unskilled,labour force. Thousands upon thousands of labourers were required to build the various links of the Wall of China, Spain’s walled city of Avila, and India’s massive Fort Jaisalmer.Often requiring the labour of slaves, prisoners of war or the poorest townspeople, the wall became a metaphor for the societal insigni ficance of its builders. To quote Pink Floyd once again:

All in all, you’re just another brick in the wall. (The Wall)