Essay: Smooth VS. Rough
里帝欧餐厅 台湾台北市
In a time when architecture and design is dominated by the shiny gloss of fantasy renderings, when photo-realistic capabilities eliminate any question of discovery from the drawn to the built, when the computer is indicative of an aesthetic typology as opposed to a tool in service of the human mind, in a design climate where personality and technology seem like mutually exclusive pursuits, the L’Idiot Restaurant design by BAM stands either as a contradiction to its time or a glimpse of a time to come.
With the advance of technology, the explosion of digitally driven formal exploration in architecture is inevitable. Technology has allowed architecture to push the limits of what is possible, and the exploration of form has benefited a great deal from advances in technology. However intriguing the development of this type of formal exploration has been over the past decade, its potency is waning. With every shiny plastic form, fluid sustainable skyscraper, or biological land-building in pursuit of aesthetic smoothness, we face the ever-growing question of “so what?”
The typical architectural fetish over “the object,” in conjunction with the contemporary realism of the fantasy rendering disallows this type of architecture from moving beyond itself to engage that human mind. The computer allows the objects of contemporary architectural formalism to become precious. Thus, the ideas, forms, and materiality become fixed, predefined, or prescribed. The rendering, or visualization, is arguably architecture’s purest state. The desire to keep the physical outcome of the built closely aligned with a representation, thus maintaining its purity, results in a reciprocal fear of further exploration.
The seductive nature of the contemporary form creates a conceptual barrier in architectural discourse. Architectural preciousness, as a result of beautiful imaging, has created an object oriented aesthetic. The fear of creating something ugly trumps the explorative spirit of building, stagnating a pedagogy.
The L’Idiot objects stand out despite their technologically-based production method because of BAM’s eagerness for adornment and material detailing. The forms of the objects are considered as a generic substance from which to work. This method reveals a confidence in the ability of the material adornment to enhance and complete the purity of the original formal vision. This lack of fear and reciprocal blossom of exploration through building provides the forms and space with meaning people can access.
The material designations provide an additional layer of intrigue, which heightens direct access to personal meaning. The object’s materiality, form, and spatial presence create associations in people’s minds like a spatial Rorschach. The Materiality allows people to see “things” in the forms. The fact people see “things” in the objects allows them to understand the space in their own personal way. Thus, every experience is a new and different one, and when these are shared a democracy of ideas is created.
The L’Idiot objects invite people to speak their mind. During construction one of the carpenters on the project was so convinced that the central object in the space was a whale that he was furious at the design for having a wood floor. He insisted that a grave error had been made in not providing the whale an ocean in which to swim. While the interpretations range from pre-historic creatures to sexual intercourse, the fact that people are engaged and forced to interact in a mentally prolific manor demonstrates the power of moving beyond the purity of architectural visualization to exploration throughout the entire construction process.
The objects of L’Idiot restaurant, however minute within the scale of architecture, demonstrate the power of activating human mental associations. However beautiful and daring today’s architectural forms may be, they are in fact limited by their smoothness. They are destined to stand in the silent and hallowed company of other pure Modernist architectural expressions. L’Idiot’s ‘rough’ alternative unleashes the mental associations which have largely been unexplored by computer-driven architecture. This roughness invites ownership of the design for the viewer and weaves the architecture into the profane but lasting realm of the polis.
当今的时代是流畅的梦幻透视图支配建筑设计的时代，当今的时代是摄影现实主义能够消除从设计 到施工过程中发现的任何问题的时代，当今的时代是电脑作为影响审美类型的工具而不是作为为人脑服务的工具存在的时代。个性和技术在当今的设计大背景下，更像是两个相互对立的个体。BAM设计的里帝欧实体必须在二者之间做出选择，或者站在当今时代的对立面，或者追随未来的眼光。
随着技术的迅猛发展，数码形式探索在建筑设计方面的激增已成为不可避免的趋势。技术已经使得建筑设计在可能的范围内尽情的发挥，并且形式探索也从迅猛发展的技术中受益良多 。然而，无论这种形式探索在过去十年中发展的多么好，它现在正势力日衰 。随着日益光鲜 的塑料形式、流体支撑的摩天大楼或生物地面型建筑对流畅性审美的追求，我们面对着日益增多的“那又怎么样？”的问题。
与实体有关的典型建筑设计偶像与当代现实主义 的梦幻透视图一道，共同拒绝这种建筑设计类型从超越自我到融入人类思想的变化。电脑使得当代建筑设计形式主义的实体变得极为珍贵。就这样，思想、形式和物质变得固定化、预定义化和规定化。透视图或可视化是有争议的建筑设计的最纯净的阶段。这种要保证最终出来的物理形象与描绘的极为接近欲望，这样可以保持它的纯洁性，导致了相互害怕深入探索的后果。
当代形式的性感性在建筑设计交流过程中制造了一种概念障碍。由于完美的想象，建筑设计所珍视的是已经创造了一种是实体导向美 。对创造的实物过于丑陋的担心超过了对建筑的探索精神，阻碍了教学法的前行。
由于BAM对装饰物和细节材料处理的热忱，里帝欧实体从众多技术性制作方法中脱颖而出。从施工角度讲，实体的形式十分朴素。这种方法揭示了BAM的自信，我们有能力通过细节处理提升并 完善原始视觉形象的纯洁性。这种无所畏惧、通过探索建筑进行互补的精神为人们参与到这种形式和空间中来创造了条件。
材料设计还有另外一个深层次含义，那就是要为个人的联想提供一个直接的途径。实体的物质性、形式感和空间感使得人们的脑海中就像空间罗夏测试一样会产生联系。物质性使得人们通过形式能够看见东西。这种能看见东西的事实使得每个人对此空间都有自己的理解。因此，每个人的经历都是全新的、不同的。当这些经历都拿出来分享时，思想的民主也就产生了。
里帝欧实体邀请人们来谈谈他们的想法。在施工过程中，一个工人坚信：实体形状像个鲸鱼。对于木质地板的设计，他很恼火，觉得这是个严重的错误，因为没有为鲸鱼提供生活的海洋。人们以一种前所未有的热情参与到这项互动中来，解读范围从梦中之物到史前动物，再到交配，这充分说明了超越建筑设计纯净性和探索整个施工过程的力量。
无论里帝奥餐厅实体在建筑设计界多 么渺小，它都说明了激发人们想象力的重要性。当今的建筑设计形式无论多么漂亮、多么大胆，实际上都受到了流畅性的羁绊。他们注定要静静地站在另一种纯粹的当代建筑设计表现形式的神坛上。里帝欧实体的另类粗旷激发了人们的精神上的想象，这在电脑支配的建筑设计中是还未曾探索过的。这种粗旷使得参观者更加重视设计的所有权，并将建筑设计纳入了另类而长久的波利斯(polis)城邦。