平民设计，日用即道 
──不能忽视的前线

三十年来，中国建筑界的前线即国家现代化的前线。疾行在前线的中国建筑师们凭此专注精神，创造出一个又一个建筑与城市的奇观胜景。

就在我们欢呼现代化的壮丽成就时，我们的大后方却失守了。先是传统文化和生活方式的失守。之后，城墙拆了，再之后，一片片旧城区消失了。今天，连最边远的古老村寨也被资本觊觎。
失去传统本身也许微不足道，但是伴随现代化发展而来的其他更为严重的“副作用”，不管站在什么立场看，都是我们难以承受的：人为造成的气候灾难、自然资源枯竭、贫富差距加大，等等。

我们必须回到不能忽视的前线来──尊严、福祉与公平。这远比单纯发展更为紧急：牺牲大量低收入人群的基本居住条件与社会尊严，换取少数富裕阶层的现代化生活有何公平可言？减少浪费而不是生产更多。停止污染空气、水、食物，而不是更大面积的住房、更发达的科技产品、更快的交通。

当我们开始认真关注这一被忽视的前线时，起初看起来并不相关的问题，逐渐指向它们共同的起因──人类无节制的物质欲望。对物质的无限渴望是造成环境问题、资源枯竭的根本原因。

只有看到问题真正的根源，我们才能更深刻地明了我们失守的大后方──中国传统文化的真正价值。因为中国的古圣先贤的勤俭持家、敬畏自然的思想正是标本兼治的良药。

如何重建这些饱受现代化摧残的传统价值观？大后方已然失守，传统又在哪里？王阳明的学生，明朝的思想家王艮（1483-1541）说“百姓日用即道”──传统的城市没有了，乡村没有了，建筑没有了，甚至传统的生活方式也没有了的时候，祖先的智慧之道、价值观还蕴藏在平民百姓的日用之间，如同我们文化的DNA延绵不息。

“平民设计”服从日用即道。它并非试图用未来替代过去，而是对过去进行打磨之后，将之融入今天的生活；它不干涉，却是积极调解社群生活；它使设计成果可以被大多数人所享用；它认为我们必须有节制、敢于担当责任，否则建筑学不会有光明的未来。

梁井宇
第15届威尼斯国际建筑双年展中国馆策展人


Daily Design, Daily Tao

--Back to the Ignored Front

Our nation’s dignity, welfare and equality are the original reasons for modernization in the last hundred years.

Chinese architecture has been pioneering in the nation’s modernization for the last three decades. Developments generally focus only on the new ‘futuristic’ frontier - ‘spectacular’ buildings and cities are erected one after another.

Whether we noticed it or not, while claiming victories for spectacular modernization, we are losing our home base. First vanished were our ancient cultural traditions and life style, then the city wall. After that, numerous areas of historic towns and cities were bulldozed. Today, even the most remote villages are coveted by investors.

The traditions we have lost may seem dispensable, but no matter which side you take, the consequences of this rapid development are unbearable: climate change, depleted natural resources and increasing polarization of the rich and poor.

We must focus on the Ignored Front – dignity, welfare and equality. These are more urgent issues than catching the great leap of futuristic development: improving basic living conditions for the poor - rather than the affairs of the rich; decreasing waste - rather than producing more; ceasing pollution of air, water and food - rather than focusing on increasing the speed of traffic and rapidly increasing the size of each city.

When we look closer at this ignored front, those unrelated issues are rooted in the same cause – Materialism: the endless craving for material causes crises for resources and for the environment.
Looking back at our history, generation after generation, we can find that our great ancestors have been telling us the truth all along: Live abstemiously, yet be awed by nature.

This is what we need today to cure the trauma of the Earth and its inhabitants. So how can we return to those values – after we have chosen to abandon them and embrace materialism for past decades? Confucian Wang Geng (1483-1541), is Master Wang Yangming’s student. He believes the truth of life is within life. Daily Tao exists in the daily lives. In fact, he said, “Daily Tao is daily life”. It is true that many old towns and villages as well as traditional architectures are disappearing, but Tao is not. It is still in our people’s daily lives.

Daily Design follows Daily Tao. It satisfies us in our daily lives not by introducing a new future to replace the past, but by polishing the past and integrating it into our daily lives. It doesn’t intervene, instead, it mediates communities. It makes design accessible to the majority’s lives. It does not believe that architecture has a bright future on our planet, unless we act abstemiously and responsibly in the present.

Liang Jingyu
Curator
Pavilion of China
15th International Architecture Exhibition la Biennale di Venezia