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The designs of modernists like Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright are like the classics of rock 'n' roll: groundbreaking works that inspired legions of followers.
有一些現代主義建筑師，如勒·柯布西耶(Le Corbusier)、 路德維希·密斯·范·德·羅(Ludwig Mies van der Rohe)和弗蘭克·勞埃德·賴特(Frank Lloyd Wright)，他們的設計作品就像搖滾樂中的經典曲目，都是具有開創性的作品，激勵了大批跟隨者。
That's what Alexander Gorlin believes anyway, and as someone who has spent his career practicing and writing about architecture, he has reason to know. Mr. Gorlin's credits include the 2011 book "Tomorrow's Houses," about the roots of modernism in New England, as well as a completed addition to a Louis Kahn synagogue in Chappaqua, N.Y., the coming transformation of Eero Saarinen's Bell Labs building into a mixed-use town center for Holmdel, N.J., and the design of Daniel Libeskind's Manhattan apartment.
反正，這就是亞歷山大·戈林(Alexander Gorlin)相信的事，而且，他所從事的職業始終圍繞著建筑領域的實踐和寫作，因此他對個中情況的了如指掌是有理由的。戈林的成就包括2011年出版的書《明日住宅》(Tomorrow's Houses)，該書講述了新英格蘭(New England)地區現代主義的根源；此外，他對紐約查帕瓜(Chappaqua)的一所由路易斯·康(Louis Kahn)設計的猶太教堂，新澤西州霍姆德爾市(Holmdel, N.J)即將動工的、將埃羅·薩莉貝爾實驗室(Eero Saarinen's Bell Labs)變為多用途市政中心的改建工程，以及丹尼爾·李博斯金(Daniel Libeskind)的曼哈頓公寓設計，也作出了補充與完善。
Modern architects, said Mr. Gorlin, 59, have a unique way of looking at the world that is reflected in their design of smaller-scale objects like furniture and accessories. "There are more spatial and structural aspects to products designed by architects," he said, in a generalization that furniture and industrial designers might take issue with. "I know that's a blanket statement, but I actually do believe it."
今年59歲的戈林說，那些現代建筑師們看待這個世界的獨特方式，也體現在了他們設計的一些小物件上，比如家具和配飾。“建筑師們設計的產品更加具有空間感，也更加結構化，”他說，這樣一種概括，可能會引來家具設計師與工業設計師的爭議。“我知道那是一個概括的聲明，但我真的對此深信不疑。”
To prove his point, he set off to find some examples. At Molteni & C in SoHo, he pointed out a reissued chest of drawers by the Italian architect Gio Ponti. "I like his furniture because it doesn't immediately look like furniture," Mr. Gorlin said, noting that the handles were made from different types of wood, creating an asymmetrical checkerboard pattern across the front. "It's decorative functionalism."
為了證明他的觀點，他開始去尋找一些實例。在蘇豪區(SoHo)的Molteni & C店內，他挑出一款再版的五斗柜，設計師是意大利建筑師吉奧·龐帝(Gio Ponti)。“我喜歡他設計的這款家具，因為一眼看去它并不像家具，”戈林說，他還提到，這款五斗柜上的那些手柄，都是用不同類型的木料制成的，因而使其正面有一種不對稱的棋盤圖案。“這就是裝飾功能主義。”
He was equally impressed by Mr. Ponti's angular hair-on hide rug. "It's geometric, but every part is a different shape," he said. "It's like a mysterious puzzle."
他對龐帝設計的絨面菱形地毯也同樣印象深刻。“即便是幾何圖形，每一部分也都是不同的形狀，”他說，“就像一幅神秘的拼圖。”
At Design Within Reach, he admired the exaggerated sensuality of the Pelican chair by the Danish architect Finn Juhl. "It almost looks like a caricature of some creature," he said. "I love chairs that are animated like this."
在Design Within Reach商店，他對丹麥建筑師芬·居爾(Finn Juhl)設計的一把鵜鶘座椅(Pelican chair)體現出的那種夸張感官享受贊不絕口。“它看上去像是對某種生物的夸張描摹，”他說，“我喜歡像這樣設計得生動鮮活的椅子。”
On the other end of the aesthetic spectrum, he praised a door handle designed by the German architect Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus, not for its sensuality but for its clarity of form. "It's a simple intersection of a cylinder and a cube," he said of the piece, which he found at Katonah Architectural Hardware. "It's such a classic, and I always return to it."
然后，他的審美觀逆轉了180度，稱贊起由鮑豪斯建筑學派(Bauhau)的創始人、德國建筑師沃爾特·格羅佩斯(Walter Gropius)設計的一款門把手。但他贊許的方面并不是這款產品的舒適性，而是款式設計的清晰簡潔。“這僅僅是一個圓柱體與一個立方體的結合，”談及在Katonah建筑五金店找到的這件物品時，他說，“這款門把手設計得太經典了，所以我總是一再回來購買。”
A pair of minimalist objects from Suite New York, designed by John Pawson, the contemporary British architect, appealed for similar reasons. A bronze bowl with a rounded bottom was "a perfect object, but slightly off," he said, and a crystal carafe with a thick base made the liquid inside look "suspended in air."
出于類似的原因，Suite New York店里的一對極簡主義風格的物品也很吸引他，其設計師是當代英國建筑師約翰·波森(John Pawson)。另外，那只圓底銅碗也“是一件非常完美的物品，只是有點不同尋常，”他說，還有一只水晶玻璃瓶，其底部做得非常厚，讓里面的液體看起來就像“懸浮在空中一樣。”
"They're both twists on familiar objects," he said. "That raises them from the ordinary to the sublime."
“這些東西都是從普通物品變形而來的，”他說，“使得這些東西由尋常之物變得卓爾不凡。”
