哈佛校園的25道大門：講述歷史的時光膠囊

To Blair Kamin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic of The Chicago Tribune, the wrought-iron gates that ring the campus green at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., are more than decorative. They are storytellers through design and time capsules of university history, which he and the students he taught as a fellow at the school’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism explore in the book “Gates of Harvard Yard” (Princeton Architectural Press). Its thoughtful essays examine the 25 gates surrounding the yard, popular with tourists as well as students, alumni and staff. The following are excerpts from an interview with Mr. Kamin, the editor of the book.

對于曾經獲得普利策獎的《芝加哥論壇報》(The Chicago Tribune)建筑評論家布萊爾·卡明(Blair Kamin)來說，位于馬薩諸塞州劍橋的哈佛大學校園綠地周圍的鑄鐵門不僅僅是裝飾而已。它們的設計講述著自己的故事，而且還是學校歷史的時光膠囊;卡明和自己在該校尼曼新聞基金會的學生們在《哈佛廣場之門》(Gates of Harvard Yard，普林斯頓建筑出版社[Princeton Architectural Press])一書中對它們進行了探索。這本書中構思縝密的文章研究了環(huán)繞這個廣場的25道大門，它們深受旅行者和學生、校友以及員工們的喜愛。下面是對該書編輯卡明的采訪節(jié)選。

Q.You could have covered other interesting architectural features at Harvard. Why gates?

問：你本可以研究哈佛大學其他有趣的建筑，為什么偏要研究那些門呢?

A. The gates really sound the opening notes in Harvard’s architectural symphony, and yet most students and tourists pass by them in their rush to write the next paper or pose for selfies alongside the John Harvard statue. I wanted to dig deeper and find out what these portals were all about.

答：如果把哈佛的建筑比作一首交響樂，這些門真的很像起始的音符，但大多數(shù)學生和旅客都只是匆匆經過它們，去寫他們的下一篇論文，或者來到約翰·哈佛(John Harvard)像前自拍。我希望深入挖掘，找出這些入口的意義。

You call them ‘carefully wrought constructions that direct human movement and uplift everyday experience.’How?

問：你說它們是“精心建造的建筑，引導人們的行動，并提升日常體驗”。它們是怎么做到的呢?

In the same way that a funnel channels the flow of water, gates funnel the flow of people, but they do so with great artistry, and that’s how they enrich everyday human experience. One of my favorite gates is the Dexter Gate. Above the entrance is an inscription that’s often quoted, “Enter to Grow in Wisdom.” And that inscription summarizes the passage from ignorance to wisdom that a university education is supposed to be all about. Most of the gates were designed by McKim, Mead & White, a great architectural firm, and they are a family, a series of theme and variations whose materials are brick, wrought iron and stone. So if you stop and look, you see things like a cross that represents Harvard’s commitment to training ministers, or you’ll see delicate flowers and leaves made of wrought iron that extend the pastoral identity of Harvard Yard out to the street.

答：這和水渠的原理是一樣的，這些門起到的是給人群分流的作用，但這是通過極高的工藝技巧實現(xiàn)的，從而也豐富了人們日常的體驗。我最喜歡的一扇門就是德克斯特門(Dexter Gate)，入口上方的銘文經常被引用，“為增長智慧走進來”。這句銘文概括了大學教育的目的，就是提供一條從無知到智慧的通路。大多數(shù)門都是由偉大的麥克基姆—米德與懷特建筑公司(McKim, Mead & White)設計，它們同屬一個家族，是同一個系列的主題和變種，它們的材料都是磚頭、鑄鐵和石頭。所以，如果你駐足觀看，便會在這些門上發(fā)現(xiàn)許多細節(jié)，比如一個十字，它代表著哈佛培養(yǎng)牧師的承諾;還有精致的鑄鐵花朵和葉子，它們把哈佛廣場的田園之感一直延伸到街頭。

Why was McKim, Mead & White chosen, and did its involvement lend continuity to the Yard?

問：哈佛當初為什么會選擇麥克基姆—米德與懷特呢?它的參與為哈佛廣場的風格帶來了一致性嗎?

McKim, Mead & White was the great establishment firm of the era. They designed New York’s Pennsylvania Station, the so-called cottages of the rich in Newport, R.I., and the Boston Public Library. They were the go-to firm for an institution like Harvard. The first gate, the Johnston Gate, was built in 1889, which was more than 250 years after Harvard’s founding in 1636. The gate was really a turning point in Harvard’s architectural history. The architect Charles McKim rejected the florid, multicolored, Victorian Gothic style of Memorial Hall and instead turned back to the colonial Georgian-era buildings as his inspiration.

答：麥克基姆—米德與懷特是那個時代偉大、權威的建筑公司。他們設計了紐約的賓夕法尼亞車站，所謂的羅德島新港富人村，還有波士頓公共圖書館。它們是哈佛這樣的機構會首選的公司。第一道落成的是約翰斯頓門(Johnston Gate)，于1889年竣工，是在哈佛于1636年成立250多年后落成的。這道門確實是哈佛建筑史上的轉折點。建筑師查爾斯·麥克基姆(Charles McKim)拋棄了紀念堂那種多種色彩、過分華麗的維多利亞哥特式風格，讓殖民時期的喬治王朝風格建筑重新成為他的靈感來源。

What surprised you most about inspecting the gates so closely?

問：仔細研究這些門之后，最讓你驚訝的事是什么?

Just how beautiful they are. They keep giving you new details that enrich the experience of looking at them. For example, there’s a gate that’s dedicated to Charles William Eliot, the long-serving president of Harvard, and if you look at the wrought iron in that gate it has a whimsical nod to Eliot’s Pilgrim ancestors with a little Pilgrim’s hat. The contemplative atmosphere of the yard would not be the same if not for the gates and the fences that delineate a barrier between town and gown. Harvard Yard is surrounded most typically by a fence so it’s visually transparent. You get a sense of the beauty of the yard, the buildings, the sculptures, which are all accessible to passers-by as they walk along even outside of the gates.

答：就是它們有多么美。它們一直都能讓你發(fā)現(xiàn)新的細節(jié)，豐富你的觀賞體驗。比如說，有一道門是獻給長期出任哈佛大學校長的查爾斯·威廉·艾略特(Charles William Eliot)的，如果你注意看，就會發(fā)現(xiàn)門上的鑄鐵用一頂清教徒的小帽奇異地暗示了艾略特的清教徒祖先。如果沒有這些門，沒有勾勒出大學城和校園之間界限的屏障，就沒有廣場上那種嚴肅靜思的氣氛。哈佛廣場仿佛被一道視覺上透明的屏障圍繞著。你能體會到廣場、建筑和雕塑的美感，就算只是在那些門外走過也是一樣。