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Into the tékhnē Wilderness: A PERSONAL GUIDE


ut quondam Creta fertur Labyrinthus in alta parietibus textum caecis iter ancipitemque mille viis habuisse dolum, qua signa sequendi frangeret indeprensus et inremeabilis error; haud alio teucrum nati vestigia cursu impediunt texuntque fugas et proelia ludo, delphinum similes qui per maria umida nando Carpathium Libycumque secant [luduntque per undas]. hunc morem cursus atque haec certamina primus Ascanius, Longam muris cum cingeret Albam, rettulit et priscos docuit celebrare Latinos, quo puer ipse modo, secum quo Troia pubes; Albani docuere suos; hinc maxima porro accepit Roma et patrium servavit honorem; Troiaque nunc pueri, Toianum dicitur agmen. hac celebrata tenus sancto certamina patri. VERGILI MARONIS AENEIDOS LIBER QVINTVS

據說從前在多山的克里特島有一座迷宮,迷宮裡有一條曲折蜿蜒的小路,小路兩邊是高牆擋住視線,還有千百條歧路,使人迷失所在,這迷宮像個解不開的結,進去了出不來,一切指路的標誌都無濟於事。特洛亞少年騎馬盤旋的路線正如這座迷宮,他們又像穿梭一樣嬉戲,時而表演逃竄,時而表演戰鬥,很像海豚在喀爾巴托斯海和利比亞海的波濤中游泳嬉戲,破浪前行......今天的這些少年就喚做“特洛亞”,他們的隊列叫作“特洛亞陣”。(楊周翰 譯)

Figure 1. Vladimir Tatlin, Letatlin (1932)


 

The Heideggerian Louis Kahn speaks about the existential architecture-being.

Things as they are have nothing to do with desire, and desire is the real motivating force for living and expressing. (Louis I. Kahn)

What Kahn calls 'order':

Design demands that one understands the order. When you are dealing or designing in brick, you must ask brick what it wants or what it can do. And if you ask brick what it wants, it'll say: ‘well, I like an arch.’ And then you say: 'but arches are difficult to make. They cost more money. I think you can use concrete across your opening equally as well.' But the brick says: 'oh I know, I know you're right, but you know, if you ask me what I like, I like an arch.' And one says: 'well, now why be so stubborn? You know.' And the arch says: 'May I just make a little remark? Do you realize you're talking about a beam and the beam of arch...of brick is an arch.' That's knowing the order. It's knowing its nature. It's knowing what it can do.













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