你能像走建築導覽一樣讀懂普林斯頓校園嗎?

多數大學的校園導覽會跟你介紹招生與學生生活。普林斯頓的校園導覽也會,但建築物本身就是課程的一部分。從校園北端的 Nassau Hall 走到南端的 Lewis Center for the Arts,你會在 25 分鐘內穿越 270 年的建築史——殖民時期石造、19 世紀末的紅磚加大理石、1900 年代到 1930 年代的學院哥德 (Collegiate Gothic)、世紀中現代主義,以及一排由 Robert Venturi、Frank Gehry、Steven Holl 與 Demetri Porphyrios 設計的 21 世紀建築。多數其他美國大學的校園建築來自一兩個年代,後來加上分層改建。普林斯頓則是橫跨所有年代持續擴張,而每一棟新建築都有清楚記載與整理。

對國際旅人來說,描述建築物所需要的實用英文——立面、材料、規模、庭院、光線、比例——就是你描述一座城市的建築或一間博物館展廳時會用到的同樣英文。你並不是在學一套專門的學術字彙,而是在一個有很多東西可看可討論的環境裡,使用日常口語英文。本文把校園當成一場建築導覽來走,並備齊你一路上會用到的對話用語。

建築導覽的聽力會聽到什麼

普林斯頓很多校園導覽會包含 5 到 10 分鐘的建築停頓——導覽員停在某棟建築前,說出建築師、年代、樣式,並指出鮮明的特色。字彙是穩定的。如果你能跟得上下面這些典型句子,你就能跟上多數校園建築解說。

"This is Nassau Hall, built in 1756. The architect was Robert Smith of Philadelphia. The style is Georgian — note the symmetrical façade, the central pediment over the main door, and the rectangular plan. The whole building is sandstone, quarried locally."

"This is Holder Hall, the heart of the residential college quad. It was designed by Cope and Stewardson in 1909, in the Collegiate Gothic style — see the pointed arches, the carved stone gargoyles, the leaded windows? The cloister courtyard surrounds an open green where students gather."

"This is the Lewis Library, the science library, designed by Frank Gehry and opened in 2008. Gehry's signature is the contrast of geometric volumes — the cubic forms in metal, glass, and brick that fold and intersect. It's a deliberate departure from the surrounding Gothic context."

每一句的結構都一樣:建築名、建築師、年代、樣式或招牌特色、鮮明特徵。字彙還算容易理解。可能讓你卡住的是這幾個字:pediment、cloister、gargoyle、façade、fenestration、scale。一張簡短的對照表可以涵蓋多數。

你最常聽到的字彙

比較不同建築物時,常會用到這類句子:

"The scale here is much smaller than at Harvard's quad." "The materials are different — brick instead of stone." "The fenestration is more regular here than on the Gothic side." "This building reads as more residential, this one as more institutional."

這些都是日常的描述句,在任何城市的任何建築對話裡都派得上用場。

跨越各時代的步行路線

一條 25 分鐘、橫跨各主要時代的步行路線:

第 1 站:Nassau Hall(1756,Robert Smith)。 喬治殖民式。殖民時期紐澤西最早的大型學術建築。石造、對稱平面;中央塔樓是後來才加的。練習句:「This is the oldest building on campus — Georgian, three stories, made of local sandstone.」

第 2 站:Maclean House(1756)與 Stanhope Hall(1803)。 緊鄰 Nassau Hall,規模較小的住宅與學術用途喬治式建築。練習句:「These are similar in scale to a colonial-era farmhouse but built for the college.」

第 3 站:Holder Hall 與 Mathey College(1909,Cope and Stewardson)。 學院哥德。普林斯頓住宿學院的代表樣式。迴廊庭院、尖拱、石窗花飾、滴水獸。練習句:「This is the Collegiate Gothic style — based on medieval English universities, deliberately built to look older than it is.」

第 4 站:Princeton University Chapel(1928,Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson)。 後期學院哥德。是美國最大的大學教堂之一;Ralph Adams Cram 在普林斯頓的代表作。練習句:「The proportions are deliberately tall and vertical — it reads as a real Gothic cathedral, not a small church.」

第 5 站:Firestone Library(1948,O'Connor and Kilham)。 20 世紀中葉的學術哥德,後來大幅擴建。是高哥德式與現代主義感性之間的過渡。練習句:「You can see the Gothic vocabulary continuing here, but the scale is much larger — it was built when libraries were becoming massive.」

第 6 站:Robertson Hall(1965,Yamasaki)。 現代主義。Yamasaki 是初代世貿中心雙塔的設計者,他在 Robertson Hall 用了細長尖柱與有頂柱廊——一種對古典或哥德垂直性的刻意現代詮釋。練習句:「This is mid-century modernism trying to acknowledge the older buildings around it without copying them.」

第 7 站:Whitman College(2007,Demetri Porphyrios)。 新哥德 / 新學院哥德。一棟 21 世紀的建築刻意以 20 世紀初哥德樣式設計;有評論家稱之為仿作,有人稱之為致敬。練習句:「This was built in 2007 but you wouldn't necessarily know — it's intentional historicism.」

第 8 站:Lewis Library(2008,Frank Gehry)。 當代 / Gehry 風格。校園裡被討論最多的當代建築。金屬與紅磚構成的雕塑式幾何量體。練習句:「This is the opposite move from Whitman — Gehry deliberately did not match the Gothic context.」

第 9 站:Lewis Center for the Arts(2017,Steven Holl)。 2010 年代後期當代風格。三棟建築圍著一個小型公共廣場。光線是核心設計概念。練習句:「Holl is interested in how light moves through a building — these volumes are designed for the way the sun passes during the day.」

從第 1 站到第 9 站的步行大約 25 分鐘。你可以拿著校園地圖自助走,也可以參加開放的校園建築導覽。

自然的對話節奏

如果你跟一位現役學生或校園導覽員一起走,建築相關的對話往往採取簡單的一來一往:

訪客:"What style is this?" 導覽員:"Collegiate Gothic — they built most of the residential colleges in this style between 1900 and 1930." 訪客:"When was this one built?" 導覽員:"1909, by an architecture firm from Philadelphia called Cope and Stewardson." 訪客:"It looks much older than that." 導覽員:"That was the point. They were trying to make it look medieval." 訪客:"What's that area inside the courtyard called?" 導覽員:"It's a cloister. The walkway around the perimeter is covered, the green in the middle is open."

這個節奏——問題、簡短回答、問題、簡短回答——是輕鬆的對話英文。隨著你針對特定特徵發問,字彙會慢慢延展。

好用的對話句

描述眼前所見:

"I like how the materials change as you walk south through the campus." "The scale of this building is huge compared to Nassau Hall." "The proportions are very vertical." "I love the way the courtyard opens at the end." "This space feels really enclosed — the buildings on every side make it feel intimate."

詢問眼前所見:

"Who designed this?" "When was this built?" "What style would you call this?" "Why did they choose Gothic in the early 1900s?" "What is this building used for now?" "Is this an early example of [style]?"

比較建築物:

"How does this compare to the older parts of campus?" "Is the Gothic here similar to what you'd see at Yale?" "I noticed this is the only building on campus by Frank Gehry."

這些句子的目的不是要你死背。重點是讓你看到,你可以從一小組句型組合出多數建築對話——以及只用非常普通的建築字彙,你就能在英文裡撐起一段有意義的 30 分鐘對話。

普林斯頓之外可以練習的地方

如果走過普林斯頓校園讓你對這類對話自在了,附近還有三個值得進一步練習的好去處:

• New Haven, Connecticut 有耶魯校園,那裡的哥德與現代主義對比比普林斯頓更戲劇化——Cass Gilbert 的 Sterling Library 與 Louis Kahn 的 Yale Center for British Art 是很容易拿來比較的一組。
• 費城 有賓州大學(具有相當數量的 19 世紀與 20 世紀學術建築),加上市中心壓縮著美國建築史的層次。
• 紐約市 步行範圍內就涵蓋每一個年代——Stanford White 的古典 Beaux-Arts 建築、中城的裝飾藝術塔樓、戰後國際樣式,以及當代的 Hudson Yards 開發案。

普林斯頓是好的第一個練習場,因為步行距離短、建築物標示清楚、各時代彼此分得清楚。一旦你能在這裡用英文撐起一段連貫的半小時建築對話,同樣的框架就能在你造訪的任何城市裡使用。