Looking Forward to Rural, Architectural Practice in Southwest China: Interview with Wei Haobo, Principal Architect of West-Line Studio

Western China is diverse in both its natural and its human ecology. For local designers and architects, its greatest value lies in opportunity. As environmental development in the east approaches saturation and increasing uniformity, the west offers them a setting in which to explore locally grounded strategies and accumulate practical wisdom. How can the countryside sustain attachment to one's native place? How can tradition move towards modernity? How—

无论从自然生态角度还是人文生态角度，西部都具有多元的特点。对于本土设计师和建筑师而言，西部的最大价值是机遇，在东部地区环境发展几近饱和趋同的情况下，西部为他们提供了探究本土策略、积累实践智慧的舞台。如何让乡土系得住乡愁，如何使传统走向现代，如何

—can architectural design genuinely connect with local culture and geographical relationships? In these respects, the design understanding and working methods of Haobo Wei, principal architect of West-Line Studio, and his team are particularly representative and instructive.

令建筑设计切实与本地文化及地缘相关联，在这些方面，西线工作室主持建筑师魏浩波及其团队的设计认识与工作方法颇具典型性和借鉴意义。

In 1998, Haobo Wei graduated from Chongqing Jianzhu University with a master's degree in architecture. During his postgraduate studies and the first few years after graduation, he undertook internships and worked in several eastern coastal cities, including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Quanzhou and Xiamen. Although these cities were prosperous and business was flourishing, Wei felt that this was not the ideal working condition he sought. Asked why, he explains: ‘At the time, the architectural design industry in eastern China essentially took other countries as its reference. An important part of most practices' work was to study outstanding overseas projects. Design and construction procedures, and the ways capital was deployed, also imitated foreign models.’ Although he had not yet thought everything through, he intuitively believed that ‘this transplantation and these working methods did not suit China's circumstances. We lacked serious reflection on our own local conditions. Moreover, the design environment at the time was essentially a client-dominated market in which designers had to comply.’ In 2001, Wei therefore decided to return to his home province of Guizhou. He initially worked at the Guizhou Light Industry and Textile Design Institute, participating in industrial architecture and designing various light-industrial factories, including silk-reeling mills, textile mills and the Moutai distillery. After six months, he moved to the Guiyang Architectural Design Institute to undertake more diverse architectural work. Soon afterwards, restructuring divided the institute into two companies: Guiyang Design Institute Architecture Co., Ltd. and Guiyang Architectural Survey and Design Co., Ltd. Wei joined the latter. Its organisational model combined central management at headquarters with subordinate design branches. Wei considered this a good opportunity ‘to carry through my own design thinking effectively, organise a team suited to the intended working methods, and gradually find an independent direction of practice’. After forming a team with colleagues, Wei and his studio won competitions for two major projects in central Guiyang: the Nanming River waterfront landscape and Dashizi Square. Dashizi Square, in particular, completed between 2002 and 2004, brought them considerable recognition in Guizhou. Wei has now worked in Guizhou for fifteen or sixteen years. Asked about the experience, he smiles and frankly calls it ‘very difficult’. He says: ‘Guizhou has many mountains and rivers and abundant forests, as well as rich human resources and diverse cultural communities. This should be an ideal working environment for architects. In practice, however, entrenched habits and conflicts of ideas can make it feel almost impossible to move forward. The first reason is interpersonal relationships. Personal networks matter greatly here. If a designer cannot enter or maintain them, obtaining projects is difficult. Second, review panels are not yet well established, so experts involved in tendering differ greatly in competence and in the level at which they approach issues. Finally, a lack of confidence in traditional culture, combined with blind admiration for new things and ways of life from elsewhere, means that design still mechanically imitates eastern and coastal regions. Without clearly distinguishing our own problems or those arising in design development, we copy both good and bad.’ As the leader of an architectural team, Wei considers the greatest difference between eastern and western working environments to be a shortage of professionals. The east has a sound professional foundation, well-developed design systems and management, relatively capable construction organisations and comparatively fair design evaluation. In the west, professional competence varies considerably and young talent is extremely scarce. Construction teams' technical abilities often fall short. A common situation is that a technician begins work with a group lacking construction experience, halfway between an industrial workforce and rural labourers. Furthermore, intense competition in the east and pressure in the working environment encourage a strong culture of learning among young architects, with powerful motivation for self-education and replenishing their knowledge. This is weaker in the west. Consequently, in the current context of western development, the appropriate allocation of professionals and the competence of construction teams have become constraints on the construction and development process.

1998年，魏浩波从重庆建筑大学建筑学硕士毕业。读研期间及毕业之后的最初几年，他曾在东部沿海多个城市实习工作，包括深圳、广州、中山、泉州、厦门。虽然城市繁华、业态蓬勃，但魏浩波感到，这并非是他所寻找的理想工作状态。问其原因，他解释道：“那时东部地区的建筑设计行业基本上以国外为参照系。大多数事务所的重要工作是研究国外的优秀案例，设计、建造流程及资本化运作方式也是模仿国外。”尽管还没有思考得很清楚，但魏浩波凭直觉认为，“这种移植和工作方法不符合中国国情，我们对于自身本土性缺少认真的反思。而且当时的设计环境，基本是甲方主导设计市场的状态，设计师不得不服从”。所以在2001年，魏浩波决定回到家乡贵州。一开始，魏浩波在贵州省轻纺工业设计院工作，曾参与过一些工业建筑设计，设计过各种轻工业类厂房，如：缫丝厂、纺织厂、茅台酒厂等；半年后，转到贵阳市建筑设计院从事更多元的建筑设计；不久，建筑设计院改制，分成两家公司：贵阳设计院建筑有限公司和贵阳建筑勘察设计有限公司，魏浩波进入后者。公司经营方式为总部统一管理，下设各设计分院方式。魏浩波觉得这个机会很好，“可以有效地贯彻自己的设计思考、组织同预设工作方式相匹配的团队，逐步寻找独立的实践方向”。与同事组建团队之后，魏浩波及其工作室通过投标方式中标赢得了贵阳市区的两个大型项目——南明河沿河景观与大十字广场的设计。特别是在2002年至2004年完成的大十字广场，让他们在贵州地区获得了较高的知名度。如今，魏浩波已在贵州工作了十五六年。谈及感受，他笑着坦言“很艰难”。他说：“贵州地区山多水多、森林丰茂，同时又有着丰富的人文资源与多元文化圈。这对于建筑师而言，原本是很理想的工作环境，但是实际在该地区开展工作时，积习深重、观念之争，很有点寸步难行的感觉。其原因，首先是人际关系问题。这里很在乎人际圈，如果打不开或者维持不好，设计师就很难拿到项目。其次，评审团队尚不健全，所以在招投标时，专家的水平及看待问题方式层次差别很大。最后，由于对传统文化的不自信，以及对新生事物和外来生活状态的盲目崇拜，导致设计倾向还是以东部和沿海地区为参照，机械式地模仿。不能明辨自身和设计发展中的问题，好的东西学，差的东西也学。”作为率领一个建筑设计团队的负责人，魏浩波认为东部与西部工作环境的最大区别是缺少专业人才。东部有良好的专业背景，设计体系、设计管理健全，施工技术单位水准比较高，设计评判相对公平。但在西部，专业人员素质良莠不齐，年轻人才极度匮乏。施工队的专业技术不如人意，经常出现的情况是技术人员带着一群没有施工经验的、半工业化半乡土的队伍就上马了。再有，东部地区行业竞争激烈，工作环境压力促使年轻建筑师群体内部有很好的学习风气，自我学习与自我补充的动力强，西部地区在这方面则较弱。所以造成在当前西部大开发的背景下，专业人员的合理配备及施工团队专业水准成为建设发展进程中的束缚。

Over more than thirty years of reform and opening, ‘internationalisation’ has been a keyword of development in eastern China. Overseas design practices and international educational initiatives have widely disseminated foreign design ideas and working methods within China, bringing important value as well as contradictions and complexity. In Guizhou, far from this internationalisation, Wei and West-Line Studio were early experimenters. Over recent years they have maintained close collaboration with the Spanish practice BAUM and jointly established W&B International Workshop. After a period of collaborative practice, Wei found that although both the European architects and West-Line's team emphasised effective research platforms, the definition of core concepts and the introduction of systematic methods, they differed greatly at the level of fundamental ideas. Europe has developed a relatively mature and stable educational system. Professionals trained within it possess particular technical approaches, work methodically in detailed analysis and precise control, and follow an orderly, progressive process of development that leads to precision in design. This is a highly successful aspect of European architectural education. However, differences in social forms, institutions and cultural backgrounds mean that European design education and working methods cannot serve as a universally applicable model in China. Wei stresses that China's problems require its own professional ways of addressing reality. On the one hand, genuine knowledge comes from practice; on the other, modern Chinese architecture currently needs to establish a system and tradition of continuously developing theoretical analysis. ‘Even if it is immature, only trying can stimulate further thought. This is very important.’

改革开放三十余年来，“国际化”是东部地区发展的关键词之一，境外设计、国际办学让国外的设计理念和工作方法在国内广泛传播，它既有重要价值，也呈现出矛盾性与复杂性。而在远离“国际化”的西部贵州，魏浩波和西线工作室率先进行“国际化”尝试，与西班牙 Baum工作室近几年来保持着深度合作，共同成立了 W&B国际工作站。双方经过一段时间的合作实践后，魏浩波感到，虽然欧洲同行和西线工作室团队都比较注重建立有效的研究平台，关注核心概念的确立，强调方法体系的导入，但双方在关键的观念层面上差别很大。欧洲已经形成相对成熟稳定的教育体系，在这个体系下训练出来的专业人才具有特定的技术思路，在精细分析与精细控制上很有章法，有一套按部就班、循序渐进的深化模式，从而进入精准的设计状态。这是欧洲建筑设计教育很成功的一面。但是因为社会形态、体制与文化背景不同，欧洲的设计教育和工作方法不能作为一种通用化的范本在中国实行。魏浩波强调，针对中国问题，要寻找自己专业处理现实的方法：一方面，实践出真知；另一方面，中国现代建筑目前需要建立一个理论分析持续发展的系统和传统。“即便不成熟，但只有尝试才能引发更多的思考，这很重要”。

Guizhou has a particular geographical and cultural environment. Vast numbers of small, dispersed settlements lie beside mountains and water, most now in a condition of construction that is ‘half vernacular, half universalised’. The extensive rural world, towns awaiting development, and flourishing multi-ethnic rural cultures simultaneously facing the intense impact of contemporary capitalist civilisation gave Wei and West-Line Studio a direction for research and practice and an entry point into local questions. From 2004, they established ‘Up to the Mountains and Down to the Villages’, a series of research-led projects investigating ways of developing vernacular architecture in western China. The phrase also became synonymous with the studio. Wei explains that ‘going up to the mountains’ focuses on geographical relationships, while ‘going down to the villages’ explores how vernacular experience can be passed on through generally applicable technologies. This movement up and down reflects a partial withdrawal from universalised society: a retreat from commercial society centred on production and consumption towards rural society centred on human relationships. Used here, the historically charged phrase sounds full of practical energy and infectious commitment.

贵州有着特殊的地理人文环境，数量庞大的聚落群依山傍水而居，小且分散，它们现在多处于“半乡土半普适化”的建造状态。广袤的乡土世界、等待开发的城镇空间，以及繁荣却同时正受到当代资本文明猛烈冲击的多民族乡土文化，让魏浩波及西线工作室找到了研究实践的方向和思考本土问题的突破口。自2004年始，他们构建了一个探讨西部乡土建筑发展方式“上山下乡”研究性实践系列，“上山下乡”也成为西线工作室的代名词。魏浩波解释：“上山”对地缘关系的关注，“下乡”则是探讨以普适技术方式对乡土经验的传承。上与下的工作状态，反映了局部从普适社会的退出，意味着从生产和消费为主的商业型社会退回到以人伦关系为主的乡土型社会。而“上山下乡”这个本包含历史背景的专有词汇用在这里，听上去就充满着实践干劲儿和感染力。

Wei once wrote: ‘Milan Kundera points out that a lack of experience is one of the conditions of existence people most commonly confront. When we move from cities organised through structures such as consumption and production into a rural society of face-to-face “familiarity”, or move from rural society into the city, the experience required in each is different. Architects need to master the adjustment of experience involved in passing from one to the other. Otherwise problems arise: technology is blindly and uncontrollably introduced into a rural society fundamentally structured by human relationships and an interpenetration with nature. This is a very dangerous condition.’ To retain Guizhou's regional qualities in design, Wei identifies three necessary kinds of experience. First is geographical experience. Mountains and rivers extend across Guizhou's surface, while caves criss-cross below. Karst accounts for 90% of the province, Danxia landforms for 5–6%, with some other hilly terrain. Its principal geographical characteristics therefore include pronounced vertical differentiation of terrain; little cultivable land and little farmland per person; extensive but poorly suited potential forest land; severe rocky desertification; fragile ecosystems; and frequent geological hazards. Buildings must fit their sensitive, fragile surroundings. Without understanding these geographical characteristics, even basic safety cannot be assured. Second is social experience, or kinship. Wei separates the two Chinese characters in ‘society’: she signifies respect for the land, while hui means gathering through the divine. Social experience must examine the cultural communities formed over generations by the Dong, Miao, Bouyei and other peoples who have long lived in Guizhou. From these different cultural circles, ordered models of public social life can be identified, providing positive guidance for design. Finally, there is composite construction experience: vernacular building techniques combined with generally applicable construction methods. Vernacular techniques enable an experience of traditional life, preserve visual identity and basic stability, and achieve a sense of familiar origins. Yet fundamental changes in the technological background and consciousness of the age mean that traditional rural techniques and ways of assembling materials have lost the conditions of time, resources, craftsmanship and technology that sustained them. Generally applicable construction must therefore be introduced to keep building practices aligned with the contemporary technological environment and to implement construction standards. Wei says that combining and applying these three forms of experience is itself a process of design exploration.

魏浩波曾在一篇文章中写道：“米兰·昆德拉指出，缺乏经验是人类最常面临的一种生存状态。我们从消费、生产等结构体系配置的城市来到面对面‘熟识’乡土社会，或是从乡土社会步入城市，两者所需要的经验是不同的。建筑师需要掌握的，就是从一方进入另一方的经验调整，否则就要出问题，就会盲目地将技术不加控制地带入以人伦及渗透自然为基本结构的乡土社会中。这将会是一种很危险的状态。”为了在设计中保持贵州的地域性特质，魏浩波总结出三个方面的必要经验：首先是地缘经验。贵州地面山水绵延，地下溶洞纵横。全省90%为喀斯特地貌，5%~6% 是丹霞地貌，还有一部分丘陵地貌。因此贵州的地缘主要特征是地势垂直分异明显，适宜耕地少、人均耕地少，宜林地广阔、但适宜性差，以及石漠化严重、生态环境脆弱，地质灾害频繁等。这要求建筑与周围敏感、脆弱的环境相契合，如果不了解地缘特征，基本的安全问题都无法保证。其次，是社会经验，即血缘性。魏浩波将“社会”一词的两个字拆分解释：社，指对土地的尊重；会，是以神相会。社会经验所要考察关注的是在贵州长期生活的侗族、苗族、布依族等世代自成的文化圈。由此，从各个文化圈层中提取有序的公共社会生活模型。这些模型对指导设计有积极的意义。最后，是复合建造经验，即乡土建造技术+通用建造方式。通过乡土建造技术体验传统的生活状态，保持形象的身份认同与基本稳定，达到某种似曾相识的渊源感。然而，传统的乡土建造技术与材料配置方式因大时代的技术背景与技术意识的根本性变革，已经丧失其存在的时间、资源、工艺与技术条件，因此必须引入通用建造方式，以保证建造状态与当代社会技术环境同步，贯彻施工标准。魏浩波说，将这三种经验组合应用的过程，也是一种设计探索。

Since its establishment, West-Line Studio has completed more than ten representative rural projects in Guizhou. Years of accumulated experience and reflection on successive stages of work have gradually produced a basic working system and method, with several key concerns: site order, subcultural circles, models of public life and making place. Geographical and social experience together develop a site order with particular meaning. This requires consideration both of complex geographical conditions and of spatial relationships within subcultural circles, clarifying the basic thinking and grouping techniques through which traditional settlement space grows. Protecting subcultural circles matters because, under contemporary conditions, habits shaped by the kinship systems and geographical structures of traditional rural society have been replaced by universalised habits. Rural kinship and geographical structures have receded into weak subcultural structures within the broader context of universalised society. These diverse subcultural circles provide the soil in which ‘living’ traditions can continue, yet they face gradual suppression and replacement by the habitual model of universalised social structures, universalised habits and standardised technological practice. The key element within each cultural circle is its model of public life. The British cultural scholar Raymond Williams advanced the idea of ‘culture as life’: culture is not merely a collection of intellectual and imaginative works; fundamentally, it is also an entire way of life. A ‘way of life’ can generate the cohesive force of regional belonging and is a core element of social stability. Wei believes that establishing models of public life is essential to transmitting the culture and history of each particular subcultural circle and sustaining its people's ways of living and interacting. He cites Dong drum towers, wind-and-rain bridges and stages as examples of their roles in transmission and education. The soaring, multi-eaved drum tower establishes a clan emblem and settlement landmark through its height, while serving as the clan's sacred place for elevated ceremonies, major decisions, external relations and judgments of justice. Painted clay sculptures between its dense layers of eaves vividly recount the people's history and myths. The wind-and-rain bridge spanning a river is a medium through which public life occurs and a place where information gathers and is shared. The stage, through entertaining and lively dramatic performance, helps people understand history and worldly affairs, subtly disseminating the essence of tradition.

西线工作室成立至今，在贵州地区完成了十余个具有代表性的乡土项目。多年的经验积累与各阶段工作探索的总结，使魏浩波与西线工作室逐渐形成了基本的工作系统和工作方法，它包含几个重点：场地秩序、次文化圈层、公共生活模型和场所制造。通过地缘经验与社会经验，发展出具有特定意义场地秩序。这其中，既要考虑复杂的地缘状态，又要考虑次文化圈的空间格局关系，由此厘清传统聚落空间成长的基本思路与成组技术。保护次文化圈层的价值则在于，在当代社会条件下，受传统乡土社会血缘系统与地缘结构影响的习性，已经被普适社会条件下的普适习性所置换。传统乡土社会的血缘与地缘结构在普适社会的大背景下退化为弱小的次文化圈结构。这些多样的次文化圈层是养育“活态”传统继续存在的土壤，但却正面临着逐渐被扼杀，被普适社会结构+普适习性＋标准化技术实践常态模式所取代的危险。各个文化圈层之中的关键是公共生活模型。英国文化学者雷蒙德•威廉斯（RaymondWilliams）曾提出“文化即生活”的理念，“文化不只是一批知识与想象作品而已，从本质上说，文化也是一整个生活方式”。“生活方式”可以产生地域归属感的内聚力，也是社会稳定的核心要素。魏浩波认为，公共生活模型的建立对传承每个特有次文化圈的文化、历史，以及延续所属人群的生活及交往方式非常重要。他以侗族的鼓楼、风雨桥和戏台举例，指出这些公共生活模型的传承和教化作用。高耸入云多重檐鼓楼不仅从高度上建立了聚落的地标性族徽，更是崇高仪式、重大决策、对外交往、裁决公理的家族神圣地，层层密檐间的彩绘泥塑，生动表述着本民族的历史与神话故事。跨河而建的风雨桥是公共生活发生的媒介，是人群信息的聚集共享地。而戏台则通过娱乐、热闹的戏剧表演方式，让人知古明事，将传统的精华潜移默化地播散给民众。

A study tour of modern architecture in northern Europe several years ago extended Wei's interest from models of public life towards the making of place. He observed that Finland's terrain resembled Guizhou's: abundant rock covered by a thin layer of vegetation. Yet within that difficult natural environment, Finnish designers had created places rich in human warmth. Comparing this with Guizhou, Wei concluded that establishing a sense of place within subcultural circles was crucial. In a rural society and historical period already penetrated by commercial and economic forces, models of public life are difficult to realise without a supporting system of place. It also becomes difficult to use those models to re-educate people in respect for traditional customs and the continuation of traditional lifeworlds. Wei uses two completed West-Line projects to explain their working methods and the practical application of these investigations.

几年前的一次北欧现代建筑考察之行，让魏浩波从公共生活模型的研究延伸至对场所制造的重视。他看到，芬兰的地貌特征与贵州很接近，都是多石，上面有一层薄薄的植被。然而在那样艰难的自然环境中，芬兰设计师却实践出一种极富人情味的场所。由此比照贵州，魏浩波认为，建立次文化圈的场所感非常重要。在已被商业化、经济化渗透的乡土社会和特殊年代里，如果没有场所结构系统作为依托，公共生活模型难以实现。同时，也就很难通过公共生活模型再教化人们敬重传统习俗、延续传统的生活世界。魏浩波用西线工作室已经完成的两个项目举例，阐释了他们工作方法以及对上述研究的实践。

Completed in 2009, Bing’an Memorial stands in the thousand-year-old town of Bing'an beside the Chishui River in northern Guizhou. Its original site was a century-old house on the main street, formerly the headquarters of the First Red Army Corps and the quarters of its commander, Lin Biao. Bing'an had been a staging post for salt entering Guizhou from Sichuan and an important distribution centre for goods, with flourishing commerce. The house occupied a very crowded position in the middle of densely packed buildings. Years of disrepair had made it unsafe, requiring reconstruction on the same site. As a protected building, however, its exterior had to remain broadly as it had been. After studying it, Wei and his team concluded that the old house's refusal to create distance, unfamiliarity or deliberate grandeur corresponded meaningfully to the Red Army's circumstances at the time. The memorial's exterior setting therefore has no ceremonial gateway, square, central axis or progressively rising spatial sequence. It is simply squeezed among old houses—an approach Wei evocatively calls ‘lying concealed’. The roof follows the slopes, colours, materials and construction methods of surrounding old buildings, but adopts a distinctive V-shaped form with a sunken ridge and raised eaves, almost reversing the spatial structure of a traditional roof. This expresses the architect's attitude towards history: a building constructed today should not be completely confused with old buildings; difference from history arises from respect for history. It also serves practical purposes: the raised edges form clerestory windows, while the low points contain galvanised-sheet-metal drainage gutters.

丙安纪念馆完成于2009年，它地处黔北赤水河畔千年老镇丙安，原址是丙安主街上的一座百年老宅，是当年红一军团的指挥部及军团长林彪的驻扎地。丙安曾是川盐入黔的驿站和商品集散要地，商贸繁荣，老宅的建筑位置十分拥挤，正好处在密密麻麻的组群中间。但是，它因年久失修成为危房，只得在原址新建；又因是保护建筑，根据有关规定，外观须基本维持原状。魏浩波和设计团队研究后认为，老宅这种不拉开距离、不制造生分、不刻意崇高的方式，恰好从意义上对应了红军当年的状况。所以，丙安纪念馆的外环境塑造中没有前置牌坊，没有广场，没有中轴线，也没有渐次抬高的空间序列，纪念馆就挤在一堆老屋之中—魏浩波形象地称之为“潜伏”。建筑的屋顶遵循周边老房子类似的坡度、色彩、材料与建造方式，但却采用了一种屋脊塌陷、屋檐高扬的独特的“V”形坡顶，与传统建筑屋顶几乎呈相反的空间结构。这种处理方法一方面反映了建筑师对历史的态度——修建于当代的建筑不该与老房子完全混淆，一种与历史的差异源于对历史的尊重；另一方面，V形屋顶的起翘处形成采光的高侧窗，低凹处则是镀锌铁皮的排水沟，具有必要的实用功能。

On entering, the interior is strikingly different from the exterior. As the two floors total only 286 m², arrays of vertical timber strips establish a permeable, densely slatted space with three roles. First, the open timber screens allow views through and enlarge the perceived space, making the small seem large. Second, they provide backgrounds for exhibited images and enclosures for objects. Third, the dense relationships between lines produce an extreme, complex yet purified spatial type: concealed and blocked, yet never completely sealed; offering depth and distance, yet never a complete view, with a powerful three-dimensional texture. Light is the most important factor in making place within the memorial. Frosted white glass at the principal side-light sources abstracts the outside views and diffuses the incoming light, producing a succession of gradations between light and volume. Two coloured sources in the roof, one red and one yellow, pour light directly downwards, staining the vertical screens with dispersed red and yellow illumination. The dense strips amplify and intensify the rays, drawing attention ‘upwards’ and generating an atmosphere of lofty brightness and hope. The formerly grey, sombre interior becomes vivid and stirring. Wei notes that knowledge conveyed through conventional educational displays can now be found online. Education through space, however, can create deeper memories and resonance. By writing revolutionary memory in light, ‘making atmosphere’ becomes the building's focus. Wei summarises the working method at Bing’an Memorial as ‘seemingly familiar, yet different’: urban, contemporary design concepts and generally applicable construction techniques actively accommodate old rural crafts, neither abandoning them entirely nor stubbornly committing wholly to the past. The work is both modern and traditional. It explores the threshold between traditional subcultural circles and contemporary architecture, establishing a tacit understanding between traditional patterns and modern thought, and making this public activity space more open to development and more educationally meaningful.

进入室内后，内部环境又与外部环境截然不同。由于上下两层总建筑面积只有 286 平方米，所以用竖向木格栅阵列建立一种“漏”空间一密条空间。它有三重作用：第一，通过通透的木格栅使视线通透，放大空间，小中见大；第二，作为展陈图片的背景与实物展示的空间围合；第三，通过线的密集关系制造一种极端、复杂而又有纯净效果的空间类型：遮掩封堵却遮封不住，看深望远却看望不全，立体肌理强烈。纪念馆最为重要的场所制造因素是对光的处理。主要侧光源的磨砂白玻璃使得窗外的景色抽象、窗内的光线发散，形成一系列光与体的退晕效果。来自屋顶的两处带色（一处红、一处黄）的光则直接明了地倾泻而下，将竖条格栅染成红色与黄色的离散光线效果，再通过密条对光芒的放大与加强，将人的注意力吸引“向上”，生产出高远的光明与希望的氛围，使得整体上原本灰沉沉的室内环境变得鲜亮激昂。魏浩波谈到，一般内容教化方式展示的知识，现在都可以在网络上找到。而空间教化的方式更能让观众产生深刻记忆与共鸣，以光的方式书写着红色记忆，“氛围制造”成为该建筑的重心。魏浩波将丙安纪念馆的工作方法总结为“似是而非”，即以都市、当代的设计概念及通用建造技术，积极收纳古老乡土工艺，既不是对后者的完全遗弃，也不是固执全身心地投入“过去”。作品是现代的，也是传统的，由此探讨和找寻传统次文化圈与当代建筑之间的临界点，形成传统模式与现代思考的默契，让这个公共活动空间更富拓展性、更具有教化意义。

Chetian Cultural Center and its group of exterior spaces in Gui'an New Area, Guizhou, completed in May 2015, is another recent West-Line project. Wei defines its working method as ‘reasonable and responsive to human feeling’, combining the rationalising principles of generally applicable methods with the rural principle of emotional appropriateness. Chetian is typical of a category of rural settlement: despite historical depth, it is currently developing in a disorderly way. Its existing characteristics and problems include houses forming several parallel districts in different, uncoordinated directions according to the terrain; a two-hundred-year tradition of stone masonry gradually replaced by modern white walls evoking through-tied timber frames because of cost, construction time and technical difficulty; a severe shortage of places for public life; several sites associated with historical legends occupied by houses or abandoned; elderly people and children comprising two thirds of those left behind; and the continued custom of wearing elaborate ethnic dress at festivals and weddings despite the loss of corresponding ritual spaces. Wei and his team therefore treated the cultural centre as a reconstruction of a social model of public life within a settlement. The public building was to transmit tradition through belief and moral instruction, disseminate contemporary culture and provide services for public life. The centre comprises a stone building, Jiulong Slope, a waterwheel and channel, an open-air stage and an open yard. The building, constructed entirely of stone, recreates the village's monumentality through its substantial stone silhouette and provides a place for public communication, cultural learning and acquiring basic working skills. Layered, stone-lane-like circulation routes and a ceremonial exhibition hall convey historical continuity. The riverside waterwheel and winding channel raised into the air subtly recall the village's former means of production. The open-air stone stage uses classic local Miao opera to recover the pleasure of self-entertainment. The open square and groups of stone stools create settings for diverse public activities.

2015年5月建成的贵州省贵安新区车田村文化中心及其外部空间群，是西线工作室最近完成的另一个项目。魏浩波将它的工作方法提炼定义为“合理合情”，用普适方式的“合理化”原则结合乡土“合情”原则。车田村是一类乡土村落的典型，虽然具有一定的历史沉淀，但在当下又呈无序发展态势，其现有的特征和问题包括：根据地势，民房形成多个平行片区，多方向且无序；传续两百年的传统石砌方式，因造价、周期及工艺难度，逐渐被现代的穿斗白墙式取代；公共生活场所严重缺失；多个历史传说地被民房侵占或荒弃；三分之二的留守人群是老人与孩子；相应的礼俗空间虽然丧失，但每逢节庆与婚礼，必着民族盛装的习俗却依然保留。据此，魏浩波及其团队将文化中心建造视为一类聚落公共性社会模型的再构造，要让这座公共建筑具有传播传统（信仰教化）、普及时代文化与提供公共生活服务的多重功能。文化中心由石头房、九龙坡、水车水渠、露天戏台与空坝子组成。通体石头垒砌的石头房，以其厚重的石头背影再造着村落的纪念性，也是村民公共交流、文化学习、掌握基本工作技能的场所。层层叠叠石巷般的环道与仪式性展厅讲述着历史的传承。临河的水车与被举在半空的曲折的水渠组合，则隐约再现了车田村曾经的生产手段。露天的石戏台以当地经典的苗戏为媒介，找寻自娱自乐的回味点。空旷的广场坝子与置于其上的石墩组，制造出多样性公共生活的发生地。

The stone building, the cultural centre's principal structure, creates its atmosphere through three material systems: dark blue-grey stone, coloured transparent laminated glass and black metal. Local stone highlights historical memory, displays and promotes its texture and production capabilities, and tests the potential for combining traditional masonry with generally applicable construction techniques. Coloured rooflights transform Guizhou's changeable natural illumination into relatively stable, constant interior area light sources. Coloured glass embedded in walls filters the colours of the landscape outside to create a particular mood. This control of luminous atmosphere achieves effects comparable to those at Bing’an Memorial through different means. Flat iron panels serving as display backgrounds and aluminium-alloy linear screens together form a unified interior system. The contrast between industrial metal and indigenous stone also suggests the coexistence of multiple production processes and different temporalities. In short, Wei seeks to explore how, under contemporary conditions of production, rational professional means and grounded working methods can establish a particular tacit understanding between rationalised, generally applicable spatial production and traditional villages attentive to feeling.

作为文化中心主建筑的石头房，其场所氛围通过深青色的石材、彩色透明夹胶玻璃与黑色金属三个材料系统制造。选用当地石材凸显历史记忆，也是对其质地与生产水平的展示与推介，同时尝试传统石砌工艺与通用建造技术结合的可能。置于屋面的彩色天窗将贵州地区多变的自然光源状态调整为比较确定的恒常室内面光源。而嵌于墙体中的彩色玻璃则对外部风景进行色彩过滤，产生特别的意境。这种光氛围的控制与丙安纪念馆可谓异曲同工。作为各类展示背景的平面铁板与铝合金线条隔栅，共同形成统一的内部装饰系统，工业化的金属材料与原生石材的对比，也暗示了多种制造工艺与有差异的时间性并存的事实。简而言之，魏浩波想在这里实践探讨的，是如何在当代生产条件下，用理性的专业手段和“接地气”的工作方法，让“合理化”的普适性空间生产方式与关注“情感”的传统村落两者达成一种特定的默契。

When regional identity is discussed, differences in form are easiest to recognise. At the ‘Between the Southwest’ architectural forum held in autumn 2015, some scholars proposed ideas of a ‘southwestern style’ or ‘western school’. On questions of style and form, Wei half-jokingly remarks that he too was skilled at formal composition when young. In fact, however, this reflects a lack of deeper architectural thought and an understanding that remains superficial. Architecture students in China are trained along two lines: function and form. This leads some to focus excessively on form. Wei states plainly: ‘Practice after returning to Guizhou made me realise that architecture is intimately connected with the conditions of human existence. Its most important distinction from sculpture and fine art is the establishment of a sense of place. Without creating a particular place, it is difficult to say that architecture has quality. Design in the west should therefore explore and construct a new body of experience. A western style should not be a discussion of form, but of whether we have grasped the particular social experience, experience of place, construction experience and geographical experience of western society.’

谈及地域性，形式上的差异是最容易让人捕捉到。在 2015 年秋举办的“西南之间”西南建筑论坛上，曾有学者提出“西南风格”“西部流派”的观点。对于风格与形式的问题，魏浩波半开玩笑地讲，自己在年轻时也是做形式的高手。但其实，这是对建筑缺乏深度思考，尚停留在浅层认识的反映。国内建筑专业的学生在读书时，接受的是功能教育与形式教育两条线索的训练。这导致一部分人对于形式过度专注。魏浩波直言：“回到贵州后的设计实践让我切实发现，建筑与人类的生存状态息息相关。它有异于雕塑、美术最重要之处，就是‘场所感的建立’。如果没有特定场所的建立，很难评价建筑是有品质的。所以，西部设计应该摸索建构一套新的经验。西部风格不应该是谈形式，而是应该关注是否掌握了西部社会特有的社会经验、场所经验、建造经验与地缘经验。”

The west and the countryside are often associated with romantic, emotionally charged ideas of grandeur, nostalgia and poetic dwelling. Wei believes, however, that practice in Guizhou and western China cannot be overly sentimental; problems must be viewed rationally. An ideal form of western development begins with a full understanding of its own geographical context. That context results from the combined effects of history, society and natural and human resources. Neglecting it means losing a region's distinctive qualities. In Guizhou, for example, the greatest attention should be paid to its particular, diverse and multi-ethnic cultural circles and the different forms of public life they generate. It is not a single cultural system and cannot be designed by imitating established models of eastern cities and villages. Guizhou's lack of cultural confidence results from technological society's concepts of ‘advanced’ and ‘backward’. Yet while technologies may differ in capability, cultures cannot be ranked as advanced or backward. ‘Every region's development must have roots. There is currently no model for how these roots can reasonably continue in Guizhou.’ At this point, Wei says firmly and with considerable confidence: ‘West-Line Studio wants to attempt such a model, and I feel increasingly confident about it. After more than a decade of practice and accumulation, we really feel that we are approaching our dream step by step: to use “the vernacular” + “a view of technology” as a working framework, recreate the systems of public life in the countryside, and solve problems through generally applicable construction systems. This exploration may identify a new form of rural existence for the new countryside programme, retaining its fundamental human relationships while incorporating contemporary ways of life.’

西部、乡土，往往会与壮阔、怀乡、诗意栖居这些浪漫和富有情怀的感受联系起来，但魏浩波认为，在贵州和西部的实践不能太感性，需理性地看待问题。理想的西部开发状态，首先是充分理解自身的地缘背景。地缘背景是历史、社会、自然人文资源各方面共同作用的结果，如果忽略了对它的认识，就会丧失该地区的特质。例如贵州，最应高度重视的是这里特殊、多元、多民族的文化圈层和由此带来的不同公共生活状态。它不是单一文化体系，不能用模仿经典东部城乡的思路去设计。贵州对自己的文化不自信，是由于技术社会所谓“先进性”与“落后性”观念的影响。然而，技术可能有高下，文化却没有先进、落后之分。“每个地域的发展必须有根。在贵州，这个根如何合理地延续，目前还没有范式。”讲到这里，魏浩波肯定且颇有自信地说：“西线工作室就想尝试做这样的范式，我对此越来越有把握。经过十几年的实践和积累，我们确实感到正在一步步接近我们的梦想——以‘乡土性’+‘技术观’为工作框架，再现乡野世界的公共生活系统，以通用建造系统解决问题。这种探索，或许能为新农村建设摸索出一个既保持乡土基本人伦结构，又融入当代生活状态的新乡土生存版本。”

In the context of urbanisation in western China and the national ‘Beautiful Countryside’ initiative, where should the west, with its deep rural attachments, go? Because resources are allocated differently, we cannot find directly applicable examples and experience in either the past or western countries. Under these circumstances, design must first seek working methods appropriate to western China. West-Line Studio's systematic methods and guiding ideas include research into geographical structures, geographically based societies and construction crafts. I will focus on two examples.

在西部地区城镇化和“美丽乡村”国家命题的背景下，拥有浓厚乡土情的西部将何去何从？因为资源配置方式不同，我们无法从以往或者西方国家找到可参照的案例和经验。在这种情况下，设计首先要做的是寻找适合西部地区的工作方法。西线工作室的系统工作方法与贯彻思想包括对地缘结构、地缘型社会、建造技艺的研究等。以下着重讲解两个案例：

The first is Bing’an Memorial. It has five keywords: understatement amid crowding; concealment; ways of making place; traditional timber construction; and integration with standardised, generally applicable building. The memorial stands beside the Chishui River. Here, buildings form highly dense spaces in successive rings around the mountain. Its site is very crowded, right in the middle of densely packed groups. Because it is a protected building, regulations required its exterior elevations to follow the established original elevations strictly. After research, we adopted an approach of ‘concealment’: the building appears similar to its surroundings, but hints at its presence through a V-shaped roof. The roof also plays an important role in interior daylighting and ventilation (Fig. 6). As a memorial, the building must also have a strong educational role. We chose education through space, which leaves deeper memories. The metaphor of red light, for example, is immediately understood by Chinese visitors. In this dense setting, light can enter only from above. The arrays of timber strips are also important. They quickly dissolve the fixed pattern of the traditional structure, establish powerful spatial control and amplify light, strengthening its capacity to educate. All the timber strips in the memorial were reclaimed after dismantling (Fig. 7). The building combines a timber structural system with concrete pile foundations, using traditional timber construction while complying with generally applicable technical standards. It is both traditional and modern. We also sought to explore the threshold between traditional subcultural circles and the development of contemporary architecture, establishing a tacit understanding between traditional patterns and modern thought to make this public activity space more educationally meaningful.

首先是丙安纪念馆。它有五个关键词：拥挤中的低调、潜伏、场所制造方式、传统木构、规范通用建筑的结合。纪念馆位于赤水河边，这个地方的空间形式是围绕山体一圈一圈建筑形成高度密集空间。建筑位置十分拥挤，正好在密密麻麻的组群中间。由于这是一座保护建筑，所以根据有关规定，它的建筑外立面必须严格遵守原有既定立面。经过研究，我们采用一种“潜伏”设计方式：建筑与周围表面看上去相似，但是通过V 形屋顶暗示它的存在；同时，V形屋顶又对室内的采光、通风有重要作用。（图6）作为纪念馆，建筑还要实现很强的教化功能。我们决定选择更能留下深刻记忆的空间教化方式。如红光的隐喻，中国人一看便知。建筑所处的密集环境，光源只能来自上部。木条阵的作用也很重要，它把传统结构的固有模式迅速化解，形成强大的空间控制力，并且放大光线，使光线的教化能力增强。纪念馆中的所有木条都是拆后回收的。（图7）纪念馆以木结构体系与混凝土桩基结合，采用传统木结构做法，遵守通用技术标准，既传统又现代。我们也想借此探讨和找寻传统次文化圈层和当代建筑进程之间的临界点，形成传统模式与现代思考的默契，让这个公共活动空间更具有教化意义。

The other example is Chetian Cultural Center and its group of exterior spaces in Gui'an New Area. Built chiefly of stone, it occupies open, level ground between mountains and a winding river (Fig. 8). We wanted to integrate all its traditional mechanisms and diverse places into a new kind of cultural centre with the capacity for functional development. Such open ground is also rare in Guizhou and worth preserving. The mountain setting has no axis; it is a group of parallel spaces. We therefore expose the building within the relationships among the mountains, expressing the cultural centre's parallel relationship with its surroundings and respecting the particular local geography. We call the project's working method ‘responsive to human feeling and reasonable’. Using contemporary China's commonly accepted concept of community—emotional appropriateness—we examine which functions are unreasonable. The greatest problem in China's countryside is that what originally belonged to rural life has not been retained, while contemporary concepts of community have not been introduced. Through this combination of feeling and reason, we hope to realise the centre's service functions. We also construct commemorative spaces, including a channel and waterwheel associated with the village's past, and a Miao opera stage that both educates and gathers people. The cultural centre's tectonic process uses three principal material systems: 40 cm-thick stone walls; coloured transparent laminated glass placed in roofs and standing within walls; and black metal display panels and suspended ceilings. Each performs its own role. The enclosed stone spaces, particular lighting conditions and mutual enhancement of metal and stone together create a vivid sense of place. These are fragments of the indigenous, the crafted, the industrial and of light, conveying the intention of place through tectonic means. The stone building's plan has two parts: parallel functional volumes and courtyards in the centre, and a ring of semi-open public corridors around the outside. Its spatial prototype combines Chetian's stepped lanes with the spaces outside people's doors where neighbours gather to chat. Together with the three material systems, this arrangement effectively creates a diverse group of indoor places for public life.

另一个案例是贵安新区车田村文化中心及其外部空间群，以石材为主，建在群山和蜿蜒河水之间开阔的平地上。（图8）我们想把它的传统机制、多样的场所全部整合在一起，成为一个新型的、具有功能发展意义的文化中心。同时，这块空地在贵州也很难得，值得保留。这片山地本身没有轴线，是一个平行空间群。因此，我们把这个建筑暴露在山群关系之中，表现文化中心与周围环境的平行关系，这是尊重当地的特殊地缘的做法。我们把这个建筑项目的工作方法称为“合情、合理”，用当代中国通行的社区理念——合情，去看哪些功能不合理。中国乡村最大的问题是原本乡村的东西没有保住，现在社区的理念又没有植入。我们希望通过“合情、合理”，实现中心的服务功能。此外，建造纪念性空间，包括与村落背景有关的水渠、水车，以及既有教化功能，又能聚集人气的苗戏台等。文化中心的建构工艺主要有三种材料：40厘米厚的石头墙系统，置于屋面与立于墙体的彩色透明夹胶玻璃系统，黑色金属的展示板与吊顶系统。三个系统各司其职，围合的石头空间、特殊的光环境、金属与石材相互映衬，一起制造着鲜活的场所感。这些是原生的、工匠的、工业化的、光的断片，在以建构方式传达着场所的意志。石头房子的平面布局由两部分组成：中部为平行的功能体与院落，外圈为一环半开放的公共走廊。其空间原型为车田村拾级而上的巷道+各家门前“摆龙门阵”的空间组合，这一空间布局配合三个材料系统，有效地形成多样化的室内公共空间场所群。