作为工程巨鳄奥雅纳(Arup)在中国的一名主管，罗里・麦格温(Rory McGowan)与某些世界一流的建筑师共同合作，在2008奥运建设期间重塑了北京的天际线。去年，当新项目的增长趋于稳定，他继续在蒙古、台湾、韩国、新加坡和泰国展开工作。5年前，45岁的麦格温和他的俄罗斯太太瓦尔瓦拉・沙妩若(Varvara Shavrova)，以及他们的两个孩子从伦敦移居北京。
在我职业生涯的早期，我发现，成功的工程解决方案根植于人与人之间的真诚沟通，而这些人通常具有不同文化背景、政治视角以及商业动机。
2002年，奥雅纳在北京中央电视台新总部项目竞标中胜出，中国的首都试图以一种惊人的高速建设这一标志性的全新建筑，于是各种问题纷至沓来。为了开发这一项目，我被迫对种种问题做出妥协。为了了解客户、技术顾问、决策者以及员工的诉求，我必须用心倾听，以获得他们的潜台词，以及充斥在我周围的各种议论。
在中国，项目会议以中英两种语言进行。
为期三年、每周两次向家庭教师学习普通话的经历，为我理解绝大多数讨论的主要内容打下了基础。
帮助新一代中国建筑师学会在过失中成长令人很有满足感。
上海的马达思班(Mada)以及北京的MAD和都市实践(Urbanus)建筑事务所的负责人都曾在国外工作和学习过，这使我们拥有了共同的参照点和设计语言。
设计、开发和建设需要花费5-10年时间。
我有幸与当地商业伙伴建立了持久的友谊。葡萄牙的文化地标音乐厅(Casa da Música)用了8年时间建成。我们当地合作伙伴葡萄牙公司AFA的负责人鲁伊・福塔多(Rui Furtado)向我介绍了他们的国之瑰宝。我特别欣赏由葡萄牙建筑师阿尔瓦罗・西扎(Alvaro Siza)设计的波诺瓦茶室(Boa Nova Tea House)和美妙的海鲜。
我的第一个志愿者项目是设计和建筑一座400英尺高的电缆高架通道，通往喀麦隆国家公园。
该项目工地与尼日利亚接壤，我们与世界自然基金会(World Wide Fund for Nature)合作，在伦敦设计了桥架。随后我离开伦敦，花了4个月时间，率领一个由志愿者和当地专业人员组成的团队完成了这个项目。学习如何激励志愿者，以及如何当好承包人对我来说是个全新的经历。我曾好几次回到这个公园开展其它工作。
1994年，我花了8个月时间在坦桑尼亚工作，为一位东非最杰出的社会人类学家充当助手。
我们对该地区100万极度贫困人群的医疗需求进行了评估。这个项目使得工程建设回归其人性的一面。我最大的受益是认识到，为一个偏远村庄带去一口新的井或一所新的诊所的行动，与弄明白如何才能使之实现相比几乎不值一提。
1986年在布达佩斯理工大学(Budapest Technical University)实习期间，我认识到外国的真实现状常常与媒体报道有所出入。
当我想要兑换外币时，我会打开我的宿舍窗户宣布我的意向，而来自柬埔寨、古巴和其它共产主义国家的学生便会冒出来，向我提供极富竞争力的匈牙利福林兑换汇率。我靠着每周区区几个英磅的生活费用，一边享受城市里美妙的温泉浴（一种国家医疗体系的福利），一边啜着精美的托卡伊酒，活的就像个国王。
我和我的家人正在探索我们的下一趟国际之旅。
一旦我和我的公司就几个可能的地点列出清单，每个家庭成员便将开始投票。我妻子是一位艺术家，对于充满挑战和刺激的环境，和我有着同样的热情。米哈伊尔・戈尔巴乔夫(Mikhail Gorbachev)刚刚打开国门，她就离开了俄罗斯，从此再也没有回头。
我们的孩子是带着对文化融合的期许开始他们的人生的。我们以爱尔兰神话英雄/异教徒和俄罗斯圣人的名字为菲昂・亚历山大(Fionn Alexander)命名，而基里尔・巴内・帕特里克(Kirill Barney Patrick)的名字则来自创立了西里尔字母的僧侣。他们有时来我们在（爱尔兰）梅奥的度假小屋，和我们的大家庭一起过暑假。这使他们和爱尔兰之间建立起强大的纽带。
普通话与麻将
菲昂12岁，基里尔8岁，他们在一所优秀的中文公立小学念书，已经能够流利的用普通话读写。
芳草地是一所竞争激烈的学院式学校，吸收来自各个国家的学生。出生于中国大陆的学生需要配带红领巾并在课堂上背诵共产党的口号。外国学生可免于参加这些课程。有一位中文老师辅导我孩子的功课，而另一位来自伦敦的英语家教则负责他们第一语言的流利程度不至退步。
我们初到北京时把他们送到由香港中文教育者开办的双语学校。
后来我们让他们转学了，因为担心他们会两头落空。私立学校的学费是公立学校的8倍。
2005年当我们搬来时，购买自住房产并不简单。
我们曾对北京某条胡同的一座老式四合院感兴趣，因为我们喜欢生气勃勃的街坊生活。人们在街边打麻将或在躺椅上睡觉，这与我们所生活的个体化社会截然不同。但我们得冒这样的风险，即我们购买的任何一座四合院都有可能被拆迁，而我们只能从政府那里得到低于市场价的补偿。在我们看房子的时候，一座四合院大约价值50万美元，自那以来，房价已飞涨了4倍。我们不可能得到抵押贷款，而且一旦我们出售房子又很难把钱汇出中国。富裕的中国家庭会购买这些建筑珍宝来作为投资。他们通常都有关系，如果胡同被重新开发，能确保他们不会蒙受巨大的经济损失。
译者/诸彦青
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001032504
As a director of engineering conglomerate Arup in China, Rory McGowan has collaborated with some of the world's leading architects to reshape the Beijng skyline in the build-up to the 2008 Olympics. When growth in new projects plateaued last year, he took on work in Mongolia, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Thailand. McGowan, 45, his Russian wife, Varvara Shavrova, and their two children moved to Beijing from London five years ago.
Early in my career I discovered that successful engineering solutions are rooted in honest communication between people that often have different cultural backgrounds, political perspectives, and/or business agendas. Developing Arup's winning bid for the China Central Television Headquarters competition in 2002 forced me to come to terms with the issues confronting China's capital in its quest to develop iconic new-built spaces at a breakneck pace. Learning what to listen out for from clients, technical advisers, policymakers and staff required me to attune my ear to what wasn't said – as well as the discussion around me.
Project meetings in China are conducted in English and Mandarin. Studying with a private Mandarin tutor twice a week for three years gave me the grounding to understand the gist of most discussions.
Helping the new generation of Chinese architects climb a vertiginous learning curve has been satisfying. The principals of firms such as Mada in Shanghai and Mad and Urbanus in Beijing studied and worked abroad, so we share a common design language and reference points.
Design, development and construction takes 5-10 years. I've been privileged to form enduring friendships with local business partners. Casa da Música, Porto's cultural landmark, took eight years to realise. Rui Furtado, the head of the Portuguese firm AFA, our local partners, introduced me to his country's treasures. I particularly enjoyed the Boa Nova Tea House, designed by Portugese architect Alvaro Siza, and the fantastic seafood.
My first voluntary project was designing and building a 400ft cable suspension walkway into a Cameroon national park. The site borders Nigeria. Working with the World Wide Fund for Nature, we designed the bridge in London. I then took a four-month leave of absence to lead a team of volunteers and local professionals to complete the project. Learning how to motivate volunteers and how to be a contractor were new experiences for me. I have been back a few times to do other work for the park.
In 1994 I spent eight months in Tanzania working as an assistant to one of east Africa's most prominent social anthropologists. We conducted an appraisal of the healthcare needs of the 1m desperately poor people living in the region. This project brought home the human side of engineering. One of the greatest lessons learned was that the presence of a new well or clinic in a remote village was not nearly as important as understanding the process by which it came to be there.
Doing a work placement at the Budapest Technical University in 1986 made me realise that the on-the-ground reality in foreign countries often differs from what is reported in the media. When I wanted to exchange money I would open my dormitory window to announce my intentions and students from Cambodia, Cuba and other communist regimes would show up and offer me competitive rates on Hungarian forint. On my budget of a few pounds sterling per week I lived like a king, enjoying the city's fantastic thermal baths (a national health system perk) and drinking fine Tokai wine. The craic got going early.
My family and I are exploring our next international move. Everyone gets to vote once my firm and I agree on a shortlist of possible locations. My wife is an artist who shares my enthusiasm for adventure and challenging environments. She left Russia as soon as Mikhail Gorbachev lifted the curtain and hasn't looked back.
Our children started their lives with blended cultural expectations. We named Fionn Alexander after a mythological Irish hero/pagan and a Russian saint and Kirill Barney Patrick after the monk who established the Cyrillic alphabet. They spend summer holidays at our holiday cottage in Mayo [Ireland] sometimes with my extended family. This has given them a strong connection to Ireland.
...............................
Mandarin and mahjong
Fionn, 12, and Kiril, eight, study at a prestigious Chinese national school where they have become fluent in reading and writing Mandarin. Fang Cao Di is a highly competitive academic school, drawing students from numerous countries. Students born on the mainland have to wear red scarves and recite Communist party slogans in the classroom. Foreigners are exempted from these sessions. A Chinese teacher helps my children with their homework and an English tutor from London ensures their first language proficiency doesn't slide.
When we first arrived in Beijing we enrolled them in a bilingual school operated by Hong Kong Chinese educators. We transferred them because we feared they were falling between two stools. The private school fees were eight times the cost of the state school.
Buying residential property was not straightforward when we moved in 2005. We were interested in an old courtyard house in a Beijing hutong, because we enjoyed the vitality of street life. People playing mah-jong or sleeping on a cot in the street was the antithesis of the individualistic societies we had come from. But we ran the risk that any courtyard house we bought might be demolished and we would receive below-the-market compensation from the government. At the time we were looking, a hutong house cost about $500,000. Prices have since rocketed to five times that. It was impossible to get a mortgage and it would have been difficult to get the money out of the country once we sold. Rich Chinese families have bought these architectural treasures as an investment. Typically, they have the connections, or guanxi, to ensure they won't suffer traumatic financial loss if a hutong is redeveloped.
没有评论:
发表评论