2007年VOA标准英语-Restoring a Gem of Architectural Modernism

By Carolyn Weaver¹
New Haven², Connecticut
11 June 2007
 

Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut is known for its neo-Gothic campus, 20th century buildings in the style of medieval Europe. But the university is also home to several treasures of modern architecture, including the Yale University Art Gallery. The building was designed by a 20th century master, the Estonian-born architect Louis I. Kahn, whose reputation has only grown since his death in 1974.

The Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

Erected³ in 1953, the Yale University Art Gallery was American architect Louis Kahn's first major commission, when he was already over 50. Gallery director Jock Reynolds says it was also a departure for Yale. “It was something entirely⁴ new for Yale,” Reynolds said in an interview at the gallery. “It was the first modern bit of architecture in all of New Haven. And this building itself had some of the very first breakthroughs [in architectural design]. It was the first building to have track lighting⁵, one of the first curtain-wall buildings, one of the first buildings with double-paned glass, one of the first buildings, in particular, with this unique, tetrahedral cast-concrete ceiling that you see above us."

The gallery, which is free and open to the public, displays some masterpieces of Western art, including paintings by Manet and Van Gogh, as well as ceramics⁶, screens and paintings from Asian countries. It is also home to a major collection of African art, mainly sculptures and masks used in religious rituals. The building housed Yale's architecture school for many years, as well.

Kahn, a University of Pennsylvania professor, taught at Yale part-time -- when he wasn't designing other icons⁷ of modernism, including the Kimbell Museum of Art in Texas, the Indian Institute of Management, and Bangladesh's parliament building -- as well as another museum for Yale, the Center for British Art.

But over the years, the Yale University Art Gallery building grew shabby and cluttered⁸ with partitions. So, beginning in 2004, Reynolds oversaw⁹ a two-year restoration, re-opening the spaces to match Kahn's vision. "It has a warmth and an organic quality and a massiveness to it that you don't associate with some of the other modernist buildings,” Reynold says of Kahn’s work, “and, frankly¹⁰, a sensitivity to human scale. The geometry of the building is robust¹¹ throughout, and it’s subtle throughout. So, you get massiveness and you get delicacy¹². And it’s so often scaled to your own body and your own hand. These beautiful bricks that make up the wall are three by six inch bricks; they fit in the hand. They’re very unlike the great big bulky concrete bricks that people work with now for economy of scale and labor¹³. And that’s true of practically all the materials in the this building.”

Kahn’s innovations included movable interior walls and a cast-concrete tetrahedral ceiling

Louis Kahn died in 1974, but his influence can be seen everywhere in contemporary architecture. Yet Reynolds notes that unlike the sharp-lined buildings of many other modernists, Kahn's designs had an air of spirituality, like ancient monuments. "It was very much a reaching back into time, even to Egypt, and the pyramids and that kind of geometry and form that inspired Kahn,” Reynolds says. “Really, the ancients spoke¹⁴ to him, Greek, Roman and Egyptian."

Polshek Partnership¹⁵ Architects, a New York-based firm, oversaw the restoration of the Yale University Art Gallery. A show of contemporary sculpture chosen by a group of Yale students to celebrate the re-opening, Responding to Kahn: A Sculptural Conversation, includes works by Alexander Calder, Annette Lemiuex, Duane Hansen, Sol Lewitt, and Alison Saar, among others.

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

3 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

6 ceramics   

n.制陶业；陶器

参考例句：

• an exhibition of ceramics by Picasso 毕加索陶瓷作品展
• The ceramics bore the imprint of Luca della Robbia. 陶器上印有卢卡·德拉·罗比亚的字样。

7 icons   

n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像

参考例句：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

8 cluttered   

v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的过去式和过去分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满…

参考例句：

• The room is cluttered up with all kinds of things. 零七八碎的东西放满了一屋子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The desk is cluttered with books and papers. 桌上乱糟糟地堆满了书报。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网

10 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

11 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

12 delicacy   

n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴

参考例句：

• We admired the delicacy of the craftsmanship.我们佩服工艺师精巧的手艺。
• He sensed the delicacy of the situation.他感觉到了形势的微妙。

13 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

15 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。