海外存知己，天涯若比邻。
在海外专辑分享海外华人的故事。希望这份分享可以让世界更加海阔天空。
第十三期为您呈现的是在哈佛大学念书的任天。
A bosom friend afar brings distant land near. The Oversea album shares the lives of Chinese living abroad with all. The No.13 episode is Ren Tian, studying at Harvard University.
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关于摄影
About photography
我觉得自己拍照是处在一种纯记录和创作之间的状态。旅行中，最好的摄影状态一定刚到某处，对一切都感到新奇的时候，看什么都有创作欲望，如何在熟视无睹的场中发现美才是真的会观察。摄影时自己的心态其实更像是一种观察与思想的记录，经历了，看到了，有感动，拍到就拍到了，没拍到也无所谓，反正本来就是稍纵即逝的，一切随缘。
To me taking photo is something between recording everyday life and artistic expression. While traveling, it is easy to be fascinated by all the new things that bombarding in front of you, you always feel that you need to press the shutter and record everything, but what’s hard is actually find special moments in everyday life. Photography to me is a way of quick recording of thoughts and observations, as thoughts and moments pass by quickly, I’m happy with what I get, will not wait for the past.
▼因为知道山顶的景色绝好，所以也享受上山的艰辛，Mount Monadnock, New Hampshire,
▼低沉的阴云，湖面没有一丝波纹，仿佛酝酿着什么，Lake, Burkina Faso,
▼冬天枯萎的芦苇草铺了厚厚一地，等待重生，Winter, Massachusetts,
▼部落长大的孩子们大方地和我们踢球，可他们连鞋也没有，笑得照样灿烂，Kids, Burkina Faso,
冥想空间
Meditation Space
时间：2007年十月
地点：新加坡国立大学校园内
造价：约400新元
团队：大二第一学期设计小组成员
导师：Victor Lee
Time：October 2007
Location：National University Singapore
Cost：$400
Project Team：Undergrad Year 2 first semester Studio Group mates
Advisor: Victor Lee
这大约可以算是我第一个设计并建成的项目，那是大二的时候在新加坡。是一个半学期的项目，要求用十块1.2 m x 2.4m的三合板做一个空间。
项目由一个竞赛开始，studio每个人在一周内各出一个方案，投票后选一个方案大家一起将其实现，我幸运胜出。我当时受Zumthor的高塔教堂的启发，觉得高而狭窄的空间让人专注于头顶的一片天，帮助达到冥想状态。
形式上，自古高塔或立柱便有很强的纪念性与存在感，高便是一种态度，所以便把它想象成一个很纯粹的纪念碑式的东西。形式上简单，也比较容易接受。可行性上考虑模块是最方便的，因为学校当时没有机械可以电脑控制切割木材，所以整个studio的人要分工的话，大家都做一样的东西是最为简单，画个模版描就行了，是最好控制的。每块模块与模块之间相互咬合，自己将自己支撑起来，这一点在构造上也很有意思，需要算角度，和各方面的咬合使得不会摇晃。
The tower was my first design-build project, back in 2007, it was a half semester project designed for students to learn wood construction. The criteria is to create a structure with 10 pieces of 1.2m x 2.4m plywood panels. The project started with a competition within studio, my proposal got lucky. I was inspired by Zumthor’s tower church, the narrow yet high space seems to focus people’s attention and create a meditative atmosphere. The purity of the tower form has inherent quality of monumentality, which was suitable to the site.
For constructibility, I thought modular construction is the easiest to manage. Because there was no computer controlled milling machine in school at that time, every piece need to be hand fabricated in the wood shop. Modular construction allows many people to work together on the same time, and minimize mistakes. The modular pieces are interlocked together, joineries are designed to increase lateral stability, no glue or nail were used in the entire construction. Dimension of each piece is carefully collaborated to minimize material waste and maximize the size of the tower.
犹太住棚
Sukkah
时间：2011年十月
地点：哈佛大学设计学院后院
造价：1200美元
项目团队：任天，顾力恒(HongKong)，Patchara Wongboonsin(Thailand)
Time：October 2012
Location：Cambridge, Gund hall backyard
Cost：$1200
Project Team：Ren Tian, Gu Lik Hang (HongKong)，Patchara Wongboonsin(Thailand)
住棚节（Sukkot）是犹太民族的盛大节日，节日期间，为了纪念当年犹太人出埃及时在沙漠上居住的简陋住所，犹太人须建造一个临时的建筑(Sukkah)，在其中进餐，休息。11年秋季我们学校组织了一次Sukkah设计建造比赛，我与室友组队参加了比赛。
概念上，Sukkah纪念的是一个旅程， 所以流线上也是一个有先后顺序的旅程。从一边进入，走到底再转身进入主空间，这样便成了一个进入的先后次序，而非直接踏入主空间。在走入的过程之中，人需地下头，让自己的心沉下去，以一个谦卑的态度进入Sukkah，在那里进餐休息。
可行性上主要考虑运用木料，打孔后由螺纹钢条串起，再用螺母固定距离。整座Sukkah分为六部分建造，趟在地上建造然后再竖起拼装。这也是考虑到操作起来可以两边同时，分配工作起来也会方便很多。
最大的难度在于赢得比赛之后，一共只有十天时间来细化节点，购买材料，和建成整个项目，且我们也只有一千两百美金的预算。螺纹钢与木材买的都是到处找的打折物品，所以才能压住价格，有时甚至需要靠买到的便宜材料的限制来更改设计，建造时由于是上学的时间，白天多有课，只能晚上工作，还是挺挑战的。
Sukkot is a Jewish festival, the festival is for commemorating exodus while living on temporary sheds in the desert. Every jewish family will build a sukkah at home during Sukkot, during this period, they will eat sometimes even sleep inside. In the fall of 2011, our school organized a Sukkah design-build competition, with a budget of 1200 USD.
The concept of the design is to emphasis the idea of journey, the circulation is organized in a way that people enter from a very narrow and low corridor, then make a U turn to enter the main space. As people enters the sukkah, one need humble himself as the low and narrow corridor force people to bow down with respect.
For constructibility, pine wood is used to keep the cost down. The connection pieces are threaded rod. The entire project is 7 meter long, it is divided into six parts, build one by one and combined together. This method allows the construction of different parts to happen simultaneously, saves time.
The most challenging part is after winning the competition, we actually only have around 10 days from develop the details, to buying material and finish the construction. Due to limited budget and time, we need to find the cheapest material and compromise to what’s available. Despite all the difficulties, It was nonetheless a very enriching experience.
泰国餐馆室内装饰
Thai Restaurant in Austin
时间：2012年五月
地点：德州奥斯丁
造价：15000美元
项目团队：任天，顾力恒(Hong Kong)，Patchara Wongboonsin(Thailand)
Time：May 2012
Location：Austin
Cost：$15000
Project Team：Ren Tian, Gu Lik Hang (Hong Kong)，Patchara Wongboonsin(Thailand)
这项目是一个在美国得克萨斯州奥斯丁的泰国餐馆装修，我和两位好友一起做了设计，其中的两面墙更是我们去那边亲手完成。形式上菱形的排布受了泰国一些布料上花纹的启发，如同建筑是第二层衣服，这个也如同布一样把酒吧空间包裹了起来，同时功能上也可用作葡萄酒酒架用。结构上与Sukkah类似(这个设计在那之后，算是同一种语言的延伸），也使用了木材与螺纹钢条。但在这个项目上用的木材要讲究，螺纹钢条也采用黑色的，看上去比较高档。施工没有像Sukkah一样每根木料都需要量出不同尺寸定制，而是规定了几种长度和尺寸，现场建造时再去即兴发挥。 建造时两边的主墙先建主要结构，二三层再随性添上，最后建顶（可惜顶部在建成后由于消防说不符合拆了）。 建造过程工作量最后还是很大，我们需要将木材按照模数锯成不同的长度，打上孔，上了油漆之后再进行组装，原计划十天的施工时间延迟到了三周。真实的项目需要更多和甲方的交流，和与当地承包方的协调，从中学到了很多东西。
This is an interior design project in Austin Taxes, for a friend’s Thai restaurant, we build the two partition walls by ourselves. It is inspired by Thai fabric patterns, like fabric wraps the body, the partition wraps around the bar area like curtain, It also functions as partition wall as well as a wine rack. The construction method is similar to the Sukkah project (this project happened after Sukkah, as a continues exploration of similar construction technique), but this time with a more fool proof method, by prefabricate all the members in modular sizes and dimension, we compose the actual layout as we build it. The work load was still heavy: we have to chop the wood into modular dimensions, drill holes and apply vanish. The installation took much longer than expected, we end up need to hire some extra workers for help. This project involved a lot communication with the client and general contractor, something you never learn in school.
记忆的景观
Memoriscape
关于该项目的详细信息请点击这里 HERE MORE
时间：2013年六月
地点：蒙彼利埃, 法国
设计师： 任天，陈忱(天津), 徐柯（北京）
指导老师：George Legendre
Time：May 2012
Location：Montpellier, France
Project Team：Chen Chen (Tianjing), Xu Ke(Beijing)
Advisor: George Legendre
这个比赛是南法小城Montpellier的一个建筑艺术展，Festival des architectures vives，每年这个建筑展都会邀请世界各地的建筑师和艺术家参家，今年他们邀请了哈佛大学设计学院。二三月的时候，哈佛设计学院的老师George Legendre组织了一个比赛，比赛是为了选出一个作品作为最会去法国的建成作品。
竞赛给我们的信息只有三个：建筑展的主题是“Souvenir，记忆”，地点是当地老城中的一个17世纪的内院，作品将由由当地铝加工厂Technilum会赞助并加工。我们当初在构思这个项目的时候想到了以前见过的系满红丝带的许愿树，也想到了苏州园林中的太湖石，枯山水。我们希望作品能够和参观者有一个很好的互动，并希望它带有一点东方的味道。
设计构想是做一个人们的记忆的景观：取南法薰衣草的形式，融入一圆盘之中，小树被刻画上了七种情绪：喜，怒，哀，惧，爱，恶，欲，也就是我们常说七情六欲中的七情。参观者可拾起与记忆相对应的情绪，写上自己的感想，再种到圆盘之上。圆盘按照时间与年龄编号，只让细心的人们看到。参观者也可在同时看别人的回忆，由此跨越时间空间，产生交流。最终，我们希望参观者也成了艺术品的重要一部分。
建造过程中遇到的最大的困难是 地理上的距离与语言的不同使得在施工图阶段的沟通不是非常顺畅，使得最后在现场施工时耽误了一些时间。 但工厂对零件加工的精细程度很高，装置最终的完成度和品质都令人满意。
此外，当时正值学期最忙的阶段由于时间限制，我们没能挤出时间制作一个完整的最终的模型以检验各节点的设计万无一失，是此次最大的经验教训和收获。幸运的是最终只有一些很小的地方需要返工，没有影响到安装的进度和装置的效果。
Festival des Architectures Vives is an architecture festival organized in the city Montpellier, France. This year, they invited Harvard Graduate School of Design to participate in it. In early 2013, there was a competition organized to select a winning entry to be built in June.
We knew that the theme of the festival is “memory”; the site is going to be in a 17th century old building’s courtyard; and the material is aluminum, as a local factory
specializes in aluminum construction is the sponsor. We immediately thought about “wishing trees” in some buddhist temple, where people tie red fabric to the trees; as well as miniature landscapes. We wish to create art installation that can interact with the visitors.
The form is inspired by the miniature landscape in traditional oriental garden, but taking the shape of lavender field of south france. Visitors can pick up the “trees” that etched with seven human emotions according to Chinese philosophy, write down their memories or wishes, then plant them on the “landscape”. The “landscape” is also subtly indexed with year and age, to allow visitors to place the trees according to date and age. We hope that visitors can become part of the installation through interaction.
The geographical distance and language barrier during the construction documentation phase caused some communication inconvenience between us and the manufacturer, which slowed down the process. But the factory’s high quality control and precision allowed the final installation to be quite satisfactory.
The construction document was prepared in a short time, which didn’t allow us to build a scaled model of the final design to study the connection points. There were some small mistakes made, fortunately they didn’t affect the final installation. Through this experience we learned that to achieve hundred percent precision, scale model and mock up are always necessary, and should be done very seriously.
设计建造的反思
About Design-Build
Louis Kahn的一句话，一直被我视为座右铭：“A great building must begin with the immeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed, and in the end must be unmeasured.” 对于建筑学生来说，学校项目大多纸上谈兵，实际有机会实施的机会少之又少，所以凡是有实际建造的比赛（design-build)，我都会尽量参与。近些年来也有幸赢得了几个实际建造得机会，虽然项目不大，设计也有很多提高的空间，但是实际操作起来的艰辛，只有冷暖自知，当然完成时的喜悦，也非旁人可以体会。
通常这一类实际建造项目的比赛，除了概念创新，功能合理，形式出众之外，经验告诉我项目的可操作性也是评委们考量的关键之一。可操作性又可按能否在规定时间，有限预算，有限技术和有限人力下实施来细分。这些需设计者对作品的整体复杂程度，细部的把控在一开始就有一个整体的认识，不能一开始天马行空，虽然看上去很好很复杂，但是却无法实施，或者实施需要非常多的简化，而导致其初衷丧失。换言之，概念，功能，形式和可操作性这几点，因为其相互制约关系，是需要作为一个整体来思考的。
如果赢了方案阶段，之后便是推敲细部的过程。在这个过程中模型肯定要认真做，如果有机会还应该做真实材料的等比例局部模型，这一步非常关键，因为很多节点和材料可能出现的问题都会在这时浮现。
建造的过程中则需要建筑师能够迅速转换角色, 这时他不再是设计者，而是一个包工头。需要协调组织各种事情：从买材料，安排工作，管钱，拉人帮忙，答谢，记录过程，等等，事无巨细，千头万绪，方方面面都要照顾到。建筑更不是单打独斗的事情，良好团队合作常常是成功的关键，我非常感激这几个项目中的合作者，他们同时也都是我最好的朋友。
天马行空的想象简单，但要真自己动手去建造，且让最初的概念得以呈现，必须经过一个艰难的过程。在建筑学习的过程中，我们很容易被炫酷的渲染，复杂的形式，装逼的思想冲昏头脑，不是说这些不可取，而是也不要忘记了建筑更是一门关于踏实建造，以人为本的学问。
Louis Kahn once said, A great building must begin with the immeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed, and in the end must be unmeasured. For an architecture student, we are always working on producing drawings, but rarely we have the chance to build anything, so I always try to push myself whenever there is a design-build competition. Fortunately I won a few small project in recent years, there is a lot room for improvement design wise, but the realization process is always very enriching, and it is only through the sufferings one can enjoy the end result.
Design-build competitions do not only require the designers to be innovative in concept and form making, the proposal’s buildability is also a crucial judging criteria. Buildability can be considered from four aspects: time, budget, technology, and labour availability. It needs the designer to have a holistic vision from the very beginning. If the form is too complex, it will not be able to realize with the time and budget, or gets simplified too much in the process of building. Thus concept, functionality, form and buildability are factors that influencing each other, have a balanced and clear vision at beginning is very important.
If the proposal is chosen, the following process of detailing is the most challenging part. In this phase I usually try for making scaled model to find out the structure, if time and budget allows, build a partial mock up to test the joint and material. It is very important as some problems can only be discovered through models.
In the process of building, one often have to switch from designer to a general contractor. There are many things need to make decision upon, and keep them in order: from buying material, planning the work flow, controlling budget, ask for helper, recording process etc, one just have to make everything under control to make it happen smoothly. Design-build project is definitely not a solo work, good collaborators and team is crucial. For these projects, my collaborators are also my best friends, we share the hardship and joy together.
It is easy to design something that looks fancy then think that you can throw them to the contractor and it will appear as you draw it, the truth is it will never happen that way. While learning architecture, we tends to get carried away by fancy renders, sexy forms or pretentious thoughts, but forget fundamentally architecture is more about construction and how people experiencing space.
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Time Abroad: 13 years
Where: Singapore, Switzerland, Spain, USA
Who: Tian Ren 任天
From: Hangzhou
How: Harvard University, ETH Zurich, National University Singapore
Contact: rentian2007@gmail.com
