CONVERSATION
Ken Shuttleworth of Make Architects talks about teamwork and the importance of sustainability in design
來自Make Architects的Ken Shuttleworth分享公司的成功之道
British architect Ken Shuttleworth made waves when he left Foster and Partners, the mastermind behind some of the most iconic buildings in the world, in order to set up his own architecture practice, Make Architects. A little over a decade later, Make has almost 60 buildings and more than 1,300 projects under its belt. Most recently, the firm has teamed up with two former footballers who have become property developers, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville, to work on a pair of skyscrapers in Manchester; the firm has also taken on its first project in Australia, rejuvenating the city’s historical sandstone buildings and refashioning them into a luxury hotel.英國建築師Ken Shuttleworth離開打造世上部分最著名建築的Foster and Partners時，掀起一股浪潮，目的就是建立自家建築公司Make Architects。十數年過去，Make已處理過超過1,300個項目和約60幢建築。最近，公司更連同現為物業發展商的前足球員Ryan Giggs和Gary Neville，合作在曼徹斯特建起一對摩天大樓；公司亦首次接手澳洲項目，翻新歷史建築，改造成豪華酒店。Sustainability is embedded in the way we work. It’s a part of the way we think. We try to preserve as many materials as possible, reduce carbon and greenhouse gases. Most architects are pushing for that. Instead of governments saying, "You have to do this," the change has actually come from the bottom. In a way, we’re the ones pushing the government. One of our buildings in London is 47 per cent more efficient than the government allows us to do. What’s happening now is that kids are coming through school and they’re really conscious about the environment, while my generation wasn’t.可持續元素是我們工作模式的一部分。這是我們的想法方向——盡可能保留大多物料、減少碳足印和溫室氣體。大部分建築師也大走此道。與其白等政府公佈「你們定要這樣做」，改變其實從下而來。其中一幢倫敦建築就比政府容許我們動工的方式更有效47%。當下情況就是，孩子上課會學懂對環保保育的關注，我們那代卻未有所聞。[The Manchester skyscrapers are] hugely ambitious, complicated, very strong. It’s the clients’ – Gary and Ryan’s – first proper development. Until now, they’ve been playing football, but they’re learning quite quickly. They are very passionate about Manchester. It’s their home, they’ve been brought up there – so for them, giving something back is really important. [曼徹斯特摩天大樓]是一項極雄心壯志、複雜精密和穩重堅碩的結構。它是客人Gary和Ryan首項物業發展。他們一直在足球界打滾，但學習速度極快，並對曼徹斯特大表鍾愛之情。這是他們的家，也是成長的地方，故對二人來說，能夠回饋家鄉是非常重要的事。
We’ve done a lot of projects like the sandstone project [in Sydney], where we take an existing building and rejuvenate it. The two sandstone buildings are very historical and well-loved, so there’s a lot of interest in how we handle them. The key is to come up with a new use, rather than trying to make them do what they used to do, and to give a historical building a new use that actually works for it has always been a challenge. 我們已處理了很多類似悉尼Sandstone項目的工程，就是把已有建築改造及重注力量。兩座Sandstone大廈均滿有豐富歷史，而且備受愛戴，所以人們對我們的處理手法也大表興趣。為賦予歷史建築合適的新用途，實在挑戰重重。關鍵就是想出新用法，而非硬要它們重用以往的用途。If you ask any architect what they most want to do, I think you’d get the same answer: most architects want to work on more public projects. More people get to see the building, appreciate it and use it. There’s always that feeling of wanting to do the right thing for the general population. We want to make places for people – not just a space, but a place people feel connected with. 要是你問建築師最想做甚麼事，大概會得到同一答案：他們都想處理公眾項目。愈來愈多人想去欣賞建築和利用之。我們常有一種感覺，就是為大眾做點對的事，為人們創造地方，一個可以讓人起連繫和情感的空間。The last 12 years at Make have been a really fantastic journey. I think the success has been due to the ownership structure – it’s employee-owned – which is very different to most architects. All the shares are owned in trust for the benefit of the employees, so everyone feels that it’s their company. It was an experiment, because no one had done it before, and I think it was really successful. Keeping good people has really helped us grow. 過去12多年來，Make走在精彩無盡的旅途上。我想，成功大概跟結構擁有人的模式有關——由僱員共同擁有，跟大多同行不同。所有股份利益也是員工共享，人人都感公司屬他們己出。這是場史無前例的試驗，結果也非常成功吧。留住人才，的確有助公司成長發展。MAKEARCHITECTS.COM