伊米特的翻譯練習

《Rock-'n'-Roll Rustic. English Country Goes Rock-'N'-Roll 鄉村搖滾風 英國的鄉下也很搖擺》

Implausible as it may seem, holiday accommodation in rural England isn't limited to twee little cottages, somber stately homes and drafty old castles with terrible plumbing. Travelers who would rather not bed down in architectural museums can now instead stay in some living architecture — or perhaps that should be Living Architecture, the brainchild of Swiss broadcaster and writer Alain de Botton.It's a nonprofit initiative to plant contemporary holiday chalets throughout the country, each designed by a different cutting-edge studio.
實在很難相信，要在英國的鄉下找到除矯飾的小茅屋、陰森森的莊園，或是通風卻馬桶不通的城堡外的其他度假旅館。不想打地鋪在外觀特殊的博物館裡的旅行家，現在有機會可以待在某個現今的特殊建築物中 ─ 或者應該稱它叫 Living Architecture (可入住的建築美學)，由瑞士播報員兼作家 Alain de Botton 所創的名字。這個非盈利性的構想，是要在鄉下蓋出現代感的渡假小屋，每個小屋將由各個不同前衛的工作室所設計。

Three were completed last year. The metallic Balancing Barn levitates over a Suffolk nature reserve. The Dune House struts asymmetrically on a popular stretch of Suffolk beach. The fashionably minimalist Shingle House stands alone and austere on a windswept Kent promontory. Each chalet sleeps eight or nine people, is fitted with designer amenities — Miele appliances, REN skin-care products and Peter Reed linen — and seeks to challenge the notion that rural architecture should consist of archaic forms, traditional materials and a hefty dollop of prettiness.
去年已經有三棟建築完工。銀光閃閃的 Balancing Barn (平衡倉庫) 飄在沙福郡 (Suffolk) 的自然保護區中。Dune House (沙丘魔堡) 不對稱地座落在熱門的沙福郡 (Suffolk ) 海灘沿岸。時尚簡約的 Shingle House (瓦樓) 矗立在肯特郡 (Kent) 的迎風海角。每間房子都可以容納 8 到 9 人，並裝設了富設計感的家具 ─  Miele 家電、REN 護膚保養品 和 Peter Reed 織品 ─ 並以挑戰鄉村建築該有的古色古香、傳統素材和粗曠美感等概念為主旨。


"Because Britain industrialized so fast, there's tremendous nostalgia for history," says de Botton. At the same time, he argues that there is no reason why the innovative approach taken in other fields of contemporary British design can't be employed in country living. "The architecture of our own times can have many of the qualities that people admire in buildings of old, like a sensory richness, a warmth, a connection with history," he says. "But they don't have to be museum pieces or kitsch."
『由於英國工業化的速度飛快，以致於人們大量懷念過往的歷史。』Botton 這麼說。同時，他認為將其他領域中的英國當代設計所用的創新方法，帶入鄉下生活是再自然而然也不過了。『我們這個時代的建築物，也能有許多令人讚嘆的老建築特質 ─ 富感情、熱情和歷史的某一頁。但這些建築物卻不必是座博物館，或是人人喜愛的作品。』

Among projects planned for 2011 and 2012 are the Long House in Norfolk, by British modernists Michael and Patty Hopkins (who have drawn inspiration from the rugged salt-marsh landscape and the use of flint in the area's traditional buildings), and a "secular retreat" in Devon by Pritzker Prize — winning Swiss design maestro Peter Zumthor, who seeks to recreate the poise and mass of ecclesiastical architecture through the use of open forms and eco-friendly rammed concrete. See living-architecture.co.uk for more information — and rest assured there won't be a thatched roof, lace curtain or grandfather clock in sight.
接 下來 2011 到 2012 年的計劃， 分別是在諾福克郡 (Norfolk) 的 Long House (長屋)，由英國現代主義者 Michael 和 Patty Hopkins 受崎嶇的鹽沼地和當地以打火石當建材的啟發而設計。而另一個在德文郡 (Devon) 的 Secular Retreat (塵世避難所)，由獲得普立茲克建築獎的瑞士設計大師 Peter Zumthor 所設計。他希望透過開放的外觀與環保的混泥土來重新創造出教會建築的平靜和大器。拜訪 living-architecture.co.uk 來獲得更多資訊 ─ 至少可以確定的是，那兒不會看到茅草屋頂、蕾絲窗簾和老祖父的掛鐘。


《譯者觀點》
雖說這篇文章實在很至入性行銷，好在介紹的建築還算獨俱特色，有機會到英國不妨住個一晚，實際感受一下大師們的設計。這些旅館現在開始開放明年2012 的訂房預約~


《重要辭彙》

• seeks to challenge...：以挑戰... 為主旨
• a hefty dollop of prettiness：粗曠的美感
• kitsch：通俗(大家都喜愛)的作品 
• rammed concrete：混泥土 (建築用字)