Newsletter No. 446

4 446 • 4.11.2014 一個問題，多個答案 One Question, Many Answers ‘T he Right is to be Done’, the title of Prof. Ng Yan- yung Edward ’s Inaugural Lecture of Yao Ling Sun Professorship in Architecture on 21 October, is also his motto, which, as he disclosed at the beginning of the lecture, was borrowed from Sir David Akers-Jones . In the lecture he took the audience on his journey in the past 15 years, trying to find the answer to the question ‘What should be done to improve lives?’ Professor Ng remembered very well how Prof. Peter Tregenza , who taught him lighting design at the University of Nottingham, put forth the question ‘What should be done?’ when showing the poor living conditions of the British people after the Second World War. When Professor Ng returned to Hong Kong in 1999, he was surprised to find that many people in this city still lived in poor and over-crowded conditions, without suitable amount of daylight and proper air ventilation. And he remembered his teacher’s question: ‘What should be done?’ Following in his teacher’s footsteps, he established an International Daylight Monitoring Station on the top of the water tower of New Asia College and formulated some guidelines for daylighting design in buildings in Hong Kong. After the outbreak of SARS in 2003, it was known that the over-crowded urban conditions and the lack of daylight and air ventilation had something to do with the epidemic. As an architect, Professor Ng asked himself again, ‘What can be done?’ He was invited by the Planning Department of the HKSAR Government to look into the issue and the result was the Air Ventilation Assessment (AVA) methodology that he finished in 2006. His recommendations were adopted by the Government and all governmental projects have to be assessed by the AVA system, including the planning of what used to be Kai Tak Airport and the design of the then new Government Headquarters. After the AVA project, Professor Ng was commissioned by the Government to study our city a little more in order to achieve better urban planning. He completed the study in 2012 and produced the urban climatic map. He said, ‘I’m confident that we now have a better analytic tool to design our city better and to improve life.’ After this research, Professor Ng and his team were invited by various cities in the world, including Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City and Kaohsiung, to conduct studies to improve their cities’ urban environments. He said, ‘So we’re busy. That’s why Edward’s lab is known infamously as a 7-11 lab.’ Lately Professor Ng travelled again and was saddened by the lives of many wretched kids living in poor and remote villages without electricity, running water, and access to modern amenities. These kids do not have knowledge of the world outside and have no future. ‘What should be done?’ The answer is the ‘One University, One Village’ initiative, which is Professor Ng’s latest brainchild. He said, ‘I firmly believe that if we from the universities cannot change lives for the better, we’re not doing what’s right. I don’t believe that with the knowledge, resources, people and talent of a university, we cannot make a difference to the lives of a village.’ Together with teachers and students from Peking University, Stanford, Cambridge, and Kunming University of Science and Technology, Professor Ng set out to improve the livelihood of rural villages and bring their villagers a better future. For some, the holy grail of academia is tenure, a research grant, or a prize. For Professor Ng, it’s improving lives. 吳 恩融 教授在10月21日舉行的姚連生建築學教授就職 演講，以「做必須做的事」為題，這也是他的座右銘， 他在演講開首說，這句話是從 鍾逸傑 口中聽來的。吳教授的 演講帶領聽眾追溯他過去十五年的尋找歷程，他所尋找的 是以下問題的答案：「有哪些事是我們應做，以改善人們生 活的？」 吳教授在諾丁漢大學唸書時，教他採光設計的老師 Peter Tregenza 教授上課時所問的一個問題，他銘記至今。當時 Tregenza教授展示第二次世界大戰後英國人惡劣的居住環 境，然後問：「有哪些事是我們應做的？」 1999年吳教授返回香港，發覺許多香港人的居住環境惡劣 擁擠，光線不足，通風不良。他記起老師的問題：「有哪些事 是我們應做的？」 追隨老師的腳步，吳教授在中大新亞書院水塔頂端設立一座 國際日光監測站，之後制訂香港建築物日光設計指引。 2003年「沙士」疫症爆發，過度擁擠的都市環境、缺乏日光 和通氣，是引發疫症蔓延的因素。身為建築師的吳教授捫心 自問：「有哪些事是我們應做的？」香港政府規劃署邀請他 探討這個問題，在2006年完成空氣流通評估方法。他的建 議獲得政府採納，要求所有政府工程項目遵守有關的評估準 則，包括舊啟德機場的規劃及新政府總部的設計。 之後吳教授再獲政府委託研究香港的情況，以令都市規劃 更完善。他在2012年完成研究，制訂香港都市環境氣候圖。 他說：「我確信我們現在有了更佳的分析工具，有助改善城市 設計和市民生活環境。」其後世界多個城市都邀請他進行類 似研究，包括新加坡、胡志明市和高雄等。他說：「我們很忙 碌。所以吳恩融研究室也被戲稱為『年中無休』研究室。」 最近吳教授再次到處遊歷，目睹貧困邊遠村落的兒童生活 艱苦，沒有電力、自來水和現代設施，他們對村外的世界毫 無所知，前途黯淡。「有哪些事是我們應做的？」 答案是「一專一村」計劃，這個支援農村發展的計劃是吳教 授的最新構思。他說：「我認為，如果我們大學中人沒有去改 善人們的生活，就是沒有做必須做的事。大學有知識、資源、 人力和專才，我不信改變不了貧困農村的情況。」聯同北京 大學、史丹福大學、劍橋大學、昆明理工大學等校的師生，吳 恩融教授致力改善農村民生，為村民帶來未來的希望。 對於某些學院中人來說，學術生涯追尋的聖杯是終身教席、 研究撥款或者獎項；但對吳恩融教授來說，那是做必須做的 事去改善人們的生活。 吳教授今年6月在雲南省秋那桶村調研考察 Professor Ng’s investigation trip at Qiunatong Village, Yunnan Province this June 新任姚連生建築學教授談應做之事 New Yao Ling Sun Professor of Architecture Shares his Quest for the ‘Right’ Answers