The designs of modernists like Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright are like the classics of rock 'n' roll: groundbreaking works that inspired legions of followers.
有一些现代主义建筑师，如勒·柯布西耶(Le Corbusier)、 路德维希·密斯·范·德·罗(Ludwig Mies van der Rohe)和弗兰克·劳埃德·赖特(Frank Lloyd Wright)，他们的设计作品就像摇滚乐中的经典曲目，都是具有开创性的作品，激励了大批跟随者。
That's what Alexander Gorlin believes anyway, and as someone who has spent his career practicing and writing about architecture, he has reason to know. Mr. Gorlin's credits include the 2011 book "Tomorrow's Houses," about the roots of modernism in New England, as well as a completed addition to a Louis Kahn synagogue in Chappaqua, N.Y., the coming transformation of Eero Saarinen's Bell Labs building into a mixed-use town center for Holmdel, N.J., and the design of Daniel Libeskind's Manhattan apartment.
反正，这就是亚历山大·戈林(Alexander Gorlin)相信的事，而且，他所从事的职业始终围绕着建筑领域的实践和写作，因此他对个中情况的了如指掌是有理由的。戈林的成就包括2011年出版的书《明日住宅》(Tomorrow's Houses)，该书讲述了新英格兰(New England)地区现代主义的根源；此外，他对纽约查帕瓜(Chappaqua)的一所由路易斯·康(Louis Kahn)设计的犹太教堂，新泽西州霍姆德尔市(Holmdel, N.J)即将动工的、将埃罗·萨莉贝尔实验室(Eero Saarinen's Bell Labs)变为多用途市政中心的改建工程，以及丹尼尔·李博斯金(Daniel Libeskind)的曼哈顿公寓设计，也作出了补充与完善。

Modern architects, said Mr. Gorlin, 59, have a unique way of looking at the world that is reflected in their design of smaller-scale objects like furniture and accessories. "There are more spatial and structural aspects to products designed by architects," he said, in a generalization that furniture and industrial designers might take issue with. "I know that's a blanket statement, but I actually do believe it."
今年59岁的戈林说，那些现代建筑师们看待这个世界的独特方式，也体现在了他们设计的一些小物件上，比如家具和配饰。“建筑师们设计的产品更加具有空间感，也更加结构化，”他说，这样一种概括，可能会引来家具设计师与工业设计师的争议。“我知道那是一个概括的声明，但我真的对此深信不疑。”
To prove his point, he set off to find some examples. At Molteni & C in SoHo, he pointed out a reissued chest of drawers by the Italian architect Gio Ponti. "I like his furniture because it doesn't immediately look like furniture," Mr. Gorlin said, noting that the handles were made from different types of wood, creating an asymmetrical checkerboard pattern across the front. "It's decorative functionalism."
为了证明他的观点，他开始去寻找一些实例。在苏豪区(SoHo)的Molteni & C店内，他挑出一款再版的五斗柜，设计师是意大利建筑师吉奥·庞帝(Gio Ponti)。“我喜欢他设计的这款家具，因为一眼看去它并不像家具，”戈林说，他还提到，这款五斗柜上的那些手柄，都是用不同类型的木料制成的，因而使其正面有一种不对称的棋盘图案。“这就是装饰功能主义。”
He was equally impressed by Mr. Ponti's angular hair-on hide rug. "It's geometric, but every part is a different shape," he said. "It's like a mysterious puzzle."
他对庞帝设计的绒面菱形地毯也同样印象深刻。“即便是几何图形，每一部分也都是不同的形状，”他说，“就像一幅神秘的拼图。”
At Design Within Reach, he admired the exaggerated sensuality of the Pelican chair by the Danish architect Finn Juhl. "It almost looks like a caricature of some creature," he said. "I love chairs that are animated like this."
在Design Within Reach商店，他对丹麦建筑师芬·居尔(Finn Juhl)设计的一把鹈鹕座椅(Pelican chair)体现出的那种夸张感官享受赞不绝口。“它看上去像是对某种生物的夸张描摹，”他说，“我喜欢像这样设计得生动鲜活的椅子。”
On the other end of the aesthetic spectrum, he praised a door handle designed by the German architect Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus, not for its sensuality but for its clarity of form. "It's a simple intersection of a cylinder and a cube," he said of the piece, which he found at Katonah Architectural Hardware. "It's such a classic, and I always return to it."
然后，他的审美观逆转了180度，称赞起由鲍豪斯建筑学派(Bauhau)的创始人、德国建筑师沃尔特·格罗佩斯(Walter Gropius)设计的一款门把手。但他赞许的方面并不是这款产品的舒适性，而是款式设计的清晰简洁。“这仅仅是一个圆柱体与一个立方体的结合，”谈及在Katonah建筑五金店找到的这件物品时，他说，“这款门把手设计得太经典了，所以我总是一再回来购买。”
A pair of minimalist objects from Suite New York, designed by John Pawson, the contemporary British architect, appealed for similar reasons. A bronze bowl with a rounded bottom was "a perfect object, but slightly off," he said, and a crystal carafe with a thick base made the liquid inside look "suspended in air."
出于类似的原因，Suite New York店里的一对极简主义风格的物品也很吸引他，其设计师是当代英国建筑师约翰·波森(John Pawson)。另外，那只圆底铜碗也“是一件非常完美的物品，只是有点不同寻常，”他说，还有一只水晶玻璃瓶，其底部做得非常厚，让里面的液体看起来就像“悬浮在空中一样。”
"They're both twists on familiar objects," he said. "That raises them from the ordinary to the sublime."
“这些东西都是从普通物品变形而来的，”他说，“使得这些东西由寻常之物变得卓尔不凡。”