Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in an architectural history class.

旁白：听一段建筑学历史的演讲。

Professor: So last week we started our unit on residential architecture in the United States.

教授：上个星期我们开始讲了美国住宅建筑的这个单元，

So today we’ll be surveying a number of architects who made contributions to residential architecture in the 19th century.

所以今天我们来看一下那些对19世纪美国住宅建筑有贡献的建筑师。

Now, it’s worth noting that people who designed homes at that time probably had to deal with a certain amount of discouragement.

现在，值得注意的是，在那个时期，设计房子的人可能需要面对一些挫折。

Since there were other architects who thought it was more respectable to design the kind of buildings…and maybe other structures…that were less…less utilitarian in their function.

这是由于有一些其他建筑师认为，为某些建筑物作设计……那些没有什么实用功能的建筑做设计，是更加值得尊敬的。

In fact, an article from an 1876 issue of a journal called The American Architect and Building News stated that, and this is a quote, they stated that “the planning of houses isn’t architecture at all”!

事实上，在1876年发行的一本叫做“美国建筑师和建筑新闻”的杂志上，有一篇文章说道，这是一段引述，“为住宅做设计根本就不是建筑学”！

So keep that journal article in mind as we look at the work of an architect named Harriet Morrison Irwin.

当我们讨论Harriet Morrison Irwin这个建筑师的作品的时候，把这个杂志记在脑中。

Harriet Morrison Irwin was from the South, born in North Carolina in 1828.

Harriet Morrison Irwin来自于南方，1828年出生在北卡罗来纳州。

At the time, there weren’t many architects from the southern United States.

在当时，并没有太多建筑师是来自于美国南部的。

And as you might imagine, very few of them were women.

正如你们所想的那样，也没有几个是女的。

So Irwin was really a pretty exceptional case.

所以Irwin是一个特例。

And she wasn’t even formally trained as an architect.

并且她也没有被正式培养成建筑师。

Her educational background was in literature. Yes, Vicky?

她的教学背景是文学。是的，Vicky?

Student: So she just had like…unnatural gift for architecture?

学生：所以，对建筑学，她有着非凡的天赋？

Professor: Yes. She was actually a writer for several years.

教授：是的。事实上，她当了好多年的作家。

But she did have a penchant for math and engineering, so she read a lot about it on her own.

但是，她对数学和工程学并很有兴趣，所以她自己读了很多这方面的书。

Um…especially the architectural essays written by the British critic--John Ruskin.

额……尤其是由英国评论家John Ruskin写的建筑学短文。

And John Ruskin believed what?

然后John Ruskin是怎么认为的？

Student: Um…that buildings should have a lot of access to the outdoors, to nature.

学生：他认为建筑应该有很多通往户外、通往自然的通道。

Ruskin said that being close to nature was great for people’s mental and physical health.

Ruskin说和大自然接近对人的身心都有益。

Professor: Right! So that was an influence.

教授：正确。所以那就是一种影响。

Now, Harriet Irwin’s contribution to architecture was relatively minor but still quite interesting and unique.

现在，Harriet Irwin对于建筑学的贡献相对较小，当时仍然非常有趣并且独特。

She designed a house with a hexagonal shape. Josh?

她设计了一个六边形的房子。Josh?

Student: A house with six sides?

学生：一个有六条边的房子？

Instead of the standard, you know, four-sided home?

还不是普通的，四边的房子？

Professor: Yeah. The rooms inside the house were also hexagonal, six-sided.

教授：是的。在房子里的房间也是六边形的，有六条边的。

So one important thing was that the rooms were arranged around a chimney in the center of the house, which could provide heat for the whole house through flues, uh, small air passageways into each room, as opposed to having a fireplace in every room, which would require more cleaning and make the air inside the house dirtier.

一件很重要的事情是，房间被安排在房屋中心的烟囱周围，这个烟囱可以通过烟道为整个房屋提供热量。烟道就是小的，通向每间房间的气道。这个和每个房间都有一个壁炉是相反的做法，每个房间都放壁炉需要更多的清洁，也会使得房屋里的空气更加污浊。

The house’s shape also allowed for more windows.

房屋的形状同样也使得可以造更多的窗户。

Each room had a large wall that could fit a couple of big windows, giving every room a nice view of the outdoors.

每个房间都有一面大墙，容得下几个大窗户，使得每个房间都有非常好的户外风景。

Student: Plus there would be good airflow through the house.

学生：再加上屋子里会有好的空气流通。

Professor: Yes. In warm weather when you can open all the windows.

教授：是的，在温暖的季节，当你将所有的窗都打开的时候。

Good. The doors to the house as well…uh…the house didn’t have a main entrance or any hallways.

真是太棒了！这种房屋的门……这种房子其实也没有正门或者走廊。

So there could be a couple of entry doors in different places, which like the windows, provided ready access to the outdoors.

所以可以在不同的地方有入口，就像窗，提供通向户外的通道。

So, what other advantages might there be to hexagonal rooms?

那么，六边形的房子还有什么其他优点么？

OK. Think about cleaning.

好的，思考一下打扫。

What part of a room is usually the hardest to clean?

房间什么地方通常最难打扫？

Like…to sweep with a broom.

假设你用的是一把扫帚。

Student: Oh! The corners. Because in square or rectangular rooms, the corners are at 90 degree angles.

学生：哦！角落。因为在一个正方形或者长方形的屋子里，角是90度的。

It’s hard to reach all the dust that gathers in the corners.

很难去触及堆积在角落里的所有的灰尘。

But if Irwin’s rooms were closer to a circle than a square, it would be easier to reach all the dust and dirt with a broom. Right?

但是如果Irwin的房间更接近于圆形而不是正方形的话，用扫帚打扫灰尘就会容易得多。是吗？

Professor: Exactly. Now, um…biographers who wrote about Irwin in the 19th century, I feel, sort of downplayed the ingenuity of her design.

教授：正式如此。在19世纪的传记作者对于Irwin设计的独创性是轻描淡写的。

But I think if she had designed this house today, the same biographers would praise her for coming up with a floor plan that emphasized function, efficient function of a house, as well as a design that’s creative and unique.

但是，我相信，如果她是在今天设计的这个房子，同一批传记作者可能会对她注重功能性，房屋的有效功能性的建筑平面图，以及她创新独特的设计赞誉有加。

In any cases, three houses were built in Irwin’s time that used her hexagonal design.

无论如何，在Irwin的时代，有3个建筑采用了她六边形的设计。

And in 1869, when she was 41, Irwin became the first woman in the United States to receive a patent for an architectural design.

并且在1869年，当她41岁的时候，Irwin成为了美国第一位在建筑设计上获得专利的女性。

And that speaks volumes if you ask me.

如果你问我，我觉得这很有意义。