Wikipedia tells us: "obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have a negative effect on health." During our country(China)'s recent building boom, unprecedented resources, human and inhuman, and capitals have been poured into this one of a kind building activity. However, one wonders how much of it is merely extravaganza, since, suggested by various evidences and rushed by obvious capitalist motivations (if you will) , rationality seemed to lose a hold of what went on. For one, many media agencies have estimated that half of the apartment buildings in China today are empty. How much everything, if we may ask, is wasted just on that front?
维基百科告诉我们：“肥胖是一种医学上的身体状况，其中多余的体脂已经累积到可能对健康产生负面影响的程度。”在我国（中国）最近的建筑热潮期间，前所未有的资源，人力和非人力的，以及资本都涌入了这一独一无二的建筑活动中。然而，大家可以提出这样的疑问，有多少成份仅仅是铺张华丽且无节制的秀而已。因为，各种证据表明，并且被明显的资本主义动机所驱动（如果你愿意），合理性在这一过程中似乎从来没有任何意义。比如，许多媒体机构估算出在今天的中国有一半的公寓楼都是空的。那么我们也许可以问到，只是浪费在这个方面的一切人力和非人力资源又有多少？
We all know that gluttony (one of the seven deadly sins) leads to obesity and ultimately brings about death. It seems then, in an analogical sense, our cities and buildings are in a desperate need of reducing their weight, or trimming their excessive fat. So how can we start to deal with this obesity in the most urgent sense of the word? Without diving too deep into the political, the economical, and the social side of this equation, and getting drowned, in this studio, we will explore the architectural implications of this phenomenon, in our backyard, or almost our home front.
我们都知道暴食（七宗罪之一）会导致肥胖，最终带来死亡。从类拟的角度讲，似乎我们的城市和建筑都迫切地需要减轻其体重或抽出其多余的脂肪。那么，我们怎样才能开始在肥胖这一词所暗示的最紧迫的意义上应对这种肥胖？我们不会过度的潜入到这一问题在政治，经济和社会方面的后果或影响，在这个设计课中，我们将在我们自己的后院或甚至是我们的防线上去探索这一现象在建筑中的影响。
To be more specific, in this studio, we will be redesigning Shanghai's Hongqiao Railway Station, an obese and perhaps one of the most symbolic offsprings of this phenomenon. We will be asking many questions to begin with, but the most crucial one being is it still salvageable?
更具体地说，在这个设计课中，我们将重新设计上海的虹桥火车站。这是一个肥胖的，同时也许是这种现象最具象征性的子孙之一。我们将以提出许多问题的方式为起点，但最关键的问题是，它仍然可以被救赎吗?
图片来源于网络
参考书目：
《The Communist Manifesto》 ——Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels