CHICO HARLAN, ZUNAIRA SAIEED2026年10月30日 Ulet Ifansasti for The New York TimesOne thousand feet above city traffic, from her new 74th-floor apartment, Anastasia Zeeman has the kind of enchanting views that only floor-to-ceiling glass can offer. She looks out on a skyline and horizon where storms and sunsets play out like big-screen movies.城市车流上方约300米处，阿纳斯塔西娅·齐曼在她位于74层的新公寓里欣赏着只有落地玻璃才能提供的迷人景色。她眺望天际线和地平线，风暴与日落交织的景象宛如大银幕电影般上演。But Malaysia’s tropical sun sometimes delivers what Ms. Zeeman calls a “wall of heat” radiating from her windows.但马来西亚的热带阳光有时会带来齐曼所说的“热墙”，从她的窗户辐射进来。More than any other form of architecture, glass skyscrapers testify to the human desire for sweeping views and a sense of rising above the fray. In some of the world’s fastest developing places — Dubai, Mumbai, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur — they have become city-defining showpieces, signaling sophistication and rising financial clout.与其他任何建筑形式相比，玻璃摩天大楼最能体现人类对开阔视野的向往，以及凌驾于尘嚣之上的追求。在迪拜、孟买、雅加达、吉隆坡等全球发展最迅速的城市中，它们已成为定义城市风貌的标志性建筑，象征着精致和日益增强的金融影响力。And yet glass tends to be ill-suited for keeping out the heat, and its overuse often makes buildings more energy intensive to cool. That’s fueling a debate about whether these symbols of modernity make sense in a world growing hotter because of climate change.然而，玻璃往往不适合阻隔热量，其过度使用常常使建筑冷却所需能耗更高。这引发了一场辩论：在因气候变化而日益炎热的世界里，这些现代性的象征是否还有意义。Some argue that the ambition and innovation that spawned the high-rise era can help modern skyscrapers fend off rising temperatures while maintaining the million-dollar views. Others say the all-glass aesthetic is at odds with the environmental goal of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. They say it is time to rethink city skylines.一些人认为，凭借催生摩天大楼时代的雄心和创新，现代摩天大楼能够在保持价值百万美元的壮丽景观同时抵御气温上升。另一些人说，全玻璃美学与减少温室气体排放的环境目标相悖。他们说，是时候对城市天际线进行重新思考了。When he was New York City mayor in 2019, Bill de Blasio briefly floated the idea of banning the “glass and steel” structures altogether. Philip Oldfield, an Australian architecture scholar who wrote a book on sustainable high rises, calls the glass towers “environmentally criminal.” Ken Shuttleworth, a prominent British architect who three decades ago helped design London’s Gherkin building, now says he’d do it differently, without quite as much glass all the way around.2019年担任纽约市长时，比尔·德布拉西奥曾短暂提出全面禁止“玻璃和钢铁”结构的想法。写过一本关于可持续高层建筑书籍的澳大利亚建筑学者菲利普·奥德菲尔德称，玻璃摩天楼“在环境上是犯罪”。30年前曾参与设计伦敦“小黄瓜”大楼的英国著名建筑师肯·沙特尔斯沃思表示，现在他会采用不同方案，不会四周都使用那么多玻璃。“You really just need to have smaller windows,” said Mr. Shuttleworth. He said his approach to skyscraper design has changed as he’s come to realize that “we are burning a hole in the planet.”“你其实只需要把窗户做小一些，”沙特尔斯沃思说。他说，随着他逐渐意识到“我们正在把地球烧出一个洞”，他对摩天大楼设计的思路已经改变。穿透科威特的浓雾。伦敦著名“小黄瓜”大楼的建筑师之一表示，如果今天重新设计，他会减少玻璃的使用量。Despite that criticism, the glass skyscraper’s appeal endures.尽管有这些批评，玻璃摩天大楼的魅力依然不减。The form, which originated in American cities like Chicago and New York, has now spread across China, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Over the past decade, the world has constructed 25 times the number of buildings 200 meters (roughly 655 feet) or taller that it did in the 1980s, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Some 91 percent of the world’s skyscrapers of that height have been built since the turn of the 21st century.这种形式起源于芝加哥和纽约等美国城市，如今已传播到中国、中东和东南亚。根据高层建筑与城市人居委员会的数据，过去十年，全球建造的200米或更高建筑数量是1980年代的25倍。世界上约91%的这一高度摩天大楼是在进入21世纪以来建造的。The “vast majority” have facades largely of glass, said Antony Wood, who was the president of that council until last year.该委员会任期至去年的前主席安东尼·伍德说，“绝大多数”建筑的外立面主要是玻璃。Proponents of glass-dominant design say this building spree can still be responsible if strategic choices are made.支持玻璃为主设计方案的人士认为，只要做出战略选择，这种建筑热潮仍然可以做到环保。Because the sun doesn’t hit a building equally from all directions, buildings can boost their energy efficiency simply with the right orientation. Architects can also add features like fins or undulations so less sunlight directly hits the glass. Stringing greenery on glass facades is also a trend.因为太阳并非从所有方向均匀照射建筑，建筑只需通过合理的朝向设计，就能提高能源效率。建筑师还可以添加翅片或起伏等特征，减少阳光直射玻璃。在玻璃外立面上布置绿植也是一种趋势。Glass can also be treated with gossamer-thin metallic coatings that reflect away radiation. Most buildings use several layers of glass to impede the heat. One high-end option involves sandwiching automated blinds between them.玻璃还可以涂覆薄如蛛丝的金属涂层，以反射辐射热。大多数建筑使用多层玻璃来阻挡热量。一种高端选择是在玻璃之间夹入自动百叶窗。“It’s not as simple as people think it is,” said Gordon Gill, an architect at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill. He has helped design numerous skyscrapers, including a 1,000-meter tower in Saudi Arabia that will be the world’s tallest once completed. “I’m not a big fan of, ‘Aha, we found the answer: We’re just going to use less glass.’ I don’t believe in panaceas. Your entire process is about balance.”“这并不像人们想的那么简单，”阿德里安·史密斯+戈登·吉尔建筑事务所的建筑师戈登·吉尔说。他帮助设计了众多摩天大楼，包括沙特阿拉伯一座1000米高的塔楼，建成后将成为世界最高建筑。“我不太赞同那种‘啊哈，我们找到答案了：少用点玻璃就行’的想法。我不相信万灵药。你的整个过程都关乎平衡。”Most studies conclude that cutting down on glazing, as glass is sometimes called, does help reduce energy for cooling. A 2019 analysis of 1,000 American office buildings found that structures with larger window ratios had higher air-conditioning loads — though window size didn’t predict a building’s overall energy use. A research paper from Saudi Arabia concluded that glazing “should be minimized in hot regions,” with windows ideally amounting to 20 to 30 percent of the facade.大多数研究得出结论，减少玻璃确实有助于降低冷却能耗。2019年对1000栋美国办公楼的分析发现，窗户比例越大的建筑，空调负荷越高——尽管窗户大小并不能预测建筑的整体能耗。沙特阿拉伯的一篇研究论文得出结论，在炎热地区“应尽量减少”玻璃的使用，理想情况下，窗户应占外立面的20%到30%。But skyscrapers, of course, are so much more than objects meant to maximize efficiency. Big windows let in natural light, which limits the need for artificial lighting.但摩天大楼当然不仅仅是为了最大限度提高能效而存在的。大窗户能引入自然光，从而减少对人工照明的需求。They also help units sell.它们也有助于房屋销售。“默德卡118”是世界第二高的摩天大楼，为吉隆坡的天际线增添了一抹亮色。阿纳斯塔西娅·齐曼站在Oxley大楼的泳池旁，该建筑采用落地玻璃设计。Ms. Zeeman, for example, had looked at seven or eight properties before walking into Oxley Towers, one of which is Kuala Lumpur’s sixth-tallest building. She’d moved from the Dutch countryside with her husband, who’d gotten an engineering job in the city. They saw the panorama and paid over their budget.例如，齐曼女士在走进豪利大厦之前看过七八处房产，其中一栋是吉隆坡第六高的建筑。她和丈夫从荷兰乡村搬来，丈夫在这座城市找到了一份工程工作。他们看到全景后，以超出预算的价格买下了房子。“To wake up with this view, it’s a completely different mood,” she said. “It inspires me to do more.”“每天清晨醒来就能看到这样的景色，心情完全不一样，”她说。“它激励我做更多事情。”‘Beautiful to the eye’“赏心悦目”Glass has helped give Malaysia the very thing its prime minister said he wanted three decades ago: buildings that evoke development and are “beautiful to the eye.”玻璃帮助马来西亚实现了其总理30年前期盼的目标：既象征着发展又“赏心悦目”的建筑。The country started in 1996 by completing the twin Petronas Towers, the tallest buildings in the world at the time. Then it kept going, constructing hundreds more skyscrapers — including two taller than Petronas. Malaysia, with just 35 million people, now has more buildings 200 meters or higher than any country but China, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.马来西亚于1996年建成了双子塔，当时它们是世界最高建筑。从那以后，它继续建造了数百座摩天大楼，其中包括两座比双子塔更高的建筑。马来西亚只有3500万人口，如今其200米及以上高层建筑数量仅次于中国、美国和阿联酋，位居世界第四。Some of them, particularly ones with top-end technology, have good energy efficiency numbers, said Sarly Adre Sarkum, an architect and the chief executive of Malaysia’s Green Building Index. But Mr. Sarkum said the overall quality of the towers is “still not so good.” He said that in Malaysia’s climate, extensive glass facades carry “significant energy consequences.”其中一些建筑，尤其是采用尖端技术的建筑，能源效率指标相当不错，马来西亚绿色建筑指数首席执行官、建筑师萨利·阿德雷·萨尔库姆说。但他指出，这些高楼的整体质量“仍然不太理想”。在马来西亚的气候条件下，大面积使用玻璃幕墙会带来“显著的能源消耗问题”。马来西亚绿色建筑指数首席执行官萨莉·阿德雷·萨库姆。吉隆坡的新建项目。Roughly 60 percent of the building energy use in Malaysia stems from air-conditioning, Mr. Sarkum said. “When buyers purchase these, they think they get great views,” Mr. Sarkum said. “But you need to keep the curtains closed.”萨尔库姆说，马来西亚约60%的建筑能耗来自空调。“买房的人觉得，这样可以欣赏到绝佳的风景，”他说。“但实际上，你得一直拉着窗帘。”The Oxley Towers, where Ms. Zeeman lives, represents one of the city’s heaviest uses of glass. Even the bathrooms next to the gym have floor-to-ceiling windows.齐曼女士居住的奥克斯利大厦是这座城市玻璃使用量最大的建筑之一。甚至健身房旁边的卫生间也有落地窗。The Oxley was designed by a firm founded by David Mizan Hashim, a self-described “idealist” who obtained his master’s degree from Harvard in 1986 and launched his company, Veritas, soon after. Veritas says it accepts only projects that aim for green certifications.奥克斯利大厦由戴维·米赞·哈希姆创立的公司设计。哈希姆自称“理想主义者”，1986年在哈佛获得硕士学位，不久后创立了Veritas。该公司表示，只承接以获得绿色建筑认证为目标的项目。But Dr. Hashim acknowledged that his idealism doesn’t always play out, given the trade-offs over aesthetics and performance. “This is the struggle of my life,” he said.但哈希姆承认，考虑到建筑美观与性能之间需要作出取舍，他的理想主义并不总能付诸实践。“这是我一生都在应对的难题，”他说。林立的玻璃摩天大楼是吉隆坡彰显现代感的一个方面。戴维·米赞·哈希姆（中）表示，在追求高效建筑与满足商业期望之间取得平衡“是我一生都在应对的难题”。For one thing, developers of residential high rises don’t wind up paying the energy bills. “So there is less of an incentive for them to go all-out,” Dr. Hashim said.其中一个问题是，住宅高楼的开发商最终并不需要支付能源账单。“因此，他们缺乏全力提高能效的动力，”哈希姆说。The Singapore-based company that developed Oxley said in a sustainability report that it works “continuously” to improve the efficiency of its properties, and uses energy-efficient air-conditioning systems and motion-sensor lighting where possible. It says Oxley Towers have “high-quality glazing” that “reduces the need for extensive air-conditioning.”开发奥克斯利大厦的新加坡公司在一份可持续发展报告中表示，公司“持续”致力于提高旗下物业的能源效率，并在条件允许的情况下使用节能空调系统和感应式照明。公司称，奥克斯利大厦采用了“高品质玻璃”，能够“减少对大量使用空调的需求”。Even so, Dr. Hashim said, the building is “not as cutting-edge as it could be.” That’s because the development company wanted a relatively unadorned look, which removed the possibility of adding shading features. “That was an aesthetic choice,” Dr. Hashim said.即便如此，哈希姆说，这栋建筑“没有达到它本可以有的前沿水平”。这是因为开发单位想要相对朴素的外观，因此无法增设遮阳设施。“那是出于美观作出的选择，”哈希姆说。The development company, Oxley Holdings Limited, did not respond to a request for comment.开发公司豪利控股没有回应置评请求。The towers will likely obtain a silver rating from Malaysia’s rating index, the third-highest level, he said, though Dr. Hashim had hoped it could be gold. Ultimately, he said, “it is a building that is being sold.”哈希姆说，这几栋大楼很可能获得马来西亚绿色建筑评级体系的银级认证，这是该体系的第三高等级，尽管他原本希望能达到金级。归根结底，他说，“这是一栋要拿来卖的楼”。The power of air-conditioning空调如何改变一切The glass skyscraper became viable only with the advent of air-conditioning.直到空调问世，玻璃摩天大楼才成为可能。Before then, high rises were built primarily out of heavy masonry, with windows as little cutouts. That aesthetic now looks old-fashioned. But in a 2023 study comparing the energy efficiency of nine New York City high rises, the oldest skyscraper — the Chrysler Building, constructed in 1929 — was by far the best performer.在那之前，高层建筑主要用厚重的砖石建造，窗户只是墙面上一个个小小的开口。这种建筑风格如今看起来已经过时。然而，2023年的一项研究比较了纽约市九栋高层建筑的能源效率，结果发现，其中历史最悠久的摩天大楼——建于1929年的克莱斯勒大厦——能效表现遥遥领先。Even in Malaysia, the first modestly tall buildings looked as if they were in an almost defensive stance against the sun.即使在马来西亚，最早的那些不算太高的高层建筑看起来也几乎像是在对太阳严防死守。The 18-story parliament building of the 1960s, Malaysia’s tallest at the time, came wrapped in a honeycomb-like lattice. The Dayabumi Complex, built in the 1980s, had its windows shrouded behind an ornate white veil inspired by Islamic motifs.1960年代的18层国会大厦是当时马来西亚最高的建筑，外面包裹着蜂窝状格栅。1980年代建成的达雅布米综合体，其窗户隐藏在受伊斯兰图案启发的华丽白色遮挡物后面。Stellios Plainiotis, the chief executive of a facade consulting company in Kuala Lumpur, said Malaysia was “effectively experimenting with what a skyscraper for the tropics should look like.” Some of those ideas now feel “remarkably current,” he said.吉隆坡一家外立面咨询公司首席执行官斯特利奥斯·普莱尼奥蒂斯说，马来西亚“实际上一直在试验热带摩天大楼应该是什么样子”。他说，其中一些想法现在感觉“非常入时”。Critics of the all-glass approach say air-conditioning excused architects to ignore other design lessons about contending with heat. Those include techniques honed over centuries in warm environments, such as the white, sun-reflective facades of Greece or the open, traditional homes of Southeast Asia.全玻璃的批评者说，空调让建筑师有借口忽视其他应对高温的设计经验。这些经验包括数百年在炎热环境中磨练出来的技术，比如希腊白色的反光外立面，或东南亚的开放式传统住宅。马来西亚的200米及以上高层建筑数量仅次于中国、美国和阿联酋，位居世界第四。今年夏天的大多数日子里，马来西亚首都的室外气温都超过了32摄氏度。“Our ancestors, they didn’t go to school. And yet they could build buildings that respond to the climate,” said Abdul Razak Bin Sapian, a professor of architecture at the International Islamic University Malaysia.“我们的祖先没有上过学。但他们能建造适应气候的建筑，”马来西亚国际伊斯兰大学建筑学教授阿卜杜勒·拉扎克·本·萨皮安说。One such example can be seen from the upper floors of the Oxley: a neighborhood, just a half-mile away, that looks from above like a toy village. Surrounded by high rises, it is an island of one- and two-story homes, preserved almost by accident because of colonial-era laws that created an enclave for ethnic Malay ownership.从豪利大厦的高处可以看到一个这样的例子：半英里外的一个街区，从上面看像玩具村庄。它被高楼环绕，是一两层住宅组成的岛屿，几乎像是偶然保留下来的，因为殖民时代的法律为马来族所有权创造了一块飞地。That has left the neighborhood, Kampung Baru, as an architectural time capsule. People hang out in open-air restaurants under ceiling fans, and many homes have large overhangs that ward off the sun. Small windows are covered by horizontal louvers.这使甘榜巴鲁街区成为一个建筑时间胶囊。人们在吊扇下的露天餐厅消遣，许多住宅有宽大的屋檐遮阳。小窗户被水平百叶窗覆盖。在传统的甘榜巴鲁社区，在空调时代到来之前，建筑的设计旨在缓解酷热。贾米亚·凯索特在家中。One of the oldest homes in the neighborhood belongs to Jamiyah Kesot, 71. Constructed of dark timber with a high-pitched roof, it relies on the cooling features from a different time. It is built on stilts, allowing airflow from below. Ms. Kesot’s monthly energy bill is around $15. She uses two floor fans and no air-conditioning.该街区最古老的住宅之一属于71岁的贾米亚·凯索特。这栋房子由深色木材建造，屋顶高耸，依赖的是另一个时代的降温特性。房子有高脚，让空气从下方流通。凯索特每月的能源账单约15美元。她使用两台落地扇，不用空调。“I don’t need it,” said Ms. Kesot, a grandmother of seven who worked on a Texas Instruments assembly line for 37 years before retiring in 2011.“我不需要空调，”凯索特说。她有七个孙辈，曾在得克萨斯仪器公司装配线上工作37年，2011年退休。Most days last summer, the outdoor temperature rose into the 90s. And Ms. Kesot’s home, at least to an unacclimated visitor, still felt punishingly humid. But one afternoon a thunderstorm rolled in. Wind rippled through the louvers, flapping the curtains, and the home filled with fresh air.去年夏天大多数日子，室外温度在摄氏32度以上。凯索特的家，至少对一个不适应的访客来说，仍然感觉闷热难耐。但一天下午，一场雷暴袭来。风穿过百叶窗，吹动窗帘，家中充满新鲜空气。From her living room, as the thunder crackled, Ms. Kesot had no panoramic view of the soaring buildings all around her or the dramatic skies about Kuala Lumpur. For that, she’d have to go outside.在客厅里，雷声噼啪作响，凯索特没有周围高耸建筑的那种全景视野，也看不到吉隆坡那动人心魄的天空。要看的话，她得走到外面去。Chico Harlan是《纽约时报》的全球气候记者。翻译：纽约时报中文网点击查看本文英文版。