Comprehension check

Все темы данного раздела:

Read the following information about sustainability, matching questions to the answers.
  1) What is sustainability in an ecological point of view? 2) What is the definition of sustainability in the broad sense? "What

Sustainability
  “Our work embraces infrastructure, architecture and product design. We design by challenging – by asking the right questions. We believe the quali

Read the following news and try to guess what ideas they have in common and what problems they deal with.
Eco-terraces: Urban jungle   Eco-terraces are the next big thing in rooftop developments – but, says Stephen Kennett, it pays to have green fingers.   Ov

Sustainable Architecture Questions and Answers
  1. Read some information about Kelly Hart – a green building professional. Then think of some questions you would like to ask him.   Kelly Ha

Read the first part of the text and answer the questions after it.
  Spanning 25 years in the work of Jim Olson of Olson Sundberg Architects, these houses illustrate the evolution of a sustainable design sensibility rooted in the 1960s.

The beginnings.
The first of the three Olson houses, designed in the late 1960s, is on a steep, densely wooded cliff (near a beach where Olson played as a youth) overlooking south Puget Sound and, in the distance,

The Next Generation
The second house, built in 1992 in the suburb of Kirkland east of Seattle, bursts cheerfully from the landscape instead of hunkering into it. Yet the principle of prospect and refuge is at work her

The 1960s Revisited.
Yet the third house discussed here returns to many of the themes of the first – a “return to roots” brought about in not a small part by the client’s close collaboration in its design. Lik

Keeping it Simple
The client would have none of it – no illusions, no architectural tricks. She wanted simplicity; the living room roof would be flat, its windows perceptible as such. The cross axis would be straigh

Decide whether the following statements are true or false according to the text.
  1. These three houses are interesting both for their commonalities and their differences. 2. One thing the houses have in common is relevance to the theory of energy conser

Language development
  14. Fill in the gaps with the words below:   a) inserted b) refuge c) elaborate d) low-key e) ingrained f) watchwords

Complete the sentences with the suitable preposition, if necessary.
  1. respond … the images 2. affinity … a place 3. to be interesting … their commonalities 4. to burst … the landscape 5. suffused … light

Follow-up
  18. Look through some information about underground construction and answer the following questions:   1. Is it possible to build underground

Advantages of building underground
  Houses can be built on steep surfaces and can maximize space in small areas by going below the ground. In addition the materials excavated in construction can be used in the buildin

Do this questionnaire to find out how green you are. Make use of the list of unknown words at the end of it. Then discuss the results in class.
    "Going green" has become as mainstream as baseball and apple pie, and Earth Day has morphed from an also-ran government holiday to a full-fledged internati

Builder in Hell
A builder dies and reports to the pearly gates. St. Peter checks his dossier and says, "Ah sorry, you're in the wrong place." So the builder reports to the gates

Read the following news and try to guess what ideas they have in common and what problems they deal with.
A 13th Century village church is aiming to install solar panels as part of an environmentally friendly fund-raising scheme. Parish officials hope the panels will produce

Read the text and check your answers.
Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources — such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat — which are renewable (naturally replenished). In 2006, about 18% of g

Read the text and answer the questions after it.
  What is a passive house?   “Maximising the use of solar energy and minimising heat loss is our credo.” R

Elements of passive solar design
Every passive solar building includes five distinct design elements (see diagram 1): 1. An aperture or collector — the large glass area through which sunlight enters the building.

Lighting and electrical appliances
To minimize the total primary energy consumption, low-energy lighting (such as compact fluorescent lamps), and high-efficiency electrical appliances are normally used.  

Read the following information and try to guess what type of house is described in each paragraph.
The term passive house refers to the rigorous, voluntary, Passivhaus standard for energy efficiency in buildings. This can be achieved by a mixture of energy conservation technolog

Reading task C
  1. Go over the vocabulary list. Consult a dictionary if you need.     assembly (n) proprietor (n) r

Building for the future
Houses without heating? Long considered only a subject for research projects, this idea has now become a practical reality. Zero-energy houses obtain electricity and heat from the sun free of ch

Read part two and answer the questions after it.
  In conjunction with the local college and other businesses, Fritz is attempting to combine high-technology and ecology in an “intelligent house” in Rosenheim. The windows close when

Comprehension check
  9. Decide whether the following statements are true or false according to the text:   1. Hubert Fritz is a famous German economist.

Language focus
  Match the words to their synonyms:   1) proprietor 6) breakthrough a) overlook f) support 2) estimate 7) squander b) stab

Language development
  Fill in the gaps with the words below making all necessary changes to them:   a) to fulfill low-energy standards b) to lay off

Villa Girasole
The oldest rotating house we have found is Angelo Invernizzi's Villa Girasole (Villa Sunflower) near Verona, Italy. "The two storied and L shaped house rests on a circular base, which is over

Three men and a genie
A project manager, a superintendent, and a field engineer are in Ft. Lauderdale for a two-week period helping out on a project. About midweek they decide to walk up and do

The Cathedral Construction
There's this cathedral that's still being worked on, and the workers have rigged a "cage elevator" inside so they can get material up and down to the upper floor

Warming up
  1. Work with a partner. Which of these people have you heard of? Why are they famous? 2. Read their quotations. Which do you agree with?

The History of Skyscrapers
  The word skyscraper often carries a connotation of pride and achievement. The skyscraper, in name and social function, is a modern expression of the age-old symbol of the world cent

Choose any of them to describe. Use additional information.
  Building City Height Floors Built Burj Dubai Dubai, UAE

Sustainability
The skyscraper as a concept is a product of the industrialized age, made possible by cheap energy and raw materials. The amount of steel, concrete and glass needed to construct a skyscraper is vast

Read the following news and try to guess what ideas they have in common and what problems they deal with.
  Europe's Tallest Skyscraper Bid A proposal for the tallest residential skyscraper in Europe to be built in Leeds has been submitted to planners. The pl

Translate the following word-combinations from the text. Consult a dictionary if you need.
  To rise majestically, to enjoy breathtaking views, to express concern, to whisk up, to come up with something, to lead the way in skyscraper building, downtown Chicago, a proud and

Buildings that Scrape the Sky
  One of the wonders of the modern Ameri­can city is that architectural marvel called the skyscraper. From New York to Miami from Chicago to Dallas, from Seattle to Los Angeles, these

Read the dialogue and fill in the blanks using the words from the box below.
  antenna gargoyles marshy elevator excavated architecture skyscrapers decorated observatory tallest population  

Go over the vocabulary list. Consult a dictionary if you need.
Developer(s) joint venture step down Walk-up(s) affiliate u-shaped pattern Predecessor partner townhouses Crowd-pleaser neighborhood of impact ring Large-scale e

Adding a Notch to the City Skyline
  Commercial-residential complex in Manhattan steps down to nearby walk-ups   Introduction. The developers of a $545-million complex on

Read part III and answer the questions after it.
  Demolition. A three-story brick building in a corner of the site was quickly demolished in two days. But when excavation of the rest of the 200 x 800-ft site began,

Read part IV and answer the questions after it
  Bracing. Gary R. Steficek, SOM's project engineer for the commercial tower, adds that not all of the core bracing continues to the top of the building, either. Some

Read part V and answer the questions after it
  Wind forces. Most skyscrapers have an impermeable envelope. This building project is unusual because both the arcade at grade level and the copper-clad roof are ope

Make sure you can explain the following terms and word combinations from the part called Wind Forces
  Impermeable envelope Wind forces Research director Wind tunnel Boundary layer Round dormers Roof space A four-sto

Language focus
  Match the words to their synonyms:   1) walk-up 6) surround a) access f) tenement 2) design 7) adjacent b) beam g) reflec

Language development
  Fill in the gaps with the words below making all necessary changes to them:   a) to fulfill low-energy standards b) to lay off

Questions Regarding Skyscrapers
The dictionary says (and I trust it’s no lie), a SKYSCRAPER's a VERY TALL BUILDING. Why, howtall, then, is VERY TALL? What rule to apply? Would twenty-si

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The ancient Greeks were probably the first to make up a list of the Seven Wonders—those marvelous structures that no traveler would want to miss. Through the ages, others added to or subtracted fro

Working with Concrete
Concrete (as dry cement) is available in many dry forms and comes as a raw powder in many sizes – in small sacks for the home user, or in huge containers for builders, construction engineers, and m

Disposing of Concrete
In its final form, as waste, concrete is far from being either biodegradable or environmentally friendly. It generally has to be smashed up and removed in chunks. One of the benefits of working wit

Concrete facts
· Global cement production accounts for about 2 billion tonnes of CO2 every year – that’s 5%of all CO2 emissions · Global cement production in 2007 =

The Bed ZED Project, London
The Bed ZED Project, or Beddington Zero Energy Development, is the UK's largest carbon-neutral eco-community in the UK. It was built in 2002 in Wallington, Surrey, Within the London Borough of Sutt

The Findhorn Foundation Eco-Village
On Scotland's north-east coast, near the town of Forres, is the Findhorn Foundation, an intentional community, based upon the values of spirituality and sustainable living. Part of its project is a

Sustainable Architecture Can Help Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions
  By Roger K. Lewis Saturday, June 10, 2006; F05     Carbon dioxide is in the air like never before, but not just as measurable parts per

GKK Design Corporatist Frankfurt Skyscraper
Published on 27-05-2009 by Skyscrapernews.com   Approval has been given for a conservatively designed twin towers to be located in the heart of Frankfurt's skyscraper distric

Milan Convention Centre Offers Glacial Roof
Published on 27-05-2009 by Skyscrapernews.com   Plans are afoot in Milan to build what will be Europe's largest ever indoor convention centre, a building that will be draped

Artotel Eyes Up Shoreditch Hotel Site
Published on 26-05-2009 by Skyscrapernews.com   Scott Brownrigg has designed this futuristic glass clad hotel to stand in Hoxton, currently one of the trendiest areas of East

Skinny Tower Nears Completion In Paraguay
Published on 26-05-2009 by Skyscrapernews.com   Construction is currently underway on an insanely skinny skyscraper which will will be Paraguay's tallest residential tower wh