Assignments

Ex.1. Retell the architect’s biography paying attention to the following items:

1. his childhood;

2. his study;

3. the role of architecture in his life;

4. his career;

5. his most prominent works;

6. his unrealized ideas;

7. disclose the title of the text.

Ex. 2. Find a picture of one of the Bazhenov’s masterpieces, describe the house and compare the architectural style he worked in with any modern one. Use the following word combinations in your answer.

Art Nouveau architecture – архитектура модерна; baroque architecture –архитектура барокко; colonial architecture – колониальный стиль в архитектуре; eternal canons in architecture – вечные архитектурные каноны; Georgian architecture – георгианский стиль в английской архитектуре (стиль 18 – начала 19 века); Greek architecture – архитектура Древней Греции; Renaissance architecture – архитектура Ренессанса.

Ex. 3. Use the following words in the sentences and write down small situations of your own.

1. A kind of house; building materials; made of wood; trees; skins of animals; leaves and grass; primitive people; stone; without cement; earthenhouses; shallow hole of oval shape.

2. Ancient Egyptians; dried bricks in the sun; flat roof; simple in construction; art of building; pyramids; sphinxes; arouse our admiration; art of making columns.

3. Widespread use of steel; reinforced concrete; site; assembly shop; technique; less expensive; less labourous; diversity of architectural styles; alternative; to experience shortage of.

Ex. 4. Comment on the following quotation:

“Architecture has always the function in mind, never itself. It serves the user, supports and optimizes. A building isn’t defined in a specific language, but specializes the extant influences. A house is the logical consequence”.

Ex. 5. Make a report about one of the architects or architectural styles you like.

Speech Exercises

1. Read and memorize the idioms and proverbs on the “home” and “house” words. Use them in the dialogues and monologues.

	A home away from home/a home from home	Второй дом
	Be not at home to anyone	Никого не принимать
	Broken home	Раcпавшаяся семья
	Down-home	Простецкий, непритязательный
	Eat out of house and home	Объедать, разорять
	Hearth and home	Домашний очаг
	House and home	Домашний уют
	In one’s home or room	У себя
	Make yourself at home	Будьте как у себя дома
	Neither house nor home	Ни кола, ни двора
	New home	Новоселье
	Nothing to write home about (разг.)	Ничего особенного, так себе
	Out and home	Туда и обратно
	When my ship comes home	Когда я разбогатею
	At home even the walls help	Дома и стены помогают
	One mustn’t venture into others’ home with a charter of one’s own	Со своим уставом не ходят в чужой монастырь
	Dry bread at home is better than roast meat abroad	В гостях хорошо, а дома лучше
	Home is home(ly)	В гостях хорошо, а дома лучше

Ex. 2. Read the following sentences, add your own and compose the advertisement of the designing company.

1. Dressing rooms are becoming more and more popular in modern apartments. Creating a special room for lodging avoid piling furniture up and maintain light and space in your house.

2. Individual projects, special details of each apartment, and wide range of materials give opportunity to build dressing rooms of any complicity.

3. Laminated panels with thicknesses of 16, 19 and 25 mm and twelve different patterns are used for inner shelves and side walls.

4. Standard dressing room contains wire-net baskets (Norway) with sliding or roller runners, rods, power lifts and drawers are all made-to-measurer. Sliding brackets are proposed in case of small depth (less than 50 cm).

5. For more effective usage of the inner space the room can be equipped with extra sliding accessories: a trousers section, a tie bracket, multi-cell drawers for underwear and small garments, and a shelf for knitted wear with a mesh bottom for “breathing”.

6. The premium quality of plastic and natural wood edging makes the construction look respectable and presentable.

Ex. 3. A. Read the following newspaper ad on rent and make up two ads of your own, describing an apartment and a house.

B. Now act as a real estate agent. Offer your client apartments and houses using the ads. Give a more detailed description of the apartment or the house, your client is interested in. Answer the questions.

A very large 1st floor apartment forming part of a new development located in a prime residential area. Accommodation in the form of a large sitting/dining room on entrance, kitchen/living/dining room, 3 double bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, spare toilet, private washroom and roof space. This is an ideal home for a large family. Finishing works optional.

Ex. 4. Read the text, discuss it in your group. Work in pairs and dramatize the situation where one of you is a landlord and the other is a renter.