Unit 21 Being an Architect

1 Introduction2 interface

1.1 Read the text title and hypothesize what the text is about. Write down your hypothesis.

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2. What do you know concerning this issue? List your ideas in the table left column “I know”.

I know that…	I have learnt that…

2. If you know answers to these questions write them down in the space given after each question.

1	What skills must architects possess today?
2	Who is the author of the “Ten Books on Architecture”?
3	How were architects called during the Middle Ages?
4	What two distinct types of architects emerged during the eighteenth century?
5	Who was America’s first great native-born architect?
6	When did architecture become an organized profession?
7	Goo What do American licensure requirements include?

2. Circle in the list the words and expressions you know. Write down their translation in the table and calculate the percentage of your lexical competence.

1	to stir emotions			a big nobody
2	to drum up			a positive effect
3	a master builder			widely applied
4	on-the-job training			an internship
5	in spare time			to meet standards
6	a powdered wig			to be licensed
7	native-born			a hallway
8	a “melting pot”			to seize the idea

The job of the architect has always been to provide shelter from elements. Before anything else, a building must keep inhabitants safe and dry. Creating a protective environment, however, is only the first of the architect’s many responsibilities. Here are just a few of the architect’ tasks:

• Take the client’s long list of functional needs and draw up an arrangement of interconnected spaces

• Shape building materials into permanent structures that enclose the spaces, admit light, and make sure the building doesn’t fall down

• Reach beyond structural and functional necessities to create a design statement that is beautiful and stirs the emotions.

Spaces, in turn, must be organized and shaped to meet a variety of functional needs. At the same time, architecture must rise above mere structural and utilitarian necessity to achieve beauty and make an impression. These daunting tasks require the architect to possess a combination of organizational, technical, and creative talents. Basically, architects have to be good at everything. Architecture is often referred to as a “Renaissance” profession, requiring its practitioners to be well versed in the sciences and the arts. And that is not all architects have to do. Today’s architects must possess business and management skills. They have to drum up work; consult with engineers, landscape architects, lighting designers, and other specialists; supervise design and construction teams; and oversee budgets and project schedules. Architects say it also helps to have the skills of a psychiatrist when calming nervous clients.