New words:

adjacent, a. смежный

attach, v . прикреплять

enclosing, a. ограждающий

encounter, v. сталкиваться

lighting, n. освещение

load-bearing, adj. несущий

oppose, v. сопротивляться, противостоять

resist, v. сопротивляться

step, n. ступенька

vary, v. отличаться, варьироваться, изменяться

1. Give Russian equivalents to the following word combination.

• building techniques

• forces acting on any member of a building

• elements lying below main level

• opposing forces

• basic structural elements

• load-bearing and non-load-bearing elements

• walls attached to the frame of a building

• walls acting only as enclosing elements

• enclosing elements serving for lighting and ventilation

2. Translate the following sentences into Russian paying attention to the meaning of the words ''floor'', ''stor(e)y'', ''level''.

floor – 1) перекрытие; 2) пол; 3) этаж.

stor(e)y – этаж

level – уровень

1. The structure is a steel frame with precast concrete floors and non-load-bearing panel and brick walls.

2. The construction is of load-bearing brick walls with reinforced concrete floor slabs.

3. The first floor plan was divided into ten classrooms and a long corridor.

4. All the equipment was placed on the floor in the main hall.

5. The block is four storeys in height and is zigzag shaped on plan to give privacy to each flat.

6. The door on the left of the main window leads to offices on the upper floors.

7. The block contains fifty-six three-room dwellings and eighty-two two-room flats at fifth floor level.

8. The site of this building was occupied by two houses destroyed in the war and has been developed as two five-storey blocks of offices with ground floors shops.

3. Read and translate the text. Elements of buildings

The ultimate purpose of building techniques is to create a stable structure opposing to different forces. Forces acting on any member of a building are, first, its own weight and, second, the loads it carries, principally from other members but also from persons, furnishings, wind, etc. Their action encounters a reaction in opposing forces that hold the member in place by resisting at its joints and within the member itself. These forces vary according to the strength of materials and the form of the member. These forces are compression, which resists crushing; tension, which resists pulling apart; and bending, which occurs when one part of a member is in compression and the other is in tension.

Any building consists of some basic structural elements. According to their functions all the elements are subdivided into load-bearing and non-load-bearing. The former carry the loads of the upper parts of a building and that of snow, wind, etc. The latter, or so-called enclosing units, separate the building from the environment and give privacy to the adjacent rooms and spaces. Some bearing elements, walls for instance, may be considered as enclosing units too.

Walls can be both internal and external. There are retaining walls that are load-bearing and walls attached to the frame of a building and acting only as enclosing ones. Walls can be classified according to their functions into party walls, cross walls, end walls, side walls; or materials used for the construction: log (timber, wooden) walls, masonry walls of stone, slag blocks, brick, concrete blocks and facing panels.

Floors divide a building into storeys or levels. They carry their own weight and that of partitions, equipment, furniture and people and transmit these loads into walls, columns and beams. Floors can be ground, first, second as well as basement and semi-basement ones.

Stairs are means of communication. They consist of steps which constitute runs of stairs. Stairs are contained in staircases or they are open, or free-standing ones. The access to a staircase is called an entrance door or simply entrance or entry.

Partitions rest on floors and divide a building into individual rooms or spaces. They can be movable, solid, glazed and timber ones or other types and materials.

Windows are enclosing elements and serve for lighting and ventilation. The upper part of a window opening is a window head, the lower is a sill.

Doors are enclosing elements and serve for ensuring the communication between the interiors of a building and the environment.

Ceilings are not the main structural elements of buildings; they are overhead inside surface of rooms or spaces. Nowadays the most widespread type of ceiling in building practice is a suspended one.