Wpolstone houses, milton keynes, england

This group of houses, part of a larger development of similar construction, is an example of the application of brickwork in which an external cavity wall construction is used to protect the inner leaf from the weather, particularly rain.

The six-person two-storey house contains three main walls in the long direction; these support the two monopitch roofs and the floor above ground level. The house is unusual in that the main central wall is both an internal and an external wall and is therefore of cavity construction throughout. The house is well insulated especially in the roof. Window sizes are moderate except for the large window on the south-east side where the solar gain into the living room compensates the loss of heat from reduced insulation. Horizontal timber boarding is used on the south-east face as well as in the roof gable ends of the living room.

The object of the structural design is to keep the masonry everywhere in compression, under which it is strong, and reduce tension, under which it is weak. This is best achieved by applying gravity loads down the centre of walls, as here on the south-east wall for example, and providing frequent lateral supports to the walls so that bending and tensile stresses, due to lateral wind forces on walls, are low. The usual disadvantage of masonry, its instability, a direct result of its low tensile strength, is not an important factor in buildings at the scale of this house: roofs, floors and walls at right angles are all available to provide lateral support to the walls. Gravity loads do not cause the sloping rafters to exert horizontal forces at the top of the support walls but do provide the necessary lateral support.

Notes:

monopitch roof односкатная крыша

Ответьте на вопросы к тексту

1. Why is an external cavity wall construction used?

2. What do three main walls in the long direction do?

3. What is the unusual feature of the house?

4. Why is the window on the south-east side a large one?

5. What is the object of the structural design?

6. How is it best achieved?

7. Why isn’t instability of masonry an important factor in these buildings?

Грамматические упражнения

Упражнение 1. Какие времена использованы в тексте?

Упражнение 2. Найдите в тексте группы существительных.

Упражнение 3. Найдите в тексте пример эмоционального использования глагола do.

Лексические упражнения

Упражнение 1. Переведите на русский язык приведённые ниже слова и словосочетания. Если Вы не знаете слово, найдите его в словаре. Выпишите из словаря то значение слова, в котором оно использовано в тексте.

boarding (n.), cavity wall, gravity load, scale (n.), solar (adj.), unusual (adj.).

Упражнение 2. Найдите перевод слов списка А в списке В.

A	B	A	B
застройка	achieve	так как	moderate
этаж	bar	напряжение	occur
каменная кладка	cavity	прямой	provide
умеренный	cheap	встречаться, иметь место	reduce
полость	compression	сжатие	right
недостаток	development	плоский	similar
похожий	disadvantage	снабжать	since
достичь	estimate	поэтому	storey
арматурный прут	flat	оценить	stress
дешёвый	masonry	сокращать	therefore

Упражнение 3. Напишите предложения с каждым из перечисленных ниже слов:

overlap n. - overlap v.

rest n. - rest v. – the rest n.