Public buildings (I)

Compared to the number, types, and size of Roman public buildings, Greek public buildings were more limited. Perhaps most important in function were the stoas that lined and defined the agoras. Long rectangular buildings and open on one side to face the agora, these often had an internal row of columns down the middle to support the roof or the upper floor, and small chambers in a row along the back for storekeepers and offices. Following the Classical period, stoas became quite long, as illustrated by the 117-foot (35.7 meters) stoa given to Athens by King Attalos of Pergamum and built c.150 B.C. on the east side of the agora. Various covered halls were built to accommodate small groups of people. The bouletarion*** was one type, designed to house the council, of the polis. The bouletarion of Athens, on the west side of the agora, was larger than most, but the small bouletarion at Priene, built about 200 B.C., survives in better condition. Measuring nearly 60 by 66 feet (18.5 by 20 meters), it had tiers of benches on three sides, providing seating for about seven hundred people, and could probably have housed nearly all the voting citizens of Priene whose total population must have been about four thousand. Around the topmost seats were fourteen supports, reducing the span required of the wooden truss roof to roughly 47% feet (14.5 meters), a considerable span at that time.

* artisan – ремесленник, кустарь

** megaron – греческий дом прямоугольного плана с очагом посередине

*** bouletarion – булевтерион (Дом Совета, здание Сената)

Exercise 4. Translate the words:

chamber, metalwork, production, pottery, unit, rectangle, adapt, line (v., n.), production, type, size, define, agora, upper, house (v), polis, accommodate, survive, reduce, roughly, span, truss.

Exercise 5. Choose the right translation from A to B:

A: line (v), chamber, unit, production, agora, type, internal, external, upper, metalwork, pottery, rectangular, provide, function, row, size, column, consist of, pattern.

B: образец, единица (секция), тип, колонна, ряд, облицовывать, комната, производство, размер, функция, состоять из, верхний, металлоконструкция, агора, гончарное изделие, обеспечивать, прямоугольный, внешний, внутренний.

Exercise 6. Are these meanings correct or incorrect? Correct the mistakes:

metalwork – работа с металлом

type – тип

condition – условие

chamber – палата

pattern – партнер

unit – единица

agora – агора

pitch – конек крыши

pottery – гончарное изделие

roof – крыша

house – вмещать

production – продукт

side – сторона

size – размер

Exercise 7. Translate the following word combinations:

private house, irregular street pattern, central open court, pitched roof, internal column row, upper floor, topmost seats, wooden truss roof, considerable span, public building, pottery production, unit type, single unit, domestic architecture, rectangular structure, city plan.

Exercise 8. Translate the following words as nouns and verbs:

house, span, line, design, pitch, limit, support, face, concrete, plan, feature, cover, project, work, order, level, measure, range, rate.

Exercise 9. Translate the sentences paying attention to Infinitive.

1. Large beams run along the edges of such shells to stiffen them.

2. It is possible to build shells with much less material.

3. Concrete was placed on the cables to create the roof deck.

4. The solution was to carry the entire building on cables suspended from the tops of two towers.

5. There is a truss to keep the towers apart.

6. Walls are made of various materials to serve several functions.

7. An engineer has a lot of work to be done.

8. The walls are designed to support the outer cladding.

9. The lining panels can be removed to give access to the services.

10. Covered halls were built to accommodate small groups of people.

11. These feet-shaped piers are packed with reinforcing rods to take up the tensile stresses.

12. The earth became dense enough to prevent movement.

13. It is important for an engineer to know about different types of the ground.

14. In the 19-th century suspension bridges began to be built of iron chains.

Exercise 10. Read and translate text B with a dictionary. Write five special questions to the text.