5. How did the light come into early English houses?

Greek houses, too, had a courtyard in the middle and round their courtyard ran a covered walk (аллея), its ceiling supported by pillars. There were special women's quarters, usually upstairs on the second storey.

In Rome bricks were used for building and houses were often finished with plaster over bricks on both inside and outside walls. The centre of family life was a garden-courtyard, surrounded by columns and with rooms opening out into it.

The earliest houses in Britain were round, built of wood or wicker basket work (плетение из прутьев) plastered over with clay. In the centre of the house was the hearth (очаг) and light came in through the hole in the roof above it and through the door because there were no windows.

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3. Building materials in the hot climate zones

Cane and leaves are available in the warm-humid zones and grass in the intermediate and subtropical zones. Vine, bamboo and palm - fronds are used for buildings in the warm-humid zones. Because these materials are light, do not store heat, and allow the free passage of air, they are frequently used for making roofs. However, they have a relatively short life span because they deteriorate rapid­ly due to termite attack. They are also highly combustible.

Both hardwoods and softwoods are found in most tropical and subtropical areas with the exception of the hot dry zones. On exter­nal woodwork preservative stains should be used rather than paints which tend to deteriorate fairly rapidly in the hot zones. Extremes of climatic conditions cause dimensional changes producing cracks, splits and warping. Wind-blown sand and grit gradually erode ex­posed timber. In warm-humid zones timber is liable to wet and dry rot and to attack by termites and beetles.

Earth is one of the most widely used traditional building materials in hot-dry lands. Earth is used not only for walls but also for roofs; mud brick vaults and domes are common in countries like Iran and Egypt. Because mud has less strength than most other construction materials, mud walls are built thicker. Partly due to the thickness of mud walls and partly due to its low thermal conductivity, rooms built of mud are much cooler in hot climates than those of any other material. Mud bricks are brittle and do not withstand tension well. For this reason the vault and the dome were evolved in the East. There is a high risk of termite damage in some areas. Walls exposed to weathering and rain require frequent repair work.

Concrete and reinforced concrete are widely used throughout the non-temperate zones. Cement is manufactured locally in many places. Sand is found almost everywhere but it may be contaminated with soluble salts. Suitable aggregate may be difficult to find. Con­crete is most frequently used for the structure, foundations and floor slabs of buildings. Care must be taken when using concrete for walls and roofs. Heat builds up on the exterior of concrete walls and roofs due to solar radiation and surface temperatures usually exceed air temperatures. Then, because concrete walls tend to be thin and con­crete has a low resistance to the passage of heat, heat is conducted into the interior. Salts in aggregates and water can cause corrosion of the reinforcement and subsequent spalling of the concrete cover. In hot-dry areas the rapid evaporation and shortage of water can result in low strength, cracking and high permeability.

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