II. Replace the words and word combinations in italics (a) by their contextual synonyms
(B).
A) 1. The natural environment is at once a hindrance and a help, and the architect seeks both to
invite its aid and repel its attacks.
2. The architect must foresee destructive potentialities such as fire, earthquake, flood, and disease.
3. The placement and form of buildings in relation to their sites, the distribution of spaces within buildings, and other planning devices are fundamental elements in the aesthetics of architecture.
4. Orientation may control air for circulation and reduce the disadvantages of wind, rain, and snow.
5. Planning may control the environment by the design of architectural forms that may modify the effects of natural forces.
6. The choice of materials is conditioned by their own ability to withstand the environment as well as by properties that make them useful to human beings.
7. One of the architect's jobs is to find a successful solution to both conditions.
B). to look for, to resist, to diminish, people, subversive, to vary, basic, a task
III. Answer the questions.
1. When does the architect begin to work on the project?
2. What are the main aspects of architectural planning?
3. What are the fundamental elements in the aesthetics of architecture?
4. What must the architect control to make buildings habitable and comfortable?
5. What is the planning for use concerned with?
6. What are the major expenses in building?
IV. Give the English equivalents.
отразить атаку; пригодный для жилья; расположение, положение; результаты воздействия солнца, ветра и дождя; создавать влажность и отражать солнце; важное (эффективное) средство контроля; выбор материалов для строительства; способность противостоять воздействиям окружающей среды; отопление, изоляция, кондиционирование воздуха, освещение, акустические методы; функциональное планирование; боковой неф; склеп, ризница, часовня; расходы; влиять на выбор материалов; зависеть от требований заказчика
V. With your partner, speak on the different aspects of architectural planning.
Suggested topics:
Environmental Design
Materials and Techniques
Aesthetic and Functional Criteria in Architecture
Economics and Architectural Planning
Text B. Read the text. Tell about the main functions of architecture
THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE
Architecture is the art and the technique of building, employed to fulfil the practical and expressive requirements of civilized people. Almost every settled society that possesses the techniques for building produces architecture. It is necessary in all but the simplest cultures; without it, man is confined to a primitive struggle with the elements; with it, he has not only a defence against the natural environment but also the benefits of a human environment, a prerequisite for and a symbol of the development of civilized institutions.
The characteristics that distinguish a work of architecture from other man-made structures are (1) the suitability of the work to use by human beings in general and the adaptability of it to particular human activities; (2) the stability and permanence of the work's construction; and (3) the communication of experience and ideas through its form.
All these conditions must be met in architecture. The second is a constant, while the first and the third vary in relative importance according to the social function of buildings. If the function is chiefly utilitarian, as in a factory, communication is of less importance. If the function is chiefly expressive, as in a monumental tomb, utility is a minor concern. In some buildings such as churches and city halls, utility and communication may be of equal importance.
Text C. Read the text and answer the question: What is required for the safety of the structure?
DESIGN CRITERIA
When the
basic theory of static equilibrium for forces acting in any
direction was first applied in structural design in the second
half of the 18
century, the criterion of a safe design seemed obvious enough. The
structure would be safe if it could support its own weight, and
perhaps the weight of a wagon passing over it, or of machinery on a
floor, without overloading any crucial element — arch rib, beam,
column, masonry pier, or tie rod. The strength of these elements
could be assessed by loading specimens to failure, or by similarly
loading specimens of the material if the strength of the element
could then be estimated by simple proportion. For greater safety,
some factor would be allowed on the measured or estimated strengths.
During the
19
century, loads other than the weight of the structure itself
became more important. The development of elastic theories of the
behavior of the main structural elements and some complete structural
systems called for further criteria to bypass the reliance on
strength tests of these elements and systems. Tests were made to
determine both wind loads and the effective loads imposed by moving
locomotives, but the data obtained remained of limited and
somewhat questionable validity for want of adequate understanding of
the nature of these dynamic loads.
In the
first half of the 20
century, design criteria for particular classes of structure — like
steel frames and reinforced-concrete frames — were
progressively codified for normal design in terms of design loads and allowable stresses.
In the last few decades, far more again has been learned about likely loads, particularly wind loads and earthquake shocks.
Text D. Read the text and tell about the subdivisions of Romanesque architecture and its main features.
ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE
The generic term Romanesque is sometimes applied to embrace all the styles of architecture which, in most European countries, followed the Early Christian style and preceded the introduction of the Gothic style, c. 1200. It is often subdivided into pre-Romanesque, which includes the Lombardic, Carolingian, and Ottonian or Rhenish styles as well as Saxon and Romanesque proper, which is taken to have begun c. AD 1000.
From the ancient Roman tradition, the pre-Romanesque architects adopted characteristic features: the semicircular arch, the groined cross vault, and a modified and simplified form of the Corinthian column with its capital of acanthus leaves. Occasionally, at an early period, they used carved fragments of antique buildings. They made important advances upon Roman structural methods in balancing the thrust of heavy vaults and domes by means of buttresses, and in substituting thinner webs supported on the curved stone ribs for the thick vaults used by the Romans.
The Romanesque period lasted two centuries, and was the great age of European monasticism.
The architectural work of the Romanesque period therefor consists almost exclusively on monasteries, cathedrals, parish churches, and castles. Very few domestic buildings have survived.
The
greatest examples of this style are Benedictine abbey church at
Jumieges, Normandy (1036—1066); S. Ambrogio, Milan, Italy, 1140;
Sompting church in Succex, ll
century; Augsburg Cathedral, Germany.
Unit 2
Text A. Read the text and tell about the orders of classical architecture.
ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE
The first step in architecture was simply the replacement of wooden pillars with stone ones, and the translation of the carpentry and brick structural forms into stone equivalents. This provided an opportunity for the expression of proportion and pattern. This expression eventually took the form of the invention or evolution of the stone "orders" of architecture. These orders, or arrangements of specific types of columns supporting an upper section called an entablature, defined the pattern of the columnar facades and upperworks that formed the basic decorative shell of buildings.
The Greeks invented the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders. The Romans added the Tuscan and the Composite.
The oldest order, the Doric, is subdivided into Greek Doric and Roman Doric. The first is the simplest and has baseless columns as those of the Parthenon. Roman Doric has a base and was less massive.
The parts of Greek Doric — the simple, baseless columns, the spreading capitals, and triglyph-metope (alternating vertically ridged and plain blocks) frieze above the columns — constitute an aesthetic development in stone incorporating variants on themes used functionally in earlier wood and brick construction. Doric long remained the favourite order of the Greek mainland and western colonies, and it changed little throughout its history.
The Ionic order evolved later, in eastern Greece. About 600 BC, in Asia Minor, the first intimation of the style appeared in stone columns with capitals elaborately carved in floral hoops — an Orientalizing pattern familiar mainly on smaller objects and furniture and enlarged for architecture.
It developed throughout so called Aeolic capital with vertically springing volutes or spiral ornaments to the familiar Ionic capital, the volutes of which spread horizontally from the centre and curl downward. The order was always fussier and more ornate, less stereotyped than Doric. The Ionic temples of the 6th century exceed in size and decoration even the most ambitious of their Classical successors. Such were the temples of Artemis at Ephesus in Asia Minor and the successive temples of Hera on the island of Samos.
The Corinthian order originated in the 5th century BC in Athens. It had Ionic capital elaborated with acanthus leaves. In its general proportions it is very like the Ionic. For the first time the Corinthian order was used for temple exteriors. Because of its advantage of facing equally in tour directions it was more adaptable than Ionic for corners. There are not many Greek examples of the Corinthian order. The Romans widely used it for its showiness. The earliest known instance of the Corinthian order used on the exterior is the choragic monument of Lysicrates in Athens, 335/334 BC.
A simplified version of the Roman Doric is the Tuscan order. It has a less decorated frieze and no mutules in the cornice.
The Composite order is also a late Roman invention. It combines the elements from all the Greek orders.
Vocabulary
replacement — замена
pillar — столб, колонна, опора
eventually — в конце концов
arrangement — расположение
to define — определять
pattern — модель, образец
shell — (зд.) оболочка, каркас
spreading — простирающийся, распространяющийся
alternating — чередующийся
ridged — имеющий борозды, кромки
plain — (зд.) без узора
to evolve — происходить
intimation — указание, сообщение, намек
elaborately — тщательно (разрабатывать)
to carve — резать, вырезать (по дереву или кости); высекать (из камня)
hoop — o6pyч
fussy — вычурный, аляповатый
to exceed — превышать, превосходить
advantage — преимущество
corner — угол