1. Answer the following questions:

1. Where does the Manege building in Moscow stand? 2. When was this building built? 3. What was the Manege built for? 4. Who worked out the Manege project? 5. What can you say about the roof of this building? 6. What is the Manege used for now?

II. Read and translate the following word combinations:

not a single internal support; cross-wise timber rafters; a major cultural centre; for architectural and technical exhibitions; its architecture still gladdens the eye

III. Translate the following sentences:

1. This building has been described in many building textbooks. 2. There is not a single internal support for the roof. 3. The architecture of this house gladdens the eye by its simplicity. 4. In 1957 this building was turned into an exhibition hall. 5. This is a memorial of Russian victory in 1812.

MOSCOW'S TELEVISION CENTRE

In the north of Moscow, and visible for miles around, rises the giant reinforced concrete tower of the Moscow's TV centre. The tower was built in 1968 to a design by D. Burdin, M. Shkud and L. Shchipakin. Altogether 533-m high, the TV tower has an observation platform and a restaurant at the height of 328 metres. The restau­rant revolves slowly round the tower and offers a splendid circular view of Moscow. Despite its enormous size the tower seems amazingly light. It replaced the old iron-girder tower in Shabolovka Street, built by the engineer I. Shukhov shortly after the Great October Socialist Revo­lution. Yet, unlike its predecessor, this TV tower does not play a purely functional role but is at the same time a most important architectural landmark. The multistory building of the TV centre stands alongside the tower.

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the TV tower in Moscow made of? 2. Who designed the building of the TV centre? 3. What is the height of the Moscow TV tower? 4. What tower did this TV tower replace? 5. What stands alongside the TV tower in Moscow?

II. Read and translate the following word combinations:

giant reinforced concrete tower; visible for miles around; enormous size; a most important architectural landmark; a purely functional role; multistory building; to stand alongside

III. Translate the text using a dictionary:

Environmental Wind Problems Around Buildings.

The rapid increase in height of city office buildings in recent years has resulted in a number of environmental prob­lems. One of these problems is unpleasant wind conditions in pedestrian areas. Such phenomena must be avoided. Wind tunnels, specially prepared to produce the characte­ristic of natural wind, have played an important role in predicting wind problems around buildings. There is an urgent need for architects to give serious consideration to wind effects around the buildings.

Paul's cathedral in london

Si. Paul's Cathedral stands on the site of former Saxon and Norman churches. The latter were destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666 and the present building completed in 1710. is the work of the famous architect Sir Christopher Wien. Londoners have a particular affection for St. Paul's. The 110-meter high dome, containing a remarkable Whispering Gallery, is a prominent landmark towering above the many-storeyed buildings which lines the Thames bank,

Christopher Wren was an architect who had built many buildings. In 1675, he started on his greatest work. For 35 years the building of St. Paul's Cathedral went on. and Wren was an old man before it was finished.

From far away you can see the huge dome with a golden ball and cross on the top. The inside of the cathedral is very beautiful. After looking around, you can climb 263 steps to the Whispering Gallery, which runs round the dome. Il is called so because if someone whispers close to the wall on one side, a person with an ear close to the wall on the other side can hear what is said. Then, if you climb another 118 steps, you will be able to stand outside tut dome and look over London.'

But not only can you climb up. you can also go down underneath the cathedral, into the crypt. Here are buried many great men, including Christopher Wien himself.

EXERCISES

I.Answer the following questions:

1.What was Christopher Wren? 2. How long did it take lo build St. Paul's Cathedral ? 3. What is the height of the building ? 4 What kind of a gallery does this cathedral contain? 5. What is the acoustic phenomenon of the gallery?

II. Translate the ten into Russian using a dictionary:

London has an indefinable character and charm of its own. In this historic city the modern rubs shoulders with the old. The first mayor of London was elected in 1193 but for more than a thousand years before that London had been the place of importance. London survived the Plague which killed nearly 100.000people and the Great Fire which followed. Little damage occurred during World War I, but World War 1 brought tremendous destruction. Many buildings of great historic value were laid in ruins and today the face of London is changed.

NO SKY-SCRAPERS NOW

You cannot easily build towers without altering the landscape and dwarfing historic buildings. That is the problem not only for London but for other cities and other countries. It is a problem to which there is no solution, as we well know.

You cannot, on the other hand, enable a city to grow into the twentieth century without giving it twentieth-century features. The banks, insurance companies, and great export houses need their buildings. But tourists, Britain's greatest invisible export, come to see Westminster Abbey, not Millbank Tower. If you disturb London's character too much, they may not come at all.

The balance of opinion at present is against tall buildings. They are said to be inconvenient not only for the flat dweller but even for the business community.

Businessmen are setting their new offices in spots where it is possible to spread horizontally. Tall buildings efface the traditional landscape in a way which lower-pitched buildings would not. There has been a definite check to high buildings in Britain. The tendency now is towards the low-rise, high-density layout which can house an equal number to the acre without subjecting them to the frightening isolation of the high-flat dweller. It achieves this by making maximum use of the available ground (putting car parks underground) and interspersing moderate-sized blocks with maisonettes and little houses set in pocket-small gardens.

This is said to be more convenient for the inhabitants. The surveys that have been taken indicate that between 8 and 10 per cent of people in medium-sized towns, and 10 to 15 per cent in cities, like living high up. Office builders would like to build upwards than are allowed to.

It is true that much high building is unnecessary and medium-height buildings could function equally well. In some cases, especially as regards the housing for children, it is undesirable. It is also a good deal more expensive.

But these are not the only considerations for a generation which wishes to stamp its ideals on the age. A new technology permitted men to build to the skies, and they could express themselves in no other way. A London skyline consisting of slim, elegant towers interspersed with the older monuments has something to be said for it. Clumsy skyscrapers must be condemned.

EXERCISES