Reading
Task. Read the article below and mark the statements YES / NO / NOT GIVEN.
Sustainable architecture - lessons from the ant
Termite mounds were the inspiration for an innovative design in sustainable living
The extraordinary Eastgate Building in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city, is said to be the only
one in the world to use the same cooling and heating principles as the termite mound.
This is all possible only because Harare is 1600 feet above sea level, has cloudless skies, little
humidity and rapid temperature swings days as warm as 31°C commonly drop to 14°C at night.
*You couldn't do this in New York, with its fantastically hot summers and fantastically cold
winters, architect Mick Pearce said. But then his eyes lit up at the challenge. 'Perhaps you could
store the summer's heat in winter somehow.
The engineering firm of Ove Amp & Partners, which worked with him on the design,
monitors daily temperatures outside, under the floors and at knee, desk and ceiling level. Ove
Amp's graphs show that the temperature of the building has generally stayed between 23°C and
25°C with the exception of the annual hot spell just before the summer rains in October, and three
days in November, when a janitor accidentally switched off the fans at night.
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Pearce, disdaining smooth glass skins as 'igloos in the Sahara", calls his building, with its
exposed girders and pipes, 'spiky'. The design of the entrances in based on the porcupine-quill
headdresses of the local Shona tribe. Elevators are designed to look like the mineshaft cages used in
Zimbabwe's diamond mines. The shape of the fan covers, and the stone used in the construction,
are echoes of Great Zimbabwe, the ruins that give the country its name.
Standing on a roof catwalk, peering down inside at people as small as termites below. Pearce
said he hoped plants would grow wild in the atrium and pigeons and bats would move into it like
that termite fungus, further extending the whole 'organic machine' metaphor.
1. Mick Pearce was a designer of Eastgate Building.
2. Mick does not see any perspectives of using the termite mound system of
(1)
[1]
cooling and heating other parts of the world.
3. It is easier to build something similar to Eastgate in countries with warm
[1]
climate rather than cold one.
4. Ove Amp's data suggest that Eastgate's temperature control system functions
[1]
well for most of the year.
5. Some elements of Eastgate Building reflect important features of Zimbabwe's
[1]
history and culture.
6. Pearce believes that his building would be improved by better protection from
[1]
harmful organisms.
Total [6]
writing
Task. Choose ONE of the topics and write two body paragraphs of an essay.
Support your ideas with arguments for and/or against;
Give reasons or examples;
Use appropriate punctuation marks;
Follow the structure using appropriate linking devices.
Topic 1. Is it better to eat healthy or exercise to be healthy?
Topic 2. Should the government spend money on building sustainable cities?
Total [6]
