📘 Part 3: Buildings and architecture

This episode's vocabulary

Urban sprawl (n) – The uncontrolled expansion of urban areas. → Living in tall buildings can help manage urban sprawl better.

Safety hazard (n) – Something that could be dangerous or cause a risk. → If a building catches fire, it's a major safety hazard for the people on the upper floors.

Crammed into (phr v) – To force a lot of people or things into a small space. → Psychologically, it might not be great to have that many people crammed into enclosed spaces.

In the know (idiom) – Having knowledge or information that most other people do not have. → I'm not really in the know when it comes to my country's architectural history.

Ornate (adj) – Decorated with complex patterns or shapes. → Older Victorian styles often have ornate features, like designs on the beams and panels.

Detest (v) – To dislike someone or something very much. → They seem to love the older styles and absolutely detest the more modern architecture.

Brutalist architecture (n) – A style of architecture characterized by large, plain, and heavy-looking concrete structures. → Many people detest the more modern and brutalist architecture.

Remodel (v) – To change the structure or shape of something, like a building. → Some people like to remodel and redecorate their homes themselves.

License (n) – Formal permission from a person in authority. → If you're renting, you generally don't have much license to make changes.

Make your mark (idiom) – To have an important or lasting effect on something. → Remodeling your own home is a good way of making your mark.

Laid out (phr v) – Arranged in a particular way. → Different places are laid out and designed differently based on various factors.

Ingrained (adj) – (of a habit, belief, or attitude) firmly fixed or established; difficult to change. → The desire to personalize one's home seems to be deeply ingrained in human psychology.

Questions and Answers

Maria: What are the advantages of living in a tall building?

Rory: Well, it's a pretty good use of space. If you can't build horizontally, then vertically is the only way to go. And you can fit more people into cities that way, which can help manage the urban sprawl better and hopefully reduce the impact on the environment.

Maria: And what about the disadvantages?

Rory: I think there are some increased safety hazards. If the building catches fire, for example, it can be much more dangerous to be in a skyscraper compared to a regularly sized building. And psychologically, it might not be great to have that many people crammed into enclosed spaces for prolonged periods.

Maria: Are there many tall buildings in your country?

Rory: Not compared to a place like China or the USA, but we have a fair few, especially in the capital and the second largest city. That's where most of the major construction efforts take place these days. The smaller towns tend to have towers or office blocks that are maybe a dozen stories high at best.

Maria: And has that always been true?

Rory: I think so. I'm not really in the know when it comes to my country's architectural history. It seems logical that it would have been like that in the past though. Infrastructure development in most countries tends to be centered around major cities, doesn't it?

Maria: What kind of interior design style do most people like?

Rory: I really don't know. At a guess, I'd say that older Victorian styles that have been built to last decades and you have all these ornate features, like designs on the beams and panels that hold the buildings up. Even though they have a function, the builders didn't let that stop them from making them beautiful and carving things into them.

Maria: And what makes you say that?

Rory: It's just the impression I get from the way that people talk about buildings. They all seem to love the older styles and absolutely detest the more modern and brutalist architecture, but I could just have a biased sample.

Maria: Why do some people like to remodel and redecorate their homes themselves?

Rory: I imagine it's a way for them to make it feel like the house truly belongs to them. If you're renting, generally speaking, you don't have much license to make changes. Even though you live there and might notice things that could be better. Whereas when you finally own your own home, you can do what you like with it. So remodeling is a good way of making your mark.

Maria: And will that be true in the future?

Rory: Probably, unless something deeply ingrained in human psychology changes.

Maria: Why are different places laid out and designed differently?

Rory: Well, they had different architects with different styles and building codes and they were built at different times. So it makes sense they would have different layouts. Even in places with very strict rules and regulations around these things. It's unusual to have endless blocks that look the same. They'd need to adapt for the climate or the environment.

Maria: Can that change?

Rory: Well, if some universally optimal living space design was invented and we had the materials to build them, it might, but that seems unlikely.

Discussion

Maria: Right dear listener. So tall buildings, buildings. Very often, the examiner asks questions about advantages and disadvantages. What synonyms do we have? Advantages,

Rory: Benefits.

Maria: Or positive sides or positives, disadvantages, drawbacks, negatives, negative sides. And you say that living in tall buildings is a pretty good use of space. So it's a pretty good use of space.

Rory: That's just the way we use the space.

Maria: Vertically. Okay, vertically.

Rory: Up and down.

Maria: Yeah, up and down. You can fit more people into a skyscraper. You can fit, you can put more people in tall buildings. So fit people in a tall building. And this helps to manage the urban sprawl. Yeah, this is the word urban sprawl. Urban, city. This means city. Sprawl means

Rory: The spread of a city.

Maria: spread. How a city spreads.

Rory: Throughout the land.

Maria: Yeah, like it used to be a couple of houses, so maybe 10 houses, but then it spreads all over the valley and now everything is a city. So urban sprawl. Usually used in a negative way, right Rory?

Rory: Yeah, I don't think it would ever be a positive thing. It's just endless houses, which is not great for anybody.

Maria: And not only houses, like facilities as well. Restaurants, shopping malls, shops, more shops, more shops. And something could be done to prevent urban sprawl or urban sprawl is the cause of something else, something bad, pollution.

Rory: It's never talked about in a positive light.

Maria: Disadvantages. Safety hazards. Like fire. Hazards, like dangers, risks. So, if you are in a skyscraper and there's a fire. Well, and the person is on the 125th floor. So, hazards. Health hazards, fire hazards. A very common expression, fire hazards, risks, dangers. So if a tall building catches fire, it's difficult to get out. It could be more dangerous, much more dangerous to be in a skyscraper. A tall building, a skyscraper. Then a regular building. So you can say small building, you don't say shorter building. You say regular building, smaller, smaller building.

Rory: Maybe regular-sized building.

Maria: Regular-sized building. There we go. Yeah. So like an antonym. And we can use the word cram. To be crammed into. So a lot of people are crammed into a skyscraper.

Rory: But that just means packed together.

Maria: Right. People are packed into a skyscraper. People are crammed into a skyscraper. So force a lot of people into a small space. For example, on a plane, people are crammed into a plane if it's small. Some planes are small, right?

Rory: Yeah, some planes are tiny.

Maria: Yeah, there's not much space to swing a cat. Yes, so kind of enclosed spaces, enclosed, like closed spaces, surrounded by walls. In your country, dear listener. In Scotland, not so many tall buildings because Rory, do you have a law not to build a building which is taller than, I don't know, 10 floors.

Rory: I don't know. I'm not aware of any like that.

Maria: Yeah, because in some towns in England, they have this law, if I'm not mistaken, that the town house, the government building is this tall and you can't build anything that is taller than the most important building in town.

Rory: Okay, well, now that you're describing it, I've heard of these things. I don't know if we have them in our country though. It seems unlikely, but who knows?

Maria: Right, maybe in your country, tall buildings are not allowed not to ruin the skyline, the view, right? And you can say, not compared to China or the USA, I don't have tall buildings, skyscrapers in my country. Maybe in some cities. Even Edinburgh doesn't have many tall buildings.

Rory: No, but that could just be a lack of investment.

Maria: Right, okay. We have very few tall buildings. Not many. Very few. You don't say little, you say very few. Just maybe one or two or three tall buildings in my country. Or you can say, yeah, we have a lot of skyscrapers all over the country.

Rory: You're very lucky. I don't know where they would be coming from if that was true. Maybe China? Does China have lots of skyscrapers?

Maria: Oh, yeah. Yeah, China, the USA. That's it. No, Malaysia, Malaysia, for example. And you can say usually they are towers or office blocks. I am not into architecture. So here you can use this like, I'm not an expert on architecture, but if I were to guess, I'd say that... I'm not into my country's architectural history.

Rory: I don't know anything about it, clearly.

Maria: Yeah, I don't know anything about architecture. That's not my thing. It's okay to say that you don't know because architecture is very specific. So, I am not an expert on architecture. Architecture and architectural history. So the history of architecture in my country.

Rory: I'm not an architectural historian.

Maria: Interior design style, dear listener. So every building has its own design. Interior design inside of a building, we have a certain design. So, people in your country might enjoy minimalist design. And actually, this is a very good answer. You say, well, I'm not an expert on design. I'm not a designer, but at a guess, at a guess, I'm guessing, I don't know, but I'm guessing. At a guess, I'd say minimalist style. So minimal design, neutral colors, everything is low key, beige, white, very simple. So this is fashion. Or you say, I'd say the older styles. In England, we call them Victorian styles, older styles, like Queen Victoria.

Rory: There might even be older ones than that, but I think Victorian is the easiest one.

Maria: Yeah. But again, maybe you don't live in England, dear listener. So you can say, I'd say that minimalist design is very popular these days. And it might be the most popular design style. That's all. You see, we've answered the question.

Rory: That's all you need. You don't need to worry too much about knowing specific statistics about design style.

Maria: You can also say that, oh, people seem to love older styles. I'm not an expert. I don't know what they are called. It's absolutely okay for you not to know. But I'd say that some people detest, they don't like, dislike, detest modern styles and modern architecture. I think many people detest, dislike modern architecture because it might be ugly,

Rory: Brutalist.

Maria: or it's just a boring building, a block of flats, which is boring, ugly and ruins the view. People remodel their houses, or they redecorate their houses.

Rory: But that just means to change the interior in some way.

Maria: It makes them feel that the house belongs to them.

Rory: They make it their own.

Maria: They do it to make their house their own. So remodel your house, redecorate. If we say that this place is laid out in a certain way. What do you mean?

Rory: Oh, that just means that it's designed in a specific way.

Maria: Yeah, we talk about the design of a building.

Rory: The layout, how it looks.

Maria: How it looks. So interior design, exterior design. And we say that different architects have different styles. So architecture and the person who deals with it is called an architect, not an architecturer. Architect. Architect. Architects have different styles and they prefer different designs and different layouts. Okay? A layout of a building. Kind of the shape. No, what's a layout?

Rory: How it looks. The shape would be part of that.

Maria: Oh, okay. The shape of a building. Actually, it's C1, layout.

Rory: Oh, really?

Maria: Yes. The way something is arranged. Usually the layout of the house. The layout of bedrooms in your home, right?

Rory: How they look.

Maria: Yeah, different flats have different layouts. Where's the toilet? Where's the kitchen? So it's a different layout. So different buildings are laid out in different ways. And it's unusual to have endless blocks of flats which look the same. So it's boring to have blocks of flats that are the same. That's why we have different layouts.

Rory: I think so. It might not be safe either. Some buildings are designed for their environment. So they need to take this into consideration.

Maria: Oh yeah, that's true because in some places where it gets very cold, a building has a certain layout. Or in building in places where we have earthquakes, also buildings are built in a different way, right? So, yeah, climate, it depends on the climate. Dear listener. Lovely. How are you doing, dear listener? Is it a difficult topic for you, buildings?

Rory: It's not for us because we've done it so many times.

Maria: Go back and listen to our previous episodes about buildings. All right?

Rory: And on that cheerful note, bye.