BUILDING

TOPIC 1. - READING

Building is the planning of spaces assigned for construction. Constructions can serve for several
purposes such as residential, commercial, industrial, schools, religious, hospitals, and other health
facilities.
In order to get a well-constructed building, the engineer in charge must consider important aspects
such as esthetic, acoustics, lighting, electrical systems, elevators, plumbing, heating, air
conditioning, gas installations, and structural design.
When selecting a terrain for a given building, the local zoning regulations must be consulted, since
they rule the use of spaces for the different applications. The urban construction regulations
include standards and specifications on the functioning and intended use of the edifices. The
standards point out the allowed construction materials and the minimum sizes for each work, while
the specifications include the final result to be obtained, taking into consideration characteristics
such as the permitted forces, stability, permeability of ground, fire resistance, and others.
The design of gas installations must be in accordance to the respective safety regulations, in order
to keep accidents from happening. For seismic zones, rules and regulations are more strict about
the safety of people, buildings and general installations. Demolitions also must be done in
agreement to the urban construction regulations.
Urban edifications include a great variety of constructions such as fences, houses, parking lots,
posts, pavements, scaffoldings, hospitals, hotels, shopping centers, meeting places, historical
edifices, transport stations, dangerous constructions, and others.
Specifications regarding the foundations, height of walls and columns, allowed live loads,
bracing, installations of ducts and tubing must be clearly specified.
Some industrial buildings require points for the supporting of heavier weights, such as
hooks, trolley hoists, reels, traveling cranes and other load elements.

The walls built for several works can be structural, if they are intended for the use of loading, or
they can be architectural, when they are utilized for decorative purposes only or for separating
wards. Slabs can be reticular (or light slabs), which can be used to cover greater clear spaces and
lighter loads or plane slabs used to support larger loads.
Columns are structural elements also used for ornamental purposes. They are divided into
short and long columns, according to their dimensions.

TOPIC 2. - VOCABULARY.
Word French Meaning

Allowed Permis
Bracing renforcement
Clearly clairement
Dangerous dangereux
Demolitions démolitions
Ducts Les conduits
Elevators Ascenseurs

Fences Clôtures
Fire Feu
Heating Chauffage
Hooks Crochets
Planning Planification
Plumbing Plomberie
Posts des postes
Reels Bobines
Reticular Réticulé
Scaffoldings Échafaudages
Strict Severe
Wards Zones désignées

TOPIC 3- OTHER EXPRESSIONS

Expression French meaning

Air conditioning Climatisation

Health facilities infrastructures sanitaires
In agreement to En accord avec
Meeting places Lieux de rencontre
Parking lots places de parking
Shopping centers Centres commerciaux
Traveling cranes Ponts roulants
Trolley hoists chariot roulant
Zoning regulations Règlement de zonage
TOPIC 4.- VERBS

REGULAR
VERBS
Infinitive Past and Past
Participle
assign assigned
consult consulted
cover covered
happen happened
point out pointed out
select selected
separate separated
serve served
TOPIC 5.- EXERCISES
Fill the blanks with the proper words to complete the sentences
1.- ________ is the planning of spaces assigned for construction
2.- Some aspects to be considered to get a well-constructed building are: ___________ ,
___________ , ______________ and _____________ .
3.- Hospitals, hotels, shopping centers, meeting places and historical edifices are some examples of
______________________________ .
4.- ___________ require points for supporting heavy weights.

TOPIC 6.- QUESTIONS

1.- What is building?
2.- Name some types of constructions.
3.- State some aspects to take into consideration in the design of a building.
4.- Who regulates urban constructions?
5.- Why is it necessary to be careful in the design of gas installations?
6.- Name some types of urban constructions.
7.- Why does industrial buildings require special aspects to be considered?
8.- How are slabs divided?
9.- How are columns divided?