Unit 1: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

I. PRE-READING
1. Discussion
 Make a Top 10 List of Greatest Engineering Achievements in construction and architecture, from
your point of view. Think of how each of the stated achievements has changed human lives for the better.
 Give examples of structures, the construction of which was more of a threat or hazard than
benefit for the environment, people, animals.
Reading skill: using context to guess an unknown word meaning
During the first reading of an article avoid looking up unfamiliar
words in a dictionary, just keep reading. Use context clues to figure
out their meaning. If you are still unsure of unknown words
meaning, consult an Eng.-Eng. dictionary while second reading.
2. Vocabulary. Read the sentences and tick (√) the correct meaning of the words in
italics.
a. Mimicry [mɪm.ɪ.kri] and camouflage can be often noticed in the animal and plant world.
1. resemblance or imitation of one to another
2. attracting a lot of animals
b. The new discovery challenges the conventional [kənˈven.ʃən.əl] medicine.
1. alternative
2. traditional or ordinary
c. There is not the slightest doubt that the Cotton plant is indigenous [ɪnˈdɪdʒ.ɪ.nəs] to Peru.
1. characteristic of a particular region
2. strong inclination, capacity
d. The heat escape from a cooling mass is effected by conduction or convection, or by both.
1. formal assembly
2. transfer of heat by circulation
e. Scientists dream of a future where an air conditioner unit will suck [sʌk] carbon out of the
sky.
1. absorb, inhale 2. throw out
3. Look at the photos and the text title below and try to make predictions on the text
content.
Reading skill: previewing&making predictions
Previewing helps readers build a context in their mind of what they are going to read.
Text titles, headings, pictures, and diagrams, as well as readers’ personal experiences
can help them anticipate the text content and allow a better interaction with the text.
Making predictions helps the reader improve text comprehension.

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 II. READING
1. Read the article quickly and answer the following questions:
 What does a termite mound have in common with the concept of green building?
Consept of green building precerve natural resources and try to reduces or eliminates
negative impacts, and can create positive impacts, on our climate and natural environment.
The ventilation system in the Eastgate Centre in Zimbabwe was inspired by termite mound
and in this way the air is kept cool in the build without air-conditioning systems.
How do the owners and tenants of the Eastgate Centre benefit from the green project?
The build has no air-conditioning or heating and so reduced the energy consumption . The build
has a ventilations system similar as in termite mound and have no necessity to consume energy
for keeping favourable conditions inside .

Left: The Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe; Right:

termite mound cross-section
(Source: http://www.mickpearce.com/Eastgate.html)
Biomimetic Architecture: Green Building in Zimbabwe Modeled After Termite Mounds
The Eastgate Centre (EC) in Harare, Zimbabwe, typifies the best of green architecture and
ecologically sensitive adaptation. The country’s largest office and shopping complex is an
architectural marvel in its use of biomimicry principles. The mid-rise building, designed by
architect Mick Pearce in collaboration with Arup engineers, has no conventional air-conditioning
or heating, yet stays regulated year round with dramatically less energy consumption using
design methods inspired by indigenous Zimbabwean masonry and the self-cooling mounds of
African termites!
Termites in Zimbabwe build gigantic mounds inside of which they farm a fungus that is their
primary food source. The fungus must be kept at exactly 87 degrees F (30.5°C), while the
temperatures outside range from 35 degrees F (1.6°C) at night to 104 degrees F (40°C) during
the day. The termites achieve this remarkable feat by constantly opening and closing a series of
heating and cooling vents throughout the mound over the course of the day. With a system of
carefully adjusted convection currents, air is sucked in at the lower part of the mound, down into
enclosures with muddy walls, and up through a channel to the peak of the termite mound. The
industrious termites constantly dig new vents and plug up old ones in order to regulate the
temperature.

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The Eastgate Centre, largely made of concrete, has a ventilation system which operates in a
similar way. Outside air that is drawn in is either warmed or cooled by the building mass
depending on which is hotter, the building concrete or the air. It is then vented into the building’s
floors and offices before exiting via chimneys at the top.
The complex consists of two buildings side by side that are separated by a glass-covered atrium
open to the local breezes. Air is continuously drawn from the atrium by fans on the first floor. It
is then pushed up vertical supply sections of ducts that are located in the central spine of each of
the two buildings. The fresh air fed through the hollow floors to low level grilles under the
windows replaces stale air that rises and exits through exhaust ports in the ceilings of each floor.
Ultimately it enters the exhaust section of the vertical ducts before it is flushed out of the
building through 48 chimneys. During summer’s cool nights, big fans flush air through the
building seven times an hour to chill the hollow floors. By day, smaller fans blow two changes of
air an hour through the building, to circulate the air which has been in contact with the cool
hollow floors. For winter days, there are small heaters in the vents.
To keep the harsh, high yeld sun from heating the interior, no more than 25% of the outside is
glass, and all the windows are screened by cement arches that just overhang more than one
metre.
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 Arup's
graphs show that the temperature of the building has generally stayed between 23"C and 25°C.
The atrium, which funnels the winds through, can be much cooler. And the air is fresh far more
so than in air-conditioned buildings, where up to 30% of the air is recycled.
The Eastgate Centre uses less than 10% of the energy of a conventional building its size. These
efficiencies translate directly to the bottom line: Eastgate’s owners have saved $3.5 million alone
because of an air-conditioning system that did not have to be implemented. Outside of being eco-
efficient and better for the environment, these savings also trickle down to the tenants whose
rents are 20 percent lower than those of occupants in the surrounding buildings.
Who would have guessed that the replication of designs created by termites would not only
provide for a sound climate control solution but also be the most cost-effective way for humans
to function in an otherwise challenging context? According to Mick Pearce, the architecture is a
regionalized style that responds to the biosphere, to the ancient traditional stone architecture of
Zimbabwe's past, and to local human resources. Standing on a roof catwalk Mick Pearce
conveyed that he hoped plants would grow wild in the EC atrium and pigeons and bats would
move into it, like that termite fungus, further extending the whole 'organic machine’ metaphor.
(Sources: https://inhabitat.com/building-modelled-on-termites-eastgate-centre-in-zimbabwe/;
https://www.ielts-mentor.com/reading-sample/academic-reading/2792-sustainable-architecture-
lessons-from-the-ant)

2. Read the article again more carefully and choose the best answer A, B, or C.
1. The self-cooling mound of African termites
A. allows its inhabitants to feel comfortable inside, without making any effort
B. requires permanent adjustment of heating and cooling vents
C. has multiple exits, just in case of emergency
2. The system of mound ventilation is determined by
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 A. the need to keep cool temperature inside day and night
B. lack of conventional cooling in the mound
C. the need to farm fungus at constant temperature
3. The ventilation systems of the Eastgate Center and the termite mound are similar, except
A. both use fans to blow fresh cool air to upper levels
B. both have no conventional air conditioning
C. both use principles of convection currents for ventilation.
4. The exchange of heat and air between the inside and outside the EC is regulated
A. through the vents in the walls
B. by means of wind turbines
C. using small heaters in the vents.

3. Try to recall what the following numbers in the text refer to: 20; 3.5 mil.; 2; 30; 87;
48; 7.
Outside of being eco-efficient and better for the environment, these savings also trickle down
to the tenants whose rents are 20 percent lower than those of occupants in the surrounding
buildings.
Eastgate’s owners have saved $3.5 million alone because of an air-conditioning system that
did not have to be implemented.
The complex consists of two buildings side by side that are separated by a glass-covered
atrium open to the local breezes.
And the air is fresh far more so than in air-conditioned buildings, where up to 30% of the air is
recycled
The fungus must be kept at exactly 87 degrees F
The fresh air fed through the hollow floors to low level grilles under the windows replaces stale
air that rises and exits through exhaust ports in the ceilings of each floor. Ultimately it enters the
exhaust section of the vertical ducts before it is flushed out of the building through 48 chimneys
During summer’s cool nights, big fans flush air through the building seven times an hour to chill
the hollow floors
4. Synthesize the text information. Ccomplete the sentences with missing words form
the text.
1. Eastgate Center comprises two buildings ___________________
_______________________________________________.
2. During the night, cool air is __fed into the building through _______the hollow
floors___and is pushed up through the vertical ducts in the central spine core of each
office wing.
3. From the duct the air is fed through the hollow floors to low level .

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 4. As it is warmed by human activity, stale air rise to the vaulted ceiling and is evacuated
through exhaust ports in the ceilings of each floor.
5. Along the ridge of the red tiled roof there are 48 brick ________ topping internal stacks
which _________ the exhaust air out of the floors of offices below.
5. Find in the text the passage describing the circulation of air within the EC
ventilation system and underline the air movement verbs.

6. Look at the diagram bellow and describe the principle of working of the EC
ventilation system.

(Source: http://www.mickpearce.com/Eastgate.html)
7. Critical thinking. Questionnaire.
1. How does the design and architectural elements of the building facilitate its natural
cooling?
2. List some advantages of the natural cooling system from the position of building’s
owners and tenants.
3. Speculate on the facts about the Eastgate project: its effects on local people, environment,
the economic benefits.
4. What is your suggestion on Mick Pearce’s idea of “…further extending the whole
'organic machine’ metaphor”?
5. How do you understand the phrase “a sound climate control solution”? In your opinion,
can this solution work similarly in our region?

8. Translate the passage into Romanian/Russian.

Fans suck fresh air in from the atrium, blow it upstairs through hollow spaces under the floors
and from there into each office through baseboard vents. As it rises and warms, it is drawn out
via ceiling vents and finally exits through forty-eight brick chimneys.

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Ventilatoarele sug aerul inauntru din atrium, il sufla sus prin spatial gol de sub etaje si de acolo
in fiecare oficiu prin guri de ventilatie. Asa cum aerul se ridica si se incalzeste, el este extras prin
ventilatoarele din tavan si in final iese prin 48 de hornuri de caramida.
What word(s) does the underlined pronoun it refer to?
Air

Language focus: back reference

Text autors use back reference to avoid repetition and to have
concise texts. Reference words can be pronouns, linking words,
time expressions.
9. Go back to the text and circle other pronouns, examples of back reference. Justify
their use.
FURTHER READING
10. For more detailed information on Eastgate and other ingenious architectural
projects, log on Mick Pearce’s site http://www.mickpearce.com/downloads.html,
where you can watch the video Eastgate-3 to find inspiration for sustainable and
biomimetic projects or portfolios. Note: while second watching, you can use
subtitles for better reviewing of specialized discourse.
11. Suggested topics for portfolio work:
 Sustainable Urban Development;
 Biomimetic Architecture;
 Eco-friendly Housing
 …

Biomimetic Architecture
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 The term biomimetics or biomimicry originates from the Greek words bios,
meaning life and mimesis, meaning imitate. Biomimetics refers to imitating natural
strategies (not forms) to devise new sustainable solutions. Biomimetic applications
produce innovative and impressive architectural systems. An example of
biomimetic architecture is Chicago Spire
The Chicago Spire has been called the world’s most significant residential
building, featuring 150 floors and 1,194 residences. The slender structure
rotates each floor an average of 2.44 degrees to total 360 degrees from top to
bottom, guaranteeing that no two views are the same.
It is the second tallest building in the world after Burj Khalifa.
The structure is replete with biomorphic elements. Its helical form incorporates the
golden mean and the Fibonacci sequence to closely mirror the spiraling growth of
the nautilus shell.

The sparkling super-structure incorporates a variety of sustainable elements,

including a fluid facade shrouded in high-performance glass that has been designed
to protect migratory birds. All landscaping is maintained via a rainwater
recycling system, and a geothermal system draws river water to cool the building.
The entire interior is outfitted with an Intelligent Building & Energy Management
System, and it bests energy efficiency standards by 15 percent.
The concept of the spiraling tower was conceived from the smoke, emerging
from the native Indian campfires along the edge of Lake Michigan. The swirling
façade was artistically schemed to pay homage to the ancient Americans as well as
to deflect the infamous gusts of Chicago wind. The 610 meters high spire was
deemed to be the tallest building in North America by the year 2012, consisting of
150 floors. Primary design initiated a semi-commercial complex accommodating
250 hotel condominiums, 1200 luxury apartments and a sky observation deck
consolidating the broadcast antenna at the top. The endmost design eliminated
the commercial aspects and converted it into a residential obelisk of 1194 units.
The site was previously zoned for a tower composed of 35 floors and
another of 55. Later, single sleek tower eliminated a couple of wider towers to
minimize the impact of the built form on the migratory birds. Each floor was
designed to be anchored to a central column while offsetting from the lower one in
order to form a twiddle. Structural transition floors were designed after every 30-
40 stories as it transfers stress to the center and maintains rigidity.
Currently, the Chicago Spire adorns the hall of fame for the unaccomplished
ambitions of the windy city Chicago .

I. VOCABULARY
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biomorphic elements - models artistic design elements on naturally occurring
patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms.
Helical- pertaining to or having the form of a helix; spiral.
golden mean - a specific mathematical ratio
high-performance glass- is a broad description that can encompass any added
benefit the glass provides, other than a general, practical component. High
performance glass is most commonly applied to glass that provides (additional)
energy efficiency.
Condominiums- is a large property complex divided into individual units and sold
sleek tower -  smooth, shiny, and therefore looking well cared for; not untidy and
with no parts sticking out: