Back to the Future of Skyscraper Design Reading Answers

Dec 27, 2022

Back to the Future of Skyscraper Design Reading Answers contains a write up about the invention of the skyscraper. Back to the Future of Skyscraper Design Reading Answers comprising 13 different types of questions. Candidates in this IELTS Section will be shown various question types with clear instructions. Back to the Future of Skyscraper Design Reading Answers comprises three types of questions: Matching heading, sentence completion, and Choose the correct option. For Matching heading in IELTS Reading passage, candidates need to thoroughly go through each passage. For sentence completion, candidates need to skim the passage for keywords and understand the concept. To choose the correct option, candidates must read the IELTS Reading passage and understand the statement provided. To gain proficiency, candidates can practice from IELTS reading practice test.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Back to the Future of Skyscraper Design Reading Answers

A

The Recovery of Natural Environments in Architecture by Professor Alan Short is the culmination of 30 years of research and award-winning green building design by Short and colleagues in Architecture, Engineering, Applied Maths and Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge.

‘The crisis in building design is already here,’ said Short. ‘Policy makers think you can solve energy and building problems with gadgets. You can’t. As global temperatures continue to rise, we are going to continue to squander more and more energy on keeping our buildings mechanically cool until we have run out of capacity.’

Short is calling for a sweeping reinvention of how skyscrapers and major public buildings are designed – to end the reliance on sealed buildings which exist solely via the ‘life support’ system of vast air conditioning units.

Instead, he shows it is entirely possible to accommodate natural ventilation and cooling in large buildings by looking into the past, before the widespread introduction of air conditioning systems, which were ‘relentlessly and aggressively marketed’ by their inventors.

Short points out that to make most contemporary buildings habitable, they have to be sealed and air conditioned. The energy use and carbon emissions this generates is spectacular and largely unnecessary. Buildings in the West account for 40-50% of electricity usage, generating substantial carbon emissions, and the rest of the world is catching up at a frightening rate. Short regards glass, steel and air-conditioned skyscrapers as symbols of status, rather than practical ways of meeting our requirements.

Short’s book highlights a developing and sophisticated art and science of ventilating buildings through the 19th and earlier-20th centuries, including the design of ingeniously ventilated hospitals. Of particular interest were those built to the designs of John Shaw Billings, including the first Johns Hopkins Hospital in the US city of Baltimore (1873-1889).

‘We spent three years digitally modelling Billings’ final designs,’ says Short. ‘We put pathogens* in the airstreams, modelled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards and we found the ventilation systems in the room would have kept other patients safe from harm.

—————-

* pathogens: microorganisms that can cause disease

‘We discovered that 19th-century hospital wards could generate up to 24 air changes an hour – that’s similar to the performance of a modern-day, computer-controlled operating theatre. We believe you could build wards based on these principles now.

Single rooms are not appropriate for all patients. Communal wards appropriate for certain patients – older people with dementia, for example – would work just as well in today’s hospitals, at a fraction of the energy cost.’

Professor Short contends the mindset and skill-sets behind these designs have been completely lost, lamenting the disappearance of expertly designed theatres, opera houses, and other buildings where up to half the volume of the building was given over to ensuring everyone got fresh air.

Much of the ingenuity present in 19th-century hospital and building design was driven by a panicked public clamouring for buildings that could protect against what was thought to be the lethal threat of miasmas – toxic air that spread disease. Miasmas were feared as the principal agents of disease and epidemics for centuries, and were used to explain the spread of infection from the Middle Ages right through to the cholera outbreaks in London and Paris during the 1850s. Foul air, rather than germs, was believed to be the main driver of ‘hospital fever’, leading to disease and frequent death. The prosperous steered clear of hospitals.

While miasma theory has been long since disproved, Short has for the last 30 years advocated a return to some of the building design principles produced in its wake.

Today, huge amounts of a building’s space and construction cost are given over to air conditioning. ‘But I have designed and built a series of buildings over the past three decades which have tried to reinvent some of these ideas and then measure what happens.

‘To go forward into our new low-energy, low-carbon future, we would be well advised to look back at design before our high-energy, high-carbon present appeared. What is surprising is what a rich legacy we have abandoned.’

Successful examples of Short’s approach include the Queen’s Building at De Montfort University in Leicester. Containing as many as 2,000 staff and students, the entire building is naturally ventilated, passively cooled and naturally lit, including the two largest auditoria, each seating more than 150 people. The award-winning building uses a fraction of the electricity of comparable buildings in the UK.

Short contends that glass skyscrapers in London and around the world will become a liability over the next 20 or 30 years if climate modelling predictions and energy price rises come to pass as expected.

He is convinced that sufficiently cooled skyscrapers using the natural environment can be produced in almost any climate. He and his team have worked on hybrid buildings in the harsh climates of Beijing and Chicago – built with natural ventilation assisted by back-up air conditioning – which, surprisingly perhaps, can be switched off more than half the time on milder days and during the spring and autumn.

Short looks at how we might reimagine the cities, offices and homes of the future. Maybe it’s time we changed our outlook.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 14-18:
Reading Passage has nine section, A-I
Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

why some people avoided hospitals in the 19th century

Answer: F
Supporting Sentence: Much of the ingenuity present in 19th-century hospital and building design was driven by a panicked public clamouring for buildings that could protect against what was thought to be the lethal threat of miasmas – toxic air that spread disease.
Keywords: people avoided, hospitals, 19th century,
Keyword Location: Paragraph F in the first lines.
Explanation: These sentences imply that people in the 19th century were fearful (terrified). People were calling out loudly (clamoring) for hospital layouts that would shield them from masters. This indicates that at the time, people were avoiding hospitals.

a suggestion that the popularity of tall buildings is linked to prestige

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: Short regards glass, steel and air conditioned skyscrapers as symbols of status, rather than practical ways of meeting our requirement
Keywords: popularity, tall buildings, linked to prestige,
Keyword Location: Paragraph C, last line.
Explanation:Here, Alan Short suggests that the tall structures (skyscrapers) represent status (prestige).

a comparison between the circulation of air in a 19th-century building and modern standards

Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: We discovered that 19th Century hospital wards could generate up to 24 air changes an hour - that's similar to the performance of a modern-day, computer-controlled operating theatre.
Keywords: comparison, circulation of air, 19th century, modern standards,
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, 1st line.
Explanation: Therefore, we can clearly compare how air is circulated in 19th-century buildings and modern buildings.

how Short tested the circulation of air in a 19th-century building

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: We spent three years digitally modelling Billings’ final designs,’ says Short. ‘We put pathogens* in the airstreams, modelled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards and we found the ventilation systems in the room would have kept other patients safe from harm
Keywords: how, Short tested, circulation of sir, 19th-century building,
Keyword Location: Paragraph D, last line.
Explanation: It is an account of how Short examined the airflow in the 19th-century Johns Hopkins Hospital building.

an implication that advertising led to the large increase in the use of air conditioning

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: Instead, he shows it is entirely possible to accommodate natural ventilation and cooling in large buildings by looking into the past, before the widespread introduction of air conditioning systems, which were ‘relentlessly and aggressively marketed’ by their inventors
Keywords: advertising, large increase, air conditioning
Keyword Location: Paragraph B, last line
Explanation: Relentless and aggressive marketing refers to increasing and extensive advertising. As a result, air conditioner use also climbed.

Questions 19-26:
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 19-26 on your answer sheet.

Ventilation in 19th-century hospital wards

Professor Alan Short examined the work of John Shaw Billings, who influenced the architectural 19 ……………………… of hospitals to ensure they had good ventilation. He calculated that 20 ……………………….. in the air coming from patients suffering form 21……………………… would not have harmed other patients. He also found that the air in 22…………………………. In hospitals could change as often as in a modern operating theatre. He suggests that energy use could be reduced by locating more patients in 23 ………………………. areas.

A major reason for improving ventilation in 19th-century hospitals was the demand from the 24 ………………………….. for protection against bad air, known as 25 …………………………… These were blamed for the spread of disease for hundreds of years, including epidemics of 26…………………………… in London and Paris in the middle of the 19th century.

Question 19: Professor Alan Short examined the work of John Shaw Billings, who influenced the

Architectural ________ of hospitals to ensure they had good ventilation.

Answer: design(s)
Supporting Sentence: Short’s book highlights a developing and sophisticated art and science of ventilating buildings through the 19th and earlier-20th centuries, including the design of ingeniously ventilated hospitals
Keywords: Alan short, examined, John Shaw Billings, influenced, architectural, ensure, ventilation,
Keyword Location: Paragraph D, 1st line.
Explanation: Thus, the lines imply that Alan Short studied John Shaw Billings' works, which had an impact on the architecture of hospitals with excellent ventilation.

Question 20: He calculated that ________would not have harmed other patients.

Answer: pathogens
Supporting Sentence: We put pathogens in the airstreams, modeled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards and we found the ventilation systems in the room would have kept other patients safe from harm
Keywords: calculated, in the air, patients suffering from, would not have harmed, other patients,
Keyword Location: Paragraph D, 2nd line.
Explanation: According to Short, "We spent three years digitally modeling Billings' final drawings." "We modeled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards, put pathogens in the airstreams, and concluded that the ventilation systems in the room would have kept other patients safe from harm." D Digital modeling here refers to computation.

Question 21: He calculated that pathogens in the air coming from patients suffering form ……………………… would not have harmed other patients

Answer: tuberculosis
Supporting Sentence: We put pathogens in the airstreams, modeled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards and we found the ventilation systems in the room would have kept other patients safe from harm
Keywords: calculated, in the air, patients suffering from, would not have harmed, other patients,
Keyword Location: Paragraph D, 2nd line.
Explanation: According to Short, "We spent three years digitally modeling Billings' final drawings." "We modeled for someone with tuberculosis (TB) coughing in the wards, put pathogens in the airstreams, and concluded that the ventilation systems in the room would have kept other patients safe from harm." D Digital modeling here refers to computation.

Question 22: He also found that the air in …………………………. In hospitals could change as often as in a modern operating theatre.

Answer: wards
Supporting Sentence: We discovered that 19th-century hospital wards could generate up to 24 air changes an hour – that’s similar to the performance of a modern-day, computer-controlled operating theatre
Keywords: also found, the air, in hospitals, could change, as often as, modern operating theatre,
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, 1st line.
Explanation: According to the text, hospital wards in the 19th century could produce up to 24 air changes every hour. That is comparable to how a modern, computer-run operating room might operate. Similar to here equals how frequently

Question 23: He suggests that energy use could be reduced by locating more patients in ………………………. Areas.

Answer: communal
Supporting Sentence: Communal wards appropriate for certain patients – older people with dementia, for example – would work just as well in today’s hospitals, at a fraction of the energy cost.
Keywords: suggests, energy use, could be reduced, locating, more patients, areas,
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, 3rd line.
Explanation: Here, energy use could be decreased for a small fraction of the cost of energy. Therefore, the answer is shared.

Question 24 and 25:
A major reason for improving ventilation in 19th-century hospitals was the demand from the…………………….. for protection against bad air, known as …………………………

Question 24:

Answer: Public
Supporting Sentence: Much of the ingenuity present in the 19th Century hospital and building design was driven by a particked public clamoring for buildings that could protect against what was thought to be lethal threat of miasmas - toxic air that spread disease.
Keywords: major reason, improving ventilation, 19th-century hospitals, demand from, for protecting against, bad air, known as,
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, first lines
Explanation: The phrases here imply that the populace wanted protection from miasmas. So, Public is the response.

Question 25:

Answer: Miasmas
Supporting Sentence: Much of the ingenuity present in the 19th Century hospital and building design was driven by a particked public clamoring for buildings that could protect against what was thought to be lethal threat of miasmas - toxic air that spread disease.
Keywords: major reason, improving ventilation, 19th-century hospitals, demand from, for protecting against, bad air, known as,
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, first lines
Explanation: The phrases here imply that the populace wanted protection from miasmas. Miasmas, then, is the solution.

Question 26: These were blamed for the spread of disease for hundreds of years, including epidemics of 26…………………………… in London and Paris in the middle of the 19th century.

Answer: cholera
Supporting Sentence: Miasmas were feared as the principal agents of disease and epidemics for centuries, and were used to explain the spread of infection from the Middle Ages right through to the cholera outbreaks in London and Paris during in 1850s.
Keywords: blamed, spread of disease, hundreds of years, epidemics of
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, lines 3-5
Explanation: Here, the lines imply that cholera epidemics (outbreaks) affected the cities of London and Paris.

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