Sustainable Architecture Lessons from the Ant Reading Answers

Jun 4, 2026

The answers for "Sustainable Architecture - Lessons from the Ant" include 13 questions and are part of the assessment framework for the IELTS General Reading test. Candidates are allotted 20 minutes to complete the reading responses concerning the "Sustainable Architecture - Lessons from the Ant." This portion of the IELTS reading exam consists of various question formats, including Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS and Choose the correct answer.

The answers for "Sustainable Architecture - Lessons from the Ant" offer a comprehensive overview of the passage, explaining that the passage describes how termite mounds inspired the design of the Eastgate Building in Harare, which uses natural ventilation to regulate temperature efficiently. It highlights how this innovative, eco-friendly design reduces energy use, lowers costs, and reflects local environmental and cultural influences. For additional practice with similar reading assessments, candidates can refer to the IELTS Reading Practice Test section.

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Sustainable Architecture - Lessons from the Ant Reading Answers

Termite mounds were the inspiration for an innovative design in sustainable living

Africa owes its termite mounds a lot. Trees and shrubs take root in them. Prospectors mine them, looking for specks ot gold carried up by termites trom nundreds of metres below. And of course, they are a special treat to aardvarks and other insectivores.

Now, Africa is paying an offbeat tribute to these towers of mud. 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.

Termites in Zimbabwe build gigantic mounds inside which they farm a fungus that is their primary food source. This must be kept at exactly 30.5

°C, while the temperatures on the African yeld outside can range from 1.5°C at night

only just above freezing to a baking hot 40°C during the day. The termites achieve this remarkable feat by building a system of vents in the mound. Those at the base lead down into chambers cooled by wet mud carried up from water tables far below, and others lead up through a Hue to the peak of the mound. By constantly opening and closing these heating and cooling vents over the course of the day the termites succeed in keeping the temperature constant in spite of the wide fluctuations outside.

architect mick Pearce used precisely the same strategy wnen designing the tastgate bulldıng, wnich nas no air conditioning and virtually no heating. The building the country's largest commercial and shopping complex uses less than 10% of the energy of a conventional building ns size. These efficiencies translated directly to the bottom line: the Eastgate's owners saved $3.5 million on a $36 million building because an air- conditioning plant didn't have to be imported. These savings were also passed on to tenants: rents are 20% lower than in a new building next door.

The complex is actually two buildings linked by bridges across a shady, glass-roofed atrium open to the breezes. 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.

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 out more than a metre.

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 floors. For winter days, there are small heaters in the vents.

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 3l°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,

, Pearce said. But then his eyes lit up at the challenge.'

Perhaps you could store the summer's heat in water 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 Arup'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 tans at night. The atrium, which tunnels the winds through, can be much cooler. And the air is fresh tar more so than in air-conditioned buildings, where up to 30% of the air is recycled.

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 is 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 tan covers, and the stone used in their 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. The architecture, he says, is a regionalised style that responds to the biospere,

to the ancient traditional stone architecture of Zimbabwe's past, and to local human resources.

Questions 1-5

Choose the correct answer, A, B, C or D.

1. Why do termite mounds have a system of vents?

A. to allow the termites to escape from predators

B. to enable the termites to produce food

C. to allow the termites to work efficiently

D. to enable the termites to survive at night

Answer: C

Supporting statement: "By constantly opening and closing these heating and cooling vents... the termites succeed in keeping the temperature constant"

Keywords: vents, temperature constant

Keyword Location: Paragraph 3, last lines

Explanation: The vents regulate temperature, allowing termites to function efficiently despite extreme external conditions.

2. Why was Eastgate cheaper to build than a conventional bullding?

A. Very few materials were imported.

B. Its energy consumption was so low.

C. Its tenants contributed to the costs.

D. No air conditioners were needed.

Answer: D

Supporting statement: "the Eastgate's owners saved $3.5 million... because an air-conditioning plant didn't have to be imported"

Keywords: saved, air-conditioning, not imported

Keyword Location: Paragraph 4, middle

Explanation: The building was cheaper because it did not require air conditioning systems.

3. Why would a building like Eastgate not work efficiently in New York?

A. Temperature change occurs seasonally rather than dail

B. Pollution affects the storage of heat in the atmosphere.

C. Summer and winter temperatures are too extreme.

D. Levels of humidity affect cloud coverage.

Answer: C

Supporting statement: "with its fantastically hot summers and fantastically cold winters"

Keywords: hot summers, cold winters

Keyword Location: Paragraph 8, line 2

Explanation: Extreme seasonal temperatures in New York make this system unsuitable.

4. What does Ove Arup's data suggest about Eastgate's temperature control system?

A. It allows a relatively wide range of temperatures.

B. The only problems are due to human error.

C. It functions well for most of the year.

D. The temperature in the atrium may fall too low.

Answer: C

Supporting statement: "the temperature of the building has generally stayed between 23°C and 25°C"

Keywords: generally stayed, temperature

Keyword Location: Paragraph 9, line 2

Explanation: The system works effectively most of the time.

5. Pearce believes that his building would be improved by

A. becoming more of a habitat for wildlife.

B. even closer links with the history of Zimbabwe.

C. giving people more space to interact with nature.

D. better protection from harmful organisms.

Answer: A

Supporting statement: "he hoped plants would grow wild... pigeons and bats would move into it"

Keywords: plants, pigeons, bats

Keyword Location: Paragraph 11, line 2

Explanation: Pearce wants the building to support wildlife more.

Questions 6-10

Complete the sentences below with words taken from Reading Passage 1.

Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

6. Warm air leaves the offices through

Answer: ceiling vents

Supporting statement: "drawn out via ceiling vents"

Keywords: ceiling vents

Keyword Location: Paragraph 5, line 3

Explanation: Warm air exits offices through ceiling vents.

7. The warm air leaves the building through

Answer: brick chimneys

Supporting statement: "finally exits through forty-eight brick chimneys"

Keywords: exits, brick chimneys

Keyword Location: Paragraph 5, last line

Explanation: Air leaves the building through chimneys.

8. Heat from the sun is prevented from reaching the windows by -

Answer: cement arches

Supporting statement: "windows are screened by cement arches"

Keywords: screened, cement arches

Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, line 2

Explanation: These block direct sunlight.

9. When the outside temperature drops bring air in from outside.

Answer: big fans

Supporting statement: "big fans flush air through the building"

Keywords: big fans, flush air

Keyword Location: Paragraph 7, line 1

Explanation: Fans bring in cool air at night.

10. On cold days, the temperature in the offices.

Answer: small heaters

Supporting statement: "there are small heaters in the vents"

Keywords: small heaters

Keyword Location: Paragraph 7, last line

Explanation: Heaters warm the building on cold days.

Questions 11-13

Which three parts of the Eastgate Building reflect important features of Zimbabwe's history and culture?

A. entrances

B. quill

C. cages

D. elevators

E. fan covers

F. stone

11. Answer: A (entrances)

Supporting statement: "The design of the entrances is based on the porcupine-quill headdresses"

Keywords: entrances, headdresses

Keyword Location: Paragraph 10, line 2

Explanation: Entrances reflect cultural design.

12. Answer: D (elevators)

Supporting statement: "Elevators are designed to look like the mineshaft cages"

Keywords: elevators, mineshaft cages

Keyword Location: Paragraph 10, line 3

Explanation: Elevators reflect mining history.

13. Answer: F (stone)

Supporting statement: "the stone used... are echoes of Great Zimbabwe"

Keywords: stone, Great Zimbabwe

Keyword Location: Paragraph 10, last line

Explanation: Stone reflects historical architecture.

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