Unit Three: Four Walls

Critical Thinking Fact or opinion

• Mark each statement according to whether it is a fact or the author’s opinion
• 1.There are not many women architects in Britain compared to men.
• 2. Hadid ‘s style is in the same spirit as some of her contemporaries’ styles.
• 3. She is interested in designing public buildings .
• 4. people are captivated by the spaces she creates within buildings .
• 5. She is interested in giving people the experience of a journey within her buildings
• 6. A
• rchitecture would be more human if there were more architects like Hadid.

Word Focus wall

• Find these expressions with wall in the article and choose the correct meaning
• 1. bang your head against a brick wall
• A. fail to persuade others after trying repeatedly
• B. fail to achieve a goal due to a mistake
• 2. off-the-wall
• A. strange or eccentric
• B. unstable and dangerous
• What do these other expressions wit wall mean?
• 1. can you ask Manuel to stop practicing on his drums? The noise is driving me up the wall .
• 2. the supermarket is closed now , but you can get a few things from that hole in the wall
• 3. architecture firms were up against the wall during the slowdown in construction
• 4. the writing ids on the wall . Unless we improve , we’ll be shut down.
• 5. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Jen had her meeting with the boss
• 6. I was making progress , but now I’ve hit a wall
• Think of examples of the following
• 1. something that drives you up the wall
• 2. a situation where you would have liked to be a fly on the wall
• 3. a company that is up against the wall

Speaking

• Some of the public spaces can have bad associations for people , for example, schools and hospitals look at these places which people in a survey said they didn’t like being in. how do you feel in each of them ? Why?
• 1. a dentist’s office
• 2. an elevator
• 3. an airport departure lounge
• 4. a classroom or lecture hall
• 5. a large open –plan office

• Choose one of the public spaces and discuss how its design could be improved to make people feel more comfortable think about the following
• Shape and size of the space
• Lighting
• Arrangement of furniture
• Other additions music, plants