Types of buildings

The need for buildings of all kinds is great and in many cases urgent. Types of buildings depend upon social formations and the majority of building codes divide buildings into classes based upon the manner of their construction, role in the community or occupancy. According to the role in the community buildings are classified as domestic, industrial, educational, recreational, etc.

The type and the function of a building govern its design, building materials and techniques. But the common and necessary conditions are: (1) its suitability to use by human beings in general and its adaptability to particular human activities, (2) the stability and permanence of its construction.

Housing is prominent among the factors affecting the level of living. The ever growing housing demands have brought to life new methods of construction with great emphasis upon standardization, new level of technological advance utilizing such techniques as offsite prefabrication, precutting, use of reinforced concrete panels and large-scale planning.

Present-day designs for residential construction envisage all modern amenities for a dwelling, they advocate larger, better built and better equipped flats and houses. There is a marked improvement in the heating and ventilating systems as well as in hot-water supply, kitchen and sanitary fittings.

Industrial buildings comprise another significant type of construction. This type of construction involves factories, laboratories, food processing plants, mines, office buildings, laboratories, food processing plants, mines, office buildings, stores, garages, hangars and other storage facilities, exhibition halls, etc.

Each of these functions demands its own structural solution and technique. But in general they may be divided into two classes according to whether the plan must give greater attention to the size and movement of machinery or of persons. The building techniques depend on the type of buildings.

Modern industrial buildings have demonstrated the advantages of reinforced concrete arches, metal frames glass walls and prefabricated standardized mass produced parts. Steel was gradually substituted for iron and permitted wider rooms and larger windows. Windows can be enlarged to the extent that they constitute a large fraction of the wall area.

More serious attention is given to the architectural aspects of industrial building. Integration of all various parts into a pleasing whole is an essential aim, and as a result a number of architecturally good industrial buildings are being erected.

Exercises to the text

2.3.1 Find in the text passages describing the present-day residential and industrial construction and translate them into Russian

Read aloud the passages you’ve translated

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