Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in an architecture class.
Professor: Up until now, we’ve been talking, uh… talking mostly about traditional residential structures. Today we’re going to look at high-rises, or skyscrapers. Since high-rises are so different from traditional one and two-story buildings, I… I think this will help us see the relationship between culture and engineering in new building design.
Uh, but before we get into the details of that, I want you to think about where in the United States skyscrapers first started to appear. Can anyone take a guess? John?
Male Student: New York has huge skyscrapers. And there’s a lot of them, so I bet it’s New York.
Professor: Some early skyscrapers were built in New York—but was the first one there? Yeah, Mary?
Female Student: How about where my parents are from? They’re from Chicago and they always say it was the home of the first skyscraper.
Professor: That’s it. Here’s an image of a… of what a typical—what an early skyscraper may have looked like.
These first examples were maybe 14, 15 stories tall. Now, of course, skyscrapers are a lot taller… uh, but it was a major architectural feat for the time. What structural problems would architects at the time have had to consider? Someone give me an example of something that is more challenging because of the height of this building. What problems would they have encountered when they tried to build anything that tall?
Female Student: Well… if the building is taller, it’s heavier. And… well… that weight has to go somewhere. So the… the architect would have to design a really strong base—something that could hold all that weight.
Professor: Good! And, at the time, buildings were supported by their walls. So the walls would have to be thicker to support a, uh, a heavier building. The tallest buildings at the time had walls that were so thick that there was limited space, and architects actually had trouble finding people interested in using them. But society was pushing for taller and taller buildings.
Who knows what was going on in the United States in the 1860s and 1870s?
Male Student: People were moving from farms to the cities.
Female Student: And weren’t there some fires in the big cities that destroyed the downtown areas?
Professor: Yes. Both Chicago and New York saw many of their traditional wooden buildings destroyed, and they wanted to rebuild with new materials. At the same time, these cities’ populations were growing at an incredible rate. So, um… so many people arrived at Chicago during this time that the city couldn’t hold them. In 1830, Chicago had only about 100 people living in it. In 1850, that number was up to 30,000. And by 1870 nearly 300,000 people lived in Chicago. In 1871, the Great Chicago fire destroyed many of the traditional buildings downtown. Reconstructed buildings had to be taller just to… just to house everyone!
Now. What changed that made skyscrapers possible? Think about technological advancements.
Female Student: Well there’s mass-produced steel… Because… Wouldn’t mass producing steel help… I mean, since… tall buildings need a lot of steel.
Male Student: Yeah, steel’s a lot stronger and sturdier than what they used to use, right?
Professor: Exactly. Steel girders were… were strong, and architects could make a skeleton frame in the center of the building that could support the building’s weight. Remember they used to support all the weight with the walls? Now, the walls, floors, and ceilings could be suspended from the steel frame. Column-frame construction, as this was called, completely changed the way architects designed buildings. The weight wasn’t put on the walls anymore; it was on the interior frame.
Female Student: So now the walls could be thinner, and, you know… cheaper.
Professor: Good point. So these buildings were more economical to construct. And taking the weight off the walls let architects design with more windows and bigger windows. The availability of natural light because less space was taken up by walls made these buildings far more attractive. So the cultural conditions, combined with the material advances of the time, inspired the invention of skyscrapers, and encouraged the building of taller and taller structures.
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What aspect of architecture is this lecture primarily about? |
Gist-content. It’s mainly about why skyscrapers emerged when they did and what conditions helped their emergence. |
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| ✗ | A The different challenges to consider when constructing different types of buildings |
Only the challenges to one building type are mentioned. |
| ✓ | B The reasons for the timing of a particular type of building |
Correct. The particular type of building discussed is the skyscraper, and the passage is about its initial creation and early developments. |
| ✗ | C The variations in architecture in the 1860s and 1870s |
Variations at that time are not mentioned in the lecture. |
| ✗ | D The reasons why skyscrapers can have larger windows than traditional buildings |
This is merely a supporting detail given near the end of the lecture. |
Narrator: Listen again to part of the lecture. Then answer the question.
Professor: Uh, but before we get into the details of that, I want you to think about where in the United States skyscrapers first started to appear. Can anyone take a guess? John?
Male Student: New York has huge skyscrapers. And there’s a lot of them, so I bet it’s New York.
Professor: Some early skyscrapers were built in New York—but was the first one there?
Narrator: Why does the professor say this:
Professor: But was the first one there?
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Function of What Is Said. The students soon learn that the first skyscraper was constructed in Chicago. |
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| ✓ | A To indicate that the student’s answer is incorrect |
Correct. The professor is asking someone in the class to correct John’s guess. |
| ✗ | B To determine whether the students understood the original question |
He is seeking another answer to the same question, not trying to clarify the question. |
| ✗ | C To point out that there is no way to know which skyscraper was completed first |
On the contrary—the professor knows which skyscraper was the first to be built. |
| ✗ | D To ask for a more specific answer |
The student’s answer is not too general. It is simply incorrect. |
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Why does the woman refer to where her parents are from? |
Organization. They’re from Chicago, home of the first skyscraper. |
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| ✗ | A To explain why she is so interested in architecture |
The student never mentions her interests. |
| ✗ | B To explain how architectural design can vary within a city |
Variations within a city are not mentioned. |
| ✓ | C To explain how she knows where the first skyscraper was built |
Correct. Her parents were from Chicago and have told her that the first skyscraper was built there. |
| ✗ | D To explain where steel is mass-produced |
The location of steel production is not mentioned. |
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What is mentioned in the lecture as a challenge architects faced when designing the first skyscrapers? |
Detail. The primary challenge first faced by architects of skyscrapers was how to handle the additional weight of the building. |
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| ✗ | A Occupants were unwilling to walk up a large number of stairs to reach the top floors. |
The professor does not mention this idea. |
| ✓ | B The additional weight from taller buildings had to be supported. |
Correct. The skeleton frame eventually solved this problem, but this challenge was difficult to solve before steel became mass-produced. |
| ✗ | C Culturally, wooden buildings were still preferred to steel ones. |
The professor implies that some people wanted to stop creating wooden buildings because of the risk of fire. |
| ✗ | D The cost of obtaining the needed materials was sometimes excessive. |
The professor does not mention this idea. |
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According to the professor, what contributed to the increased demand for skyscrapers in some cities? |
Detail. A migration of people from rural areas to cities was causing explosive urban population growth. At the same time, fires burned down many of the existing housing structures in several cities. |
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| ✗ | A The desire for cities to be on the forefront of technological development |
The professor does not mention this idea. |
| ✗ | B The increased weight resting on a taller building’s base |
This is cited as a problem for architects at the time, not as a cause for increased demand of skyscrapers. |
| ✓ | C The population increase in urban city centers |
Correct. Chicago in particular is cited as a city that saw a large influx of residents and had to create more structures to house them. |
| ✗ | D The push for family members to live and work in locations near to each other |
The professor does not mention this idea. |
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According to the lecture, what are two features of skyscrapers that were possible because of the steel skeleton frame? Choose 2 answers. |
Detail. The steel frame was a turning point in building skyscrapers. The weight of the building could now be carried by the frame, not the walls. |
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| ✗ | a The elevator |
The professor does not mention this feature. |
| ✓ | b The thinner walls |
Correct. Thick walls had only been necessary to support the weight of the building. Once the steel frame carried the weight, the walls could be thinned. |
| ✗ | c The number of hallways |
The professor does not mention this feature. |
| ✓ | d The larger windows |
Correct. Because they didn’t need to support the weight of the building, walls could now contain more fragile material. This made more windows and bigger windows possible. |
| ✗ | e The higher ceilings |
The professor mentions that ceilings could be suspended from the steel frame, but there’s no discussion of whether they could be higher as a result. |