NO SKY-SCRAPERS NOW

You cannot easily build towers without altering the landscape and dwarfing historic buildings. That is the problem not only for London but for other cities and other countries. It is a problem to which there is no solution, as we well know.

You cannot, on the other hand, enable a city to grow into the twentieth century without giving it twentieth-century features. The banks, insurance companies, and great export houses need their buildings. But tourists, Britain's greatest invisible export, come to see Westminster Abbey, not Millbank Tower. If you disturb London's character too much, they may not come at all.

The balance of opinion at present is against tall buildings. They are said to be inconvenient not only for the flat dweller but even for the business community.

Businessmen are setting their new offices in spots where it is possible to spread horizontally. Tall buildings efface the traditional landscape in a way which lower-pitched buildings would not. There has been a definite check to high buildings in Britain. The tendency now is towards the low-rise, high-density layout which can house an equal number to the acre without subjecting them to the frightening isolation of the high-flat dweller. It achieves this by making maximum use of the available ground (putting car parks underground) and interspersing moderate-sized blocks with maisonettes and little houses set in pocket-small gardens.

This is said to be more convenient for the inhabitants. The surveys that have been taken indicate that between 8 and 10 per cent of people in medium-sized towns, and 10 to 15 per cent in cities, like living high up. Office builders would like to build upwards than are allowed to.

It is true that much high building is unnecessary and medium-height buildings could function equally well. In some cases, especially as regards the housing for children, it is undesirable. It is also a good deal more expensive.

But these are not the only considerations for a generation which wishes to stamp its ideals on the age. A new technology permitted men to build to the skies, and they could express themselves in no other way. A London skyline consisting of slim, elegant towers interspersed with the older monuments has something to be said for it. Clumsy skyscrapers must be condemned.

EXERCISES

I. Answer the following questions:

I. Why is the problem of building skyscrapers so important for.the skyline of a city? 2. What proves the necessity of building horizontally? 3. What is the tendency now in building dwellings? 4. What is the percentage of citizens who like to live high up? 5.In what cases is high building unnecessary? 6.What can be said about a London skyline?

II. Choose the correct variant and complete the sentences. Memorise them:

1. Britain's tourists come to see... (a) modern skyscrapers, b) Westminster Abbey). 2. The balance of opinion at present is... (a) against tall buildings, b) against low buildings). 3. Tall buildings... (a) efface the traditional landscape in London; b) make the traditional landscape more beautiful).

III. Complete the following sentences:

1.It is impossible to build towers without... 2. High buildings are said to be....3. Skyscrapers efface....4. One can see the tendency now towards... 5. It is clear that high buildings are inconvenient for... 6. A London skyline consisting of slim elegant towers lias....

Unit II Builder`s work

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