3.Opis domu, pomieszczeń domu i ich wyposażenia

Ćwiczenie 3.

Przeczytaj teksty. Wykorzystując zawarte w nich słownictwo, odpowiedz na pytania.

associations, have taken the best
lessons learnt by architects and
realised them as an investment.
Goodbye grim tower block; so Ceilings are 20 cm higher than

long seedy low-rise - modern average to give a more spacious

social housing is enjoying interior - also helped by the huge

a wondrous renaissance. About glazed windows. Everything is

time, too, says Pamela Buxton. built around an open-plan design,

"You feel like you're guinea to accommodate changing

pigs," says Ronald Woolston, one tenants' needs throughout their

of the first inhabitants of the lives. There are wide corridors and

Greenwich Millennium Village, doorways to allow wheelchairs, and

which is taking shape rapidly on a rubber-floored toilet downstairs,

the once-barren peninsula cupping plumbed to take a shower if the

the Millennium Dome. Not that ground floor needs to be converted

he nor his wife Janice mind being to include a bedroom,
experiments - they're too busy For the Woolstons, who are

enjoying the benefits of their coming up to retirement age, the

state-of-the-art, energy-conscious new two-bedroom house is

home, complete with hi-tech a blessing after their three-storey

power points which provide council house where the kitchen

instant Internet plus television was on a different floor to the

and telephone through a single dining room. Despite living on

socket, floor-to-ceiling windows a construction site while the rest

and double-glazing. of the village is built, the couple are

But this is not one of the many glad of the peace and quiet after

luxury penthouses that pepper the rowdy estate they lived on

London's Docklands. It is social before. "It's so lovely and warm,

housing, for rent at just £75.58 per even when it's cold outside. We've

week - no more than the only used two radiators since we've

Woolstons paid for their council been here," says Janice. The

house on a hectic nearby estate. heating bills are only £70

Social housing has finally started a quarter, thanks to good

to challenge the traditional insulation, energy-efficient

stereotypes. Local authorities, in appliances and from a combined

partnership with housing heat and power plant.

A Terrace House Conversion

After 10 years of living in a small house in east London, John and Eleni dreamt of having more space. They didn't want to move, so they decided to give their Victorian terrace home a radical redesign to achieve an open-plan house. The house was in a conservation area, so the outside had to remain unchanged. Inside, however, they decided to rip out everything - walls, ceilings, floors - and start again.

The original house was a typically narrow 19th-century terrace, with two receptions, three bedrooms and a kitchen extension at the back. To maximise space and light, architects Tatiana and Torsten Overburg gave John and Eleni an almost entirely open-plan design. The ground floor became one living space, with a kitchen and dining area at the back. The only conventionally solid wall was for the lavatory. There was a shower room made of glass bricks, and the back wall had sliding-glass doors.

Upstairs, the ceiling rose to the steeply pitched roof and created a double-height space for the main bedroom and the study area. The bathroom was glass-walled and transparent, and Eleni's work room looked out through a glass door onto a roof terrace.

How green is the house? John and Eleni score many green points for renovating an existing house rather than building new. The fact that it's urban is also an eco-plus, as they will be making use of existing roads, shops and public transport and not adding to commuter wear and tear on the environment.

Pytania:

1. Imagine that your family home is about to be redesigned and refurbished. What changes would you like to make? What would you leave unchanged? Give reasons for your choices.

2. How important is it for you to live in a modern building? What are the modern comforts you couldn't live without? Why?

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