The concrete age.

Iron was used in the Middle Ages to strengthen stone structures, but in the 18^th century it became an architectural material in its own right. The first iron bridge was built at Coalbrookdale in 1779, and iron was later used in the construction of factories. In structures such as Crystal Palace and the glasshouses at Kew Gardens an iron frame was held in place the glass walls and roof. At Liverpool Street Stations in London the iron and glass roof is supported by a brick end wall and decorated pillars.

Reinforced concrete, which is made of a mesh of steel with concrete over it, can be grey and monotonous, but it gives architecs more scope to create curves. Columns of reinforced concrete can support ceilings from a central point, which means that walls no longer have to take the weight of the building and can be of lighter materials. This encouraged the development of open-plan buildings. In the US architects like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright designed open-plan houses with a steel frame and glass walls, which gave them a light and spacious feel.

Steel frames covered in concrete were used to build skyscrapers. Glass was used for the curtain walls. The invention of lifts made such tall buildings practicable.

Architects continue to experiment with new materials and techniques. London’s Millennium Dome, for instance, is a circular canopy of steel netting covered with glass fibre and coated with Teflon, supported by 12 steel masts and cables.

From «Guide to British and American Culture»

Answer the questions to the text:

1. Where and when was the first iron bridge constructed?

2. What structures was an iron frame used in?

3. What gave structures a light and spacious feel?

4. What Americam architects used steel frames?

5. What frames were used to build skyscrapers?

6. What did London’s Millenium Dome consist of? Describe its structure.

III. Environmental issues

BIO-HISTORY

Under the influence of our developing civilization the environment has been drastically changed. These changes have given rise to a new milieu to which humanity, though having caused these changes itself, has not adapted. However, in order to survive and to protect the environment, we must now find a way not only to adjust to the changes in the environment, but also to compensate for the deleterious effects of our activities. By establishing close links between biological evolution and human history, we can face the challenges of a new era and create har­monious relations with the environment in order to overcome the serious environmental problems of our times.

Life has been tested in unlimited varieties for millions of years, and the most viable species have survived through the powerful selection of evolution. A major direction for bio-history concerns the interactions between the biosphere and humankind in different historical eras. It also concerns the ways that the environment has influenced the evolution of human civilization and has shaped our societies, present and past. Environmental consciousness in the course of human history can be distinguished by a direct focus on action, the progress of mythology, the philosophical interpretation of the natural world and an integrated con­ception of the environment.

Understanding bio-history – new perspectives

Ever since life appeared on Earth, living organisms have engaged themselves in a perpetu­al process of adaptation to their natural environment, as life comes from and depends on nature. Through this struggle, species have been developing and creating their identities. But the only species that developed extensively enough to become conscious of its bio-envi­ronment and provoke alterations through interventions is the human species.

All of human development during the last few thousand years could be interpreted as the result of the struggle for adaptation to the bio-environment. From the most basic needs of survival (water, food, shelter, energy) towards the abso­lute domination of nature, the human being has been observing, deifying, thinking, understanding, controlling and dominating the world into which he was born. Out of this bilateral exchange, behavioral patterns, culture, experience, knowl­edge and science have resulted.

The consequences of this mil­lennium-long development have had such a great and sometimes devastating impact on the envi­ronment that the conservation and protection of bios has grown into one of the most acute needs at the dawn of the third millennium.

We have to learn from the past, and have to realize that most of the fields of bio-environmental interaction between man and nature have already occupied the con­scious thought or unconscious knowledge in previous times and other cultures.

Protection of nature, the urge to dominate it and to have the choice of decision upon natural phenomena, is to be observed in every human society or culture, independently from its geograph­ical location or chronological appearance. These matters become of an important didactic interest in our times.

The understanding of chang­ing environmental circumstances and the fluidity of the environmental protection concept requires the development of a critical appre­ciation of the numerous influences affecting the interactions between humanity and the environment. Bio-history can be seen as a new promising research direction, of interest both to the scientific com­munity and to the general public. Its aim is to bring history and the sciences closer together, with the intention of constructing long and well-founded perspectives on envi­ronmental issues, past and pre­sent. As part of an integrated bio-centric education, the main ideas of bio-history need to be promot­ed worldwide.

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