Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 507
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 507 – PASSAGE – 1
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 507
READING PASSAGE – 1
Homes made of mud
Mud is a very traditional building material and even today, around 50 per cent of the world’s population lives in traditional dwellings made of the material. Only recently, however, has ‘rammed earth’, as the building material is called, appeared on the curricula of modern architecture and engineering schools. Although few laypeople in the West think of it as a building material at all, mud is now being used to create some of the most advanced and sustainable homes.
Martin Rauch, an architect who is championing the use of earth for sustainable construction, explains why: ‘With industrialisation and the growth of the railways from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, it became easier to transport mass-produced building materials in many parts of the world, so it wasn’t necessary to build with earth anymore’. He says, ‘It became a poor man’s material and the image is hard to shake off: But in the past fifteen years, interest in rammed earth construction has re-emerged alongside concerns about human and environmental health.
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Rauch has used the material to build a range of structures including a cinema and his own family home in Austria. The materials he used were local, so minimal energy was needed for their production and transportation. The fact that as much as 47 per cent of anthropogenic carbon-dioxide emissions are attributable to the construction industry in a country like the UK means that sud1 alternative methods are worth considering. What’s more, the ability of earth to moderate humidity and temperature is another advantage, as it reduces the need for costly and energy-hungry central heating and air conditioning.
Not everybody accepts that the future lies in rammed earth construction, however. A central concern of sceptics is durability. The fear is that exposure to rain and moisture will cause walls to slump. However, strong foundations and an overhanging roof to protect walls seem to provide an answer. Indeed, Raud1 designs for ‘calculated erosion’. Every few layers, he inserts stone blocks into the surface of earth walls. These protrude as the earth erodes around them, acting as a buffer against rain running down the surface of the building.
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Research conducted by the Scottish government in 2001 highlights another key issue, however. The longevity of earth buildings in the past was due, in part, to the regular maintenance regimes that were integral to traditional practice. A change of attitude would be necessary for modern earth buildings to survive equally well in a world where ‘maintenance-free’ products such as cement renders and masonry paints characterise the construction industry.
So how does rammed earth construction work? The construction process is not dissimilar to building a sandcastle. Earth is collected, its consistency d1ecked, and organic matter that will decompose is removed. Next, a frame is brought in. The earth is then quite literally rammed into this, layer by layer, either manually or mechanically, using pneumatic rammers. The earth begins to harden and ‘cure’ straightaway and continues to do so for months or years, depending on the local climate.
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This process leaves relatively little room for med1anisation. Anna Heringer, a Royal Institute of British Architects award winner who has extensive experience with rammed earth in the developing world, views the labour-intensive nature of this form of construction as a bonus. ‘We often think of sustainability in terms of high-tech solutions and it isn’t possible for everyone in the world to have these. Building with earth, you can have a lot of people involved – it’s about community spirit too: And those communities have choices. Depending on the earth selected, the colour of a building can be varied, the ramming process can be designed to produce layering effects and the frame can be moulded so patterns are en1bossed in the walls.
Rauch is aware of the limits of the material, however. Certain parts of structures, such as the ceilings, aren’t possible in earth. So he suggests using appropriate local materials, together with mud. In the western world, most earth constructions are actually stabilised rammed earth, where cen1ent is added to the mud. ‘This is the wrong way to do things; says Rauch. ‘If there is cement in the mix, then it’s not real earth. We’ve built for 10.000 years with pure earth’. He feels that the climatic and environmental qualities of the material are lost with such contamination.
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Heringer adds that when cement is mixed with earth, ‘You can’t recycle it. We aren’t building for eternity, some day it will all return to the ground and then there’s the question of environmental in1pact.’ Having used earth in construction around the world, in the monsoons of Bangladesh and dry summers of Morocco, Heringer has proved that cement is not required with innovative, context-specific design.
Questions 1-8
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? Next to each statement, write
TRUE – if the statement agrees with the information
FA LSE – if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information on this
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
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1. Rammed-earth construction methods are now being studied more widely.
2. Some people still regard earth as a low status building material.
3. Rammed-earth construction is actively encouraged in Austria.
4. The temperature inside earth houses can be difficult to regulate.
5. Some people think that buildings made of earth are unlikely to last very long.
6. Rauch refuses to use materials other than mud in the walls he builds.
7. Rauch accepts that buildings made of rammed earth need more maintenance.
8. Rammed-earth construction sometimes makes some use of specialised equipment.
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Questions 9-13
Views of Rauch and Heringer
Heringer: the tact that the process is 9………………………. is a positive aspect it promotes a sense of 10……………………….
Rauch: some parts of buildings, e.g. 11………………………. cannot be made of earth – local materials should be used instead.
Rauch: mixing of concrete and mud is a form of 12………………………. .
Heringer: the presence of concrete makes mud impossible to 13………………………. .
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ANSWERS
1. TRUE
2. TRUE
3. NOT GIVEN
4. FALSE
5. TRUE
6. FALSE
7. NOT GIVEN
8. TRUE
9. LABOUR-INTENSIVE
10. COMMUNITY (SPIRIT)
11. (THE) CEILINGS
12. CONTAMINATION
13. RECYCLE
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