Art

Per-reading

Reading

Post-reading

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Pre-readingSkimming Intensive readi

ngListen and lear

n I

Post-reading

•Discussion•Listen and le

arn II•Pair work•Language poi

nts

Pre-reading What are they? Where are they?

Notre-Dame de Paris

Forbidden City (Beijing)

Sydney Opera House

Look at each picture and describe what you see.

Eiffel Tower (French)

Pyramids (Egypt)

White House (British)

Amphitheatre (Italy)

Skimming When Modernism was invented?

Why was Modernism invented?

Where were most of Gaudi’s works constructed?

Modernism was invented in the 1920s.

Because a group of architects wanted to change society with building that went against people’s feeling of beauty.They wanted their buildings constructed in a way to look unnatural.

Barcelona.

Intensive reading What do the words in bold (in the text ) refer

to?

them

that

his

it

the buildings that look like boxes with flatroofs, sharp corners and glass walls thatact as mirrors

the idea that nature doesn't have any straight lines.

Antonio Gaudi

the new Olympic Stadium in Beijing

Listen and learn I

Listen and learn the man---Antonio Gaudi. (25 June 1852 - 10 June 1926) He was a Catalan architect famous for his unique designs expressing sculptural and individualistic qualities. His works are categorised under the Art Nouveau style of architecture, a precursor to modern architecture

Some of Antonio Gaudi’s works:

文生之家 (Casa Vicens) 奎尔宫 （ Palau Güell )

米拉公寓（ Casa Milà ) 卡尔贝宫（ Casa Calvet)

Post-reading Which two groups can we divide into those

materials mentioned in the text?

Group 1:____________ Group 2:____________Natural materials

earth stone brickwood

Others: reed bambooclay marble

Man-made materials

Steel glass concrete plastic

Others: iron

Discussion Work in groups, and discuss the

following question with your partner:

1. Why do some people think modern buildings look unnatural?

2. Why do they experience them as cold and unfriendly?

• Some people think modern buildings look unnatural because materials in building them cannot be found in nature and the shape of buildings is also unnatural, eg using straight lines, sharp corners and glass walls. People experience them as cold and unfriendly because they are very big, the materials that are used look cold and the buildings themselves are uninviting.

Listen and learn II Listen again and learn more about the 2008

Olympic Stadium in Beijing

Herzog & De Meuron recently were named the winner of an international competition to design the new National Stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The Swiss firm proposed a seemingly random, lattice-like network of concrete strips forming the stadium's bowl shape, resembling a "bird's nest", in the architect's words. Gaps between the concrete structure would be filled with "inflatable cushions", another phrase the architects used to describe their innovative design.

Definitely the most distinctive element in Herzog & De Meuron's winning design is its concrete structure. Appearing random, the concrete ribbons that start at the ground and curve over to the oculus are intersected by more ribbons that wrap the building around its perimeter. This system allows for resistance of forces in multiple directions, while also being the project's primary image generator. Together with the form, it helps to create something that appears like nothing before it in architecture.

Pair work

Work in pairs, describe your feelings about the design of the 2008 Olympic Stadium in Beijing. What idea do you think the architect wants to express?

Language points

1. You will find them designed, planned and built in different styles.

2. To many people modern architecture equals progress.

3. They are decorated with small round windows that remind you of ships, bent roofs, and twenty-foot high walls of glass that make them special when compared with other architecture from the same period.

4. It’s better to use traditional materials in architecture.

5. Every great culture or different period in the past had its own ideas of beauty expressed in art and architecture.

6. Modern buildings impress us because they are huge, but many people do not find them beautiful.

7. Most of Gaudi’s works were constructed in and around Barcelona.

8. Viewed from the top, it looks as if the stadium is covered by a gray net of steel, and it looks just like a bird’s nest made of tree branches.