Bajeel Worksheet

Warm-Up 1 This is a picture of a bajeel. What do you think it is? 1 2 3 4 Reading 2 3 a b c d e 4 Skim the text on page 2 to check your answer. Match the topic sentences to the paragraphs in the text. The design is actually very simple. The issue of how to cool down buildings in hot countries is, however, not a new one and not one that necessarily needs a modern solution. Today, architects are beginning to incorporate bajeel into contemporary buildings. Thousands of years ago, Persian architects developed a way of cooling down residential buildings and they brought this technology to Dubai. Global warming, depleting energy resources and high oil prices are worldwide problems. Read the text more carefully to answer the questions below. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Closure 5 6 A bajeel is a solution to a problem. Explain the problem and the solution in your own words. Carry out research about another type of traditional architecture. Explain any problem this type of architecture solved and how it did this. Why are modern architects and engineers interested in bajeel? Who designed the first bajeel How tall are the towers? ? a large chimney a lookout tower an air cooling system a tank for rainwater

What information does the writer give which shows us that bajeel are successful? Label the arrows in this diagram. Why did the heat of the sun not heat up the rooms? Where does the writer say we can find modern bajeel being used to cool buildings? What does the writer find surprising about architecture in Dubai?

Author: Joanne Yanova r: Katie Jones. Pearson

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Bajeel Worksheet
Bajeel 1 _____________________________________________________________ They have forced architects and engineers to think about more efficient ways to design buildings. New technologies and materials are being developed which allow water and energy to be used more efficiently and which also reduce the impact that the buildings have on their environment. Although progress is being made, when it comes to buildings in hotter countries, it seems almost impossible to find alternatives to the ubiquitous air-conditioning systems. 2 _____________________________________________________________ Many architects believe that the answer may lie in the backstreets of Dubai. Behind the tallest building in the world, the seven-star hotel in the shape of a sail and the artificial palm-shaped island, lie the true architectural wonders of this city. 3 _____________________________________________________________ Today some of the buildings they built can still be seen. If you walk along the streets of the older neighbourhoods in the city, you will see 5- to 6-metre towers on many of the traditional buildings. These towers are known as bajeel in Arabic (and badgir in Persian). They act as very efficient air coolers. They are able to lower the temperatures inside the houses by as much as 10C. 4 _____________________________________________________________ The ancient architects worked with the environment rather than against it. One side of the tower would catch the wind and force it down into the rooms below. This cool air would then circulate and, as hot air is lighter than cool air, the hot air would be forced upwards, escaping through the vents at the top of the tower. Thick walls of up to 60 cm would prevent the hot sun from heating up the cool air that had become trapped inside the building. 5 _____________________________________________________________ The global ecology department at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California was one of the first contemporary buildings to do so. Constructed in 2003, it uses this ancient technology to successfully cool the lobby area. Another building which makes use of this technology is the Langara College Library and Classroom Building in Vancouver, British Columbia. Completed in 2007, the whole building is cooled solely through the use of wind towers. Perhaps not surprisingly, bajeel are also being seen on modern buildings in Dubai. However, what is amazing is that the vast majority of these modern bajeel are simply architectural features with the buildings still being cooled by powerful air-conditioning units.

Author: Joanne Yanova r: Katie Jones. Pearson

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