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  3. What if architects could build living systems rather than static buildings —

What if architects could build living systems rather than static buildings —

游客2025-03-30  2
问题    What if architects could build living systems rather than static buildings — dynamic structures that modify their internal and external forms in response to changes in their environment? This idea is making waves in the field of architecture. Houses, for example, might shrink in the winter to reduce surface area and volume, thus cutting heating costs. They could cover themselves to escape the heat of the summer sun or shake snow off the roof in winter. Skyscrapers could change their aerodynamic profiles, swaying slightly to distribute increased loads during hurricanes.
   Such "responsive architecture" would depend on two sorts of technology: control systems capable of deciding what to do, and structural components able to change the building’s shape as required. Architects have been working to improve the control systems in buildings for many years, but shape-shifting technology is at a much earlier stage of development.
   One approach being pursued by researchers is to imitate nature. Many natural constructions, including spiders’ webs, are "tensegrity systems" — strong structures made up of many interconnected elements which can be manipulated to change shape without losing their structural integrity. "These structures can bend and twist, but no element in the structure bends and twists, " says Robert Skelton of the Structural Systems and Control Laboratory at the University of California in San Diego. "It’s the architecture of life."
   While Dr. Skelton is working on solving the engineering equations associated with tensegrity systems, Tristan d’Estree Sterk at the Office for Robotic Architectural Media & the Bureau for Responsive Architecture, an architectural practice based in Vancouver, Canada, has begun to construct prototypes of shape-changing "building envelopes" based on tensegrity structures. Lightweight skeletal frameworks, composed of rods and wires and controlled by pneumatic (气动的) "muscles", serve as the walls of a building; adjusting their configuration to change the building’s shape. Mr. Sterk is also developing the "brain" needed to control such a building based on information from internal and external sensors.
   Cars are already capable of monitoring their own performance and acting with a certain degree of autonomy, from cruise-control systems to airbag sensors. Such responsive behavior is considered normal for a car; architects argue that the same sort of ideas should be incorporated into buildings, too. And just as the performance of a car can be simulated in advance to choose the best design for a range of driving conditions, the same should be done for buildings, argues Gian Carlo Magnoli, an architect and the co-director of the Kinetic Design Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is devising blueprints for responsive houses. "We need to evolve designs for the best performing responsive-building models, " he says.
   So will we end up with cities of skyscrapers that wave in the breeze? It sounds crazy. But, says Mr. Sterk, many ideas that were once considered crazy are now commonplace. "Electricity was a strange idea, but now it’s universal, " he says. Dynamic, intelligent, adaptable buildings are "the logical next step", he claims. [br] To which of the following is Magnoli likely to agree?
选项 A、Cruise-control systems should be incorporated into buildings.
B、Architects need to perfect the designs of responsive buildings for the best models.
C、The development of buildings is nothing compared to that of cars.
D、The performance of a building should be monitored in advance.
答案 B
解析 由题干关键词Magnoli将答案定位于第五段最后一句“‘We need to evolve designs for the best performing responsive-building models，’he says．”。由此可知答案为B项“建筑师需要完善有反应建筑的设计方式以便设计出最出色的模型”。第五段提到汽车的cruise-control systems是为了说明自动行为的可行性，建筑领域可以参考其方法，但不能直接套用，故A项错误。C项“建筑的发展根本无法和汽车的发展相提并论”，文章提到两者的发展并不是为了对比，而是为了表明建筑的发展可以从汽车的发展中学习经验，故C项错误。D项是对第六段首句的错误理解，也可排除。因此选择B。
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