Questions 31-34
Choose the correct letter, A, B, or C.
Write your answers in boxes 31-34
on your answer sheet.
31. What point does the lecturer make about property developers?
32. How should daylight normally function in a biophilic interior?
33. What does the lecturer suggest about plants in these interiors?
34. Why does the lecturer give special attention to wood?
(A) is correct. Developers were convinced by measurable gains in worker productivity.
(B) is incorrect. The lecturer says aesthetics were not what persuaded developers.
(C) is incorrect. The talk later says biophilic design can increase costs.
Associated Text:
The argument that has captured commercial attention is the practical one, that biophilic buildings produce measurable gains in worker productivity. Productivity, ultimately, is what has persuaded the property developers, not aesthetics
(A) is incorrect. Daylight is not described as merely decorative.
(B) is correct. Daylight should replace artificial lighting during working hours wherever possible.
(C) is incorrect. The lecturer also mentions light wells, partitions and atria, not just exterior walls.
Associated Text:
Wherever possible, daylight replaces artificial lighting during working hours.
(A) is incorrect. The recording does not support this option: They are useful only when placed near individual desks.
(B) is incorrect. The recording does not support this option: They work best as a single impressive feature.
(C) is correct. The lecturer says plants should be throughout the workplace, including workstations, green walls and planted courtyards.
Associated Text:
Not a single decorative pot in the lobby, but plants throughout, at the workstation, on green walls running through the office, in interior planted courtyards
(A) is correct. Visible wood is said to do most of the work in giving a biophilic interior its characteristic feel.
(B) is incorrect. The recording does not support this option: It is structurally stronger than the other materials.
(C) is incorrect. The recording does not support this option: It keeps building costs lower than concrete does.
Associated Text:
Visible wood does most of the work in giving a biophilic interior its characteristic feel.
Questions 35-40
Complete the notes below.
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
Biophilic design in modern architecture
The correct answer is airports. The speaker identifies major Asian airports as early examples and says airports led early adoption rather than office headquarters.
Associated Text:
airports, perhaps surprisingly, have been important early examples. The new generation of major Asian airports, and Singapore's Jewel Changi terminal is the obvious flagship, have integrated extensive indoor gardens, central tropical waterfalls, and walls of living plants directly into the passenger experience. Airports, with their long dwell times and stressed travellers, have been ideal demonstrators for the technology; they led early adoption rather than office headquarters, as some people assume
The correct answer is hospitals. The lecture says hospitals are a key recent building type for biophilic design, where patients with greenery or natural light recover faster.
Associated Text:
hospitals are another key building type. The biophilic literature on hospitals is now substantial, and the consistent finding is that patients in rooms with views of greenery, gardens, or natural light recover measurably faster than patients in equivalent rooms without those views.
The correct answer is reductions. The lecturer says office workers in biophilic interiors typically show reductions of fifteen to twenty per cent in cortisol, the main stress hormone.
Associated Text:
Reductions of fifteen to twenty per cent in cortisol are typical, and the effect persists across the working week.
The correct answer is attendance. In schools, the speaker says the headline measure that improves is attendance rather than test scores.
Associated Text:
The crucial finding from school studies is on attendance. Classrooms with much higher natural light and direct views of greenery show meaningful reductions in absenteeism, pupil attendance rates rise, sometimes by several percentage points across the year. That school finding is about attendance rather than test scores, which are far harder to attribute
The correct answer is margins. The lecturer says the cost premium is an obstacle in projects where the margins are tight.
Associated Text:
that cost premium has been an obstacle to adoption in projects where the margins are tight.
The correct answer is overhead. The lecturer says the ongoing maintenance overhead is substantial because living plants, water features and living walls need specialist care.
Associated Text:
The ongoing maintenance overhead is substantial, and developers who installed biophilic features without budgeting properly for that maintenance have seen the features degrade visibly within five years.
