IELTS Speaking for Success - 🏢 Buildings and architecture (Part 3) + Transcript

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

Get access to our episode archive: https://successwithielts.com/ Why does Rory detest modern styles like Brutalism? Listen as he explains the pros and cons of skyscrapers, why people love remodeling, and how to discuss a topic even when you're not 'in the know'! Tune in and have a great day! - Book a class with Rory here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://successwithielts.com/rory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our course on Phrasal Verbs: https://successwithielts.com/podcourses Transcript: https://successwithielts.com/ Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2025 Podcourses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Oh, what a topic. So why do AILT people enjoy asking questions about buildings? I have no idea. I feel like this is the third time this year we've talked about buildings. I know. Maybe, you know, like, they understand it's difficult. And students struggle to describe buildings in English. And that's why, hey, yeah, let's...

add more questions about freaking buildings. That's why, dear listener, please listen to all our answers and questions about buildings. So this topic seems to be, you know, super popular. Oh, describe your favorite building. Describe a building you dislike. Describe a tall building. Oh, annoying. Oh, no, it's a good chance to recycle vocabulary.

I'm just saying that make sure you listen to all episodes about buildings. What are the advantages of living in a tall building? Well, it's a pretty good use of space. If you can't build horizontally, then vertically is the only way to go. And you can fit more people into cities that way, which can help manage the urban sprawl better and hopefully reduce the impact on the environment. And what about the disadvantages?

I think there are some increased safety hazards. Like if the building catches fire, for example, it can be much more dangerous to be in a skyscraper compared to a regularly sized building and psychologically it might not be great to have that many people crammed into enclosed spaces for prolonged periods. Are there many tall buildings in your country?

Not compared to a place like China or the USA, but we have a fair few, especially in the capital and the second largest city. That's where most of the major construction efforts take place these days. The smaller towns tend to have towers or office blocks. There may be a dozen stories high at best. And has that always been true?

I think so. I'm not really in the know when it comes to my country's architectural history. It seems logical that it would have been like that in the past, though. Infrastructure development in most countries tends to be centered around major cities, doesn't it? What kind of interior design style do most people like? I really don't know. at a guess I'd say the older Victorian styles that have been built to last decades and we have all these ornate features like designs on the beams and panels that hold the buildings up even though they have a function the builders didn't let that stop them from making them beautiful

and carving things into them. And what makes you say that? It's just the impression I get from the way that people talk about buildings. They all seem to love the older styles and absolutely detest the more modern and brutalist architecture, but I could just have a biased sample. Why do some people like to remodel and redecorate their homes themselves? I imagine it's a way for them to make it feel like the house truly belongs to them. If you're renting, generally speaking, you don't have much license to make changes, even though you live there and might notice things that could be better. Whereas when you finally own your own home, you can do what you like.

with it. So remodeling is a good way of making your mark. And will that be true in the future? Probably, unless something deeply ingrained in human psychology changes. Why are different places laid out and designed differently? Well, they had different architects with different styles and building codes, and they were built at different times. So it makes sense they would have different layouts, even in places with very strict rules and regulations around these things.

It's unusual to have endless blocks that look the same. They'd need to adapt for the climate or the environment. Can that change? Well, if some universally optimal living space design was invented and we had the materials to build them, it might, but that seems unlikely. As you know, we now release all of our premium content for free, and it's available for one month. After one month, it goes...

into our super secret archive. To sign up for the archive, click the link in the description below. See you soon. Radio listeners. So tall buildings, buildings. Very often, the examiner asks questions about advantages and disadvantages.

What synonyms do we have? Advantagees, benefits. Or positive sides. Or positives. Disadvantages. Drawbacks. Negatives. Negatives.

sides. And you say that living in tall buildings is a pretty good use of space. So it's a pretty good use of space. That's just the way we use the space. Vertically. Okay, vertically. Up and down. Yeah, up and down.

You can fit more people into a skyscraper. You can fit, you can put more people in tall buildings. So fit people in a tall building. And this helps to manage the urban sprawl. Yeah, this is the word urban sprawl. Urban city. This means city. Sprawl means the spread of a city.

Urban city, sprawl spread. You know, like how a city spreads throughout the land. Yeah, like it used to be like a couple of houses, so maybe like 10 houses, but then it spreads, you know, like all over the valley and now everything is a city. So urban sprawl. Usually used in a negative way, right, Rory? Yeah, I don't think it would ever be a positive thing. It's just endless houses, which is not great for anybody. And not only houses, like facilities as well, restaurants, shopping malls,

shops, more shops, more shops. And something could be done to prevent urban sprawl. Or urban sprawl is the cause of something else, something bad, pollution. It's never talked about in a positive light. Disadvantages. Safety hazards like fire. Hazards like dangers, risks. So, yeah, if...

You are in a skyscraper and there's a fire. Well, and the person is like on the 125th floor. So hazards. Health hazards, fire hazards. A very common expression. Fire hazards. Risks, dangers. So if a tall building catches fire, it's difficult to get out.

It could be more dangerous, much more dangerous to be in a skyscraper. A tall building, a skyscraper. Then a regular building. So you can, like small building, you don't say shorter building. You say regular building, smaller, smaller building. Maybe regular sized building. Regular sized building, there we go. Yeah, so like an an acronym.

And we can use the word cram. to be crammed into. So a lot of people are crammed into a skyscraper. But that just means like packed together. Right. People are packed into a skyscraper. People are crammed into a skyscraper. So like force a lot of people into a small space.

So for example, like on a plane, people are crammed into a plane if it's like small. Some planes are small, right? Yeah, some planes are tiny. Yeah, there's not much space to swing a cat. Yeah, so kind of enclosed spaces, enclosed, like closed spaces, surrounded by walls. In your country, de Lisin, in Scotland, not so many tall buildings, because, like, Rory, do you have a law not to build a building which is taller than, I don't know, like 10 floors?

I don't know. I'm not aware of any like that. Yeah, because, like, in some towns in England, they have this law, if I'm not mistaken, that, like, the townhouse, the government building is this tall and you can't build anything that is taller than the most important building in town. Well, now that you're describing, I've heard of these things. I don't know if we have them in our country, though. It seems unlikely, but who knows? Right. Maybe in your country, like, tall buildings are not allowed, not to ruin the skyline, the view. Right.

And you can say, like, not compared to China or the USA. I don't have tall buildings, skyscrapers in my country. Maybe in some cities. Yeah, like, even Edinburgh doesn't have many tall buildings. No, but that could just be a lack of investment. Right, okay. Like, we have very few tall buildings. Like, not many, like very few.

You don't say little, you say very few. Just maybe like one or two or three tall buildings in my country. Or you can say, yeah, we have a lot of skyscrapers all over the country. You're very lucky. I don't know where they would be coming from if that was true. Maybe China? Does China have lots of skyscrapers? Oh, yeah. Yeah, China. And you say, that's it. No, Malaysia, Malaysia, for example. And you can say usually they are towers or office blocks.

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Conditions apply. Visit Scotiabank.com slash H-I-S-A to learn more. Scotia Bank. You're richer than you think. I'm not into architecture. So here you can use this. Like, I'm not an expert on architecture.

But if I were to guess, I'd say that, do-do. Like, I'm not into my country's architectural history. I don't know anything about it. Really? Yeah, I don't know anything about architecture. That's not my thing. It's okay to say that you don't know because architecture is very specific.

So, like, I am not an expert on architecture. Architecture and architectural history. So the history of architecture in my country. I'm not an architectural historian. Interior design style, dear listener. So every building has its own design. Interior design inside of a building, we have a certain design. So people in your country might enjoy

minimalist design. And actually, this is a very good answer. You say, well, I'm not an expert on design. I'm not a designer. But at a guess, at a guess, I'm guessing, I don't know, but I'm guessing. At a guess, I'd say minimalist style. So minimal design, you know, neutral colors, everything is low key, beige, white. very simple, you know, so this is like, I don't know, fashion. Or you say, I'd say the older styles. In England, we call them Victorian styles, older styles, like Queen Victoria. There might even be older ones than that, but I think Victorian is the easiest one. Yeah.

But again, maybe you don't live in England, dear listener, so you can say like, I'd say that, that minimalist. Design is very popular these days and might be the most popular design style. That's all. You see, we've answered the question. That's all you need. You don't need to worry too much about knowing specific statistics about design style. You can also say that, oh, like, people seem to love older styles. I'm not an expert. I don't know what they're called. It's absolutely okay for you not to know. but I'd say that some people detest, they don't like, dislike, detest, modern styles, and modern architecture. I think many people detest, dislike modern architecture,

because it might be ugly, brutalist. Or it's just a boring building, a block of flats, which is boring, ugly, and ruins the view. people remodel their houses or they redecorate their houses. But that just means to change the interior in some way. It makes them feel that the house belongs to them. They make it their own. They do it to make their house their own. So, remodel your house redecorate.

If we say that this place is laid out in a certain way, What do you mean? Oh, that just means that it's designed in a specific way. Yeah, we talk about the design of a building. The layout, how it looks. How it looks. So interior design, exterior design. And we say that different architects have different styles.

So architecture and the person who deals with it is called an architect, not architecturer, architect. architect. Architects have different styles, and they prefer different designs, and different layouts. Okay, a layout of a building, kind of the shape. No, what's a layout? How it looks. The shape will be part of that. Oh, okay, the shape of a building. Actually, it's C1. Layout. Oh, really? Yes, the way something is arranged. Like, usually the layout of the house. the layout of bedrooms in your home, right? How do they look?

Yeah, like different flats have different layouts. Like, where's the toilet? Where's the kitchen? So it's a different layout. So different buildings are laid out in different ways. And it's unusual to have endless blocks of flats, which look the same. So it's boring to have blocks of flats that are the same. That's why we have different layouts.

I think so. It might not be safe either. Like I say, some buildings are designed for their environment, so they need to take this into consideration. Oh, yeah, that's true. Because, like, in some places where it gets very cold, a building has a certain layout. Or in buildings in places where we have earthquakes,

also buildings are built in a different way, right? So, yeah, climate, it depends on the climate. Hmm, dear listener. Lovely, how are you doing, dear listener? Is it a difficult topic for your buildings? It's not for us because we've done it so many times. Go back and listen to our previous episodes about buildings, all right? Do you know where they can do that?

Where? On the new website. Our new website is up and running. Oh, yes. Sexy! Every recording mentioned that people can now take the respective mock, the topic of the episode on our website. There we go.

I've mentioned it. Congratulations, everyone. Successwithisdiles.com. Okay, go there, check them out. And on that cheerful note, bye. What are the advantages of living in a tall building? Well, it's a pretty good use of space. If you can't build horizontally, then vertically is the only way to go.

And you can fit more people into cities that way, which can help manage the urban sprawl better, and hopefully reduce the impact on the environment. And what about the disadvantages? I think there are some increased safety hazards. Like if the building catches fire, for example, it can be much more dangerous to be in a skyscraper compared to a regularly sized building.

And psychologically, it might not be great to have that many people crammed into enclosed spaces for prolonged periods. Are there many tall buildings in your country? No compared to a place like China or the USA, but we have a fair few, especially in the capital and the second largest city. That's where most of the major construction efforts take place these days. The smaller towns tend to have towers or office blocks that are maybe a dozen stories high at best.

And has that always been true? I think so. I'm not really in the know when it comes to my country's architectural history. It seems logical that it would have been like that in the past, though. Infrastructure development in most countries tends to be centered around major cities, doesn't it? What kind of interior design style do most people like? I really don't know. And I guess, I'd say the older Victorian styles that have been built to last decades and we have all these ornate features like designs on the beams and panels that hold the buildings up.

Even though they have a function, the builders didn't let that stop. them from making them beautiful and carving things into them. And what makes you say that? It's just the impression I get from the way that people talk about buildings. They all seem to love the older styles and absolutely detest the more modern and brutalist architecture, but I could just have a biased sample. Why do some people like to remodel and redecorate their homes themselves? I imagine it's a way for them to make it feel like the house truly belongs.

to them. If you're renting, generally speaking, you don't have much license to make changes, even though you live there and might notice things that could be better. Whereas when you finally own your own home, you can do what you like with it, so remodeling is a good way of making your mark.

And will that be true in the future? Probably, unless something deeply ingrained in human psychology changes. Why are different places laid out and designed differently? Well, they had different architects with different styles and building codes and they were built at different

times. So it makes sense they would have different layouts, even in places with very strict rules and regulations around these things. It's unusual to have endless blocks that look the same. They'd need to adapt for the climate or the environment. Can that change? Well, if some universally optimal living space design was invented and we had the materials to build them, it might, but that seems unlikely. Thank you. You know, I mean you know