So, una buncha de architectos have inventados a heat-resistant glue for erecciones, have they? (My real Spanish is pretty damn good, I'm just playing to the gallery, you understand.) Well, why am I not surprised it's a Spanish invention?
Summers down in the Andalusian city of Seville are hot (but let me tell you this, it's bleeding brass monkeys at night between November and March) and so it's not uncommon for plazas in the center to have some form of shelter from the sun. This one above is one of the largest architectural timber structures ever built. Measuring 150 x 70 meters, Parasols, in Plaza de la Encarnación, is made of Kerto-Q (nope, me neither) polyurethane-coated timber beans. The structure is deemed unsuitable for "conventional mechanical joining methods", whatever they may be. Ergo, glue that can withstand up to 70 degrees C of heat. The august body of cleverclogs that was charged with coming up with the sticky stuff was the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research WKI, in Germany. Phew.
Now then, what I'm about to say is by no means revenge on this little post from earlier in the month (my ex- and I are still on good terms) but architects' glue that doesn't melt could only have been invented in Spain. I remember going to Valencia for a long weekend about five years ago and staring, open-mouthed at the exposed brickwork in the bedroom of my (admittedly cheap and nasty) holiday villa. Every third brick had a dollop of mortar on top of it, making the wall looked like it had been mapped out using silly string and a Tim Burton-designed spirit level. I stayed out all night and slept on the beach the next day. [gizmag]


</img> </img> </img> </img>


More...