7 May 2011

The Metropol Parasol – Largest Wooden Structure in the World

Some think that it is out of place, a blight on the landscape of an ancient city.

Yet many of the residents of Sevilla love the recently opened Metropol Parasol and see it as something which will serve to rejuvenate their city while still nodding to the past beneath it.

It certainly turns heads – and what’s more – it is officially the largest wooden structure in the world.



There are certainly no tears shed for what it replaced.  A car park, long since regarded as an architectural dead space in Sevilla made way for this enormous structure.  As its shape does not signify any particular use it is appropriate that the Metropol Parasol has a number of functions. It also has a number of detractors, of course, who see it as completely out of place and an inappropriate imposition on the skyline of the city.

The Metropol Parasol has a cultural purpose as well as a commercial one. It is an archaeological site – a number of years ago Roman houses were discovered where it now stands and the parasol serves as a cover for these interesting relics of the ancient world.  In fact the presence of these ruins dictated the architecture – to an extent at least. There is also a farmer’s market, a plaza and a number of bars and restaurants which will, it is hoped, serve as a new tourist destination in Sevilla.

Not only that, but there is also a panorama deck at the top of the Metropol Parasol from which wonderful views of this remarkable city can be enjoyed – if you are not afraid of heights and a feeling of being in mid air. A construct with duality - culture and commerce take equal and center stage, the Metropol Parasol is a new icon for Sevilla and indeed for Spain.



Like any huge construction project, this one quickly gained a nickname.  Sevillanos refer to it as the Mushrooms of the Incarnation. It has dimensions of 150 by 70 meters and an approximate height of 26 meters.  That’s some big mushrooms.



The structure is on four levels and is the largest ever wooden construction in the world.  For the architect, Jürgen Mayer H (yes, he placed his middle initial after his last name for some reason) the building presented him with his greatest professional challenge to date as the wood would only support the building through the use of powerful (and expensive) modeling software. One can imagine the messages on his answering service, due to the many voices that praised and put down the choice of this project on this particular site. One thing he will never have to answer for is the beauty of his design.



A building with 8,000 timber elements took a huge amount of computing as, if a single parameter is changed, then it has implications for many of the others.  The wood is not bolted but rather it is connected using steel rods and glue – which was potentially a huge risk considering the baking summer temperatures that Sevilla enjoys (or endures depending on your nature). The glue had to be tested to ensure it could survive the baking heat of a Spanish summer. As such it just happens to be the largest building in the world to be held together by glue – another record.

The shade of the parasol covers 5,000 square meters in the Plaza de la Encarnación and cost a cool 90 million Euros – that’s something over 130 million of your US dollars. Is it worth it? Well you can certainly spend an age studying the multifaceted sculpture like shapes that make up the building. Plus the powerful software used in its design ensured that no two parts of the structure are identical – it is replete with non-repeating elements. Any fan of modern architecture would surely be entranced?


In order to leave the Roman ruins at its base undisturbed the columns of the Metropol Parasol had to be arranged in a somewhat unorthodox way. As a result of this necessity the mushroom torsos where the lifts and stairs lead to the walkways were imagined – with no little ingenuity and perhaps even inspiration.

It is, seen from some quarters as a magnificent thing, audacious, ingenious, resolute and strikingly constant. It is also astonishing in its content, this loading up up of ancient times, the here and now and the future in a single structure.  Its detractors too, find plenty of adjective to describe the parasol.

As a highly complex wood composite structure which sets new levels for timber engineering, the Metropol Parasol is the most intricate and multifaceted timber structure ever assembled. Its exceptionally outsized dimensions, three-dimensional load bearing system and ingenious geometrical appearance have been enormous challenges.  Whether the finished building passes muster is surely up to the individual.  Let us know what you think!

16 January 2011

Kizhi Pogost - Multi-storey, Multi-cupola, Single-block Masterpieces

Almost three hundred years ago the Russian inhabitants around Lake Onega decided that they needed two new churches – the old ones had burned down in a fire. 

It was decided that the island in the middle of the lake, Kizhi, would be the ideal place for their new place of worship. 

So began the construction of a pair of what have become two of the oldest exclusively wooden churches in the world. All who see them agree - they are multi-story, mutli-cupola, single-block masterpieces.

Now in the Republic of Karelia (part of the Russian Federation) the island was not chosen as the site of the church for aesthetic reasons – although that may have been motivation enough.  The time in which it was built was one of conflict between Russia and its neighbors.  Kizhi island was chosen to make the church safer from Swedish and Polish incursions in to the area.

The name Pogost includes the whole community area inside a fence which in this case includes the two churches, resplendent with their domes.  Pogost literally means enclosure – and the one on Kizhi is on a narrow strip of land at one end of the island.

Kizhi Pogost is an exceptional case in point of architecture typical of post-medieval orthodox settlements in meagerly inhabited areas of Russia, yet is one of the few to survive the centuries.  Here this far-flung Christian community had to deal with harsh neighbors and an even harsher climate

The larger of the two places of worship, the Church of the Transfiguration has no less than twenty two domes.  The smaller, the Church of the Intercession has nine.  Yet why build two such churches together? Why not combine efforts and create one large church? The answer is in the climate.

This part of the world gets cold in the winter – to say the very least.  As such the Church of the Transfiguration is not heated. Services could not be held there in the winter as the congregation would quickly freeze. Yet it is the most remarkable structure on the pogost, its altar being laid in the summer of 1714. The faithful would ride from the outermost regions of the community to be present at services.

The names of the builders were never recorded yet legends remain.  It is still said that the master builder used a single, magnificent axe for the duration of the entire project.  When construction was finished he threw it, Excalibur-like, in to the lake, uttering “there was not and will be not another one to match it".

The tools and skills used were incredible – the Church of the Intercession is undoubtedly an amazing structure and a tribute to those anonymous builders.  It has stood impassively for almost three hundred years, mostly made of pine with the domes covered in aspen, while history has changed the world around it irrevocably.

The sight of it seems almost implausible given its isolated location, as does its height – a lofty thirty seven meters.  As such it is one of the tallest wooden buildings in the Russian Federation. This notwithstanding it is a masterpiece of a multi-storey, multi-cupola, single-block structure.

How many nails do you imagine were used in its creation?  The answer is none – the whole structure was created without the use of a single nail. This followed the Russian traditions of carpentry at the time where interlocking corner joinery was used instead of nails.  The logs were fitted with scribes (both round notch and dovetail) and were slotted in to place.

The base of the structure is octahedral in shape with an accompaniment of four two-stage attachments known as prirubs. The one on the east side of the church is a pentagonal shape and that is where the altar is kept, being laid in 1714.

The domes run from the top to the sides.  Although the 1950s saw some of the church decorated with batten (thin strips of in this case steel, here used for decorative purposes) the original design was re-established in the 1950s.  The church sits on a stone base without a foundation of much depth.

Next door is the Church of the Intercession.  This is where services are held from the beginning of October each year until Easter time.  It is known as a winter church as it is heated.  Although work was begun on it as early as 1694 it has been reconstructed in the eighteenth century.  In 1764 it was rebuilt in to what we can see today – with 9 domes echoing the 22 of its much larger neighbour.

It is five meters shorter than the Church of the Transfiguration even though one might imagine it to be smaller still. The belfry is decidedly juvenile in age, being built to replace on older one in 1862. Resting on a rubble foundation it reaches thirty meters in height and is topped with a wooden cross.  The belfry is built with the same kind of wood as the churches, pine, aspen and some spruce.

In 1990, the Kizhi Pogost was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites.