<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">In ten days the world expo in zaragoza is opening and one of the most interesting building will be the Clay/wood/straw pavillion. I managed to get in to visit it on tuesday. It cuts an impressive figure with its double towers, 33meter diameter and 20<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">+meters high.</span><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Inside its nice and cool, despite the 25 degrees Celcius outside. It has an impressive type of windmill in the roof which creates a flow of air to keep the building cool.</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Unfortunately the clay plaster is a bit of a disaster. Most likely this is because it has been raining non-stop for the last two months. This is unheard of in Zaragoza. The last time there was such a rainy spring in Zaragoza was about 50 years ago; with the rain I don't know when/how the managed to apply the plaster at all! It is too thin, too irregular, and the proportions must not have been right because its has quite a few cracks...although maybe those are from movement in the wallas. I hope they manage to fix it in the next two weeks, although I don't know how. I am glad they use Gabions as a stem wall because after so much rain, the river has risen and two days ago it was about 3 meters from the base of the wall. They have made a sand-bag dike as they expect the river to rise a bit more until it reaches a maximum height tomorrow.</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">As I can't attach fotos to the list anyone who is interested in seeing photos can send me an email offlist and I will forward some.</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">You can see some of the construction process at: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><a href="http://www.elfaro2008.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=230&Itemid=345">http://www.elfaro2008.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=230&Itemid=345</a></span></span></font></div><div><br></div><div>I should point out that for personal reasons neither Maren or I have been involved or consulted about the job since last spring, so we can't claim any responsability (good or bad) about the building.</div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Bradley Hand ITC TT'; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div>Rikki </div></div></div></div></span> </div><br></div></body></html>