Seville, Andalusia, Spain. Metropol Parasol, locally also known as Las Setas, by the German architect Jürgen Mayer
Wikipedia: Metropol Parasol is a wooden structure located at La Encarnación square, in the old quarter of Seville, Spain. It was designed by the German architect Jürgen Mayer and completed in April 2011. It has dimensions of 150 by 70 metres (490 by 230 ft) and an approximate height of 26 metres (85 ft) and claims to be the largest wooden structure in the world. Its appearance, location, delays and cost overruns in construction resulted in much public controversy. The building is popularly known as Las Setas de la Encarnación (Incarnation's mushrooms). The structure consists of six parasols in the form of giant mushrooms ("Las setas" in Spanish), whose design is inspired by the vaults of the Cathedral of Seville and the ficus trees in the nearby Plaza de Cristo de Burgos. Metropol Parasol is organized in four levels. The underground level (Level 0) houses the Antiquarium, where Roman and Moorish remains discovered on site are displayed in a museum. Level 1 (street level) is the Central Market. The roof of Level 1 is the surface of the open-air public plaza, shaded by the wooden parasols above and designed for public events. Levels 2 and 3 are the two stages of the panoramic terraces (including a restaurant), offering one of the best views of the city centre. Construction began on June 26, 2005, with an estimated cost of 50 million euros and a projected completion date in June 2007. However, unknown to the public, the project soon faced difficulties. By May 2007 engineering firm Arup informed the municipal authorities that the structure was technically infeasible as designed, given that a number of structural assumptions had not been tested and the design appeared to violate the limitations of known materials. The wood used was birch, imported from Finland, because of its straight qualities. Much time was spent developing feasible alternative plans to buttress the structure, which themselves proved impractical because of the added weight. A feasible design using glue
Size: 4576px × 6857px
Location: Seville, Spanje
Photo credit: © Bert de Ruiter / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: andalucia, andalusia, architect, architecture, bert, city, de, german, incarnations, jurgen, las, mayer, metropol, modern, mushrooms, parasol, parasols, portrait, ruiter, setas, sevilla, seville, spain, spanish, structure, town, travel, vertical, wood, wooden
