Located in La Encarnacion Square in Seville, Spain, Metropol Parasol is the largest wooden structure in the world, created by German architect Jurgen Mayer-Hermann. It consists of six giant mushrooms-like parasols whose design was inspired by the vaults of the Cathedral of Seville and the ficus trees in the nearby Plaza de Cristo de Burgos. It houses the Antiquarium (with Roman and Moorish ruins found on-site), a farmers’ market, an elevated plaza, and a restaurant. The elevated rooftop promenades located on top of the parasols, offer visitors amazing views of the city.
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 unfeasible 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 as reinforcement was finally settled on only at the beginning of 2009. By some estimates, due to delays, the total cost of the structure approached 100 million Euros.
Picture Credit : Google