The company Carl Picard Natursteinwerk has used the summer heat in June in Germany for a particular action: They staged their quarry of red sandstone as a bathing paradise. Whether boss and employees have since returned to work in view of normal temperatures is not known (1, 2).
The Bau Fair in Munich will have one day less: the next issue will take place from January 13 to 17, 2025.
Archaeologists from Uppdrag Arkeologi Institute have uncovered a phallic stone during excavations of Viking Age burials and dwellings from the Iron Age. In Norse mythology, the god Freyr, was a phallic deity worshiped in Sweden and was associated with peace and pleasure.
The European Commission and the European Organisation for Technical Assessment (EOTA) have adopted a definition for the new product category Sintered Stone. From now on, surfaces that meet these requirements can be CE marked and circulated more easily within the European Community’s borders.
A strong quake in the last year of the NASA Mars InSight mission enabled researchers at ETH Zurich to determine the global thickness and density of the planet‘s crust. On average, the Martian crust is much thicker than the Earth’s or the Moon’s crust.
The refurbishment of Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie by David Chipperfield Architects is one of the winners of the European Award for Architectural Heritage Intervention 2023 (1, 2).
20% of the Brazilian exhibitors at the Coverings trade show (April 18 – 21, 2023) in Orlando, Florida, realized better-than-expected business. In total, there were direct sales of US$25.6 million, the Centrorochas association informs. That total could still rise to $127 million in the next 12 months (Portuguese).
During summer 2023, land artist Andy Goldsworthy, known for his environmentally oriented, site-specific installations that span the globe, will install “Road Line“ at College of the Atlantic in the State of Maine. As a curved wave of cut stone measuring 1500 ft., the work will take up the tradition of granite curbstones that edge many East Coast roads.
Over billions of years, the Earth’s days had only 19 hours because the moon was closer, Chinese scientists say.
The Vatican’s criminal court ordered two climate activists to pay more than $30,000 in damages after they glued themselves to an ancient sculpture in the Vatican Museums.
Italian Technografica company has brought two types of backlit panels with stone design to the markets: Dècora LED elements are framed and 23 mm thick, Dècora Glass elements have no frame and a thickness of 23.7 mm. Both have an integrated LED lighting system dimmable and available in both white and RGB colors (1, video).
Video of the Month: The NHERI Tallwood Project has now tested whether buildings made of wood are earthquake-resistant. For this purpose, a construction with 10 floors was mounted on the largest shake table in the world and exposed to 2 quakes of magnitude 6.7 and 7.7, respectively.
(30.06.2023, USA: 06.30.2023)
