Say farewell to damaged facades caused by a saline environment
We are big fans of coastal cities. We love the sea. For people like us who live inland, it reminds of all of those hot, summer days…
Is it the same for you?
One coastal city we are particularly fond of is San Sebastian in the Basque Country. If you are familiar with it, no doubt you will be thinking about all of those bars serving many tapas... delicious!
Besides its cuisine, San Sebastian is also world-famous for its beautiful architecture and scenery. The Atlantic Ocean that laps against its shores has a lot to do with that.
Did you know that the Atlantic Ocean is one of the areas with the highest salinity in the world? An interesting fact…
The continuous exposure of the building facades to the saline environment and air humidity makes it necessary to adapt the architecture to the environment and climate.
With that in mind, today we are going to tell you how to say farewell to the damaged facades caused by saltpetre from the sea.
Take a look at what we did in this restoration project.
The Aquarium in San Sebastian is one of the city's landmarks and a tourist attraction for everyone who visits this city in Gipuzkoa. As you would expect, since it is a public aquarium it is located on the seafront and, as a result, the architectural element that suffers most from this proximity is the facade.
The saline environment and air humidity are the most common causes of damage on facades that are located on seafronts. In the specific case of the Aquarium, it had a number of problems and the situation required a long-lasting solution.
Durability: giving the facade a long life
To tackle the existing problems, the building's façade was restored. The important thing was to ensure that the facade would last over time; i.e., the aim of the restoration was to use material that was resistant to the effects of the local environment.
Our material is virtually waterproof and has low porosity, so it does not absorb the moisture, making it more resistant to saline environments. In short, its properties provide long-term durability for building facades.
Let me give you another fact.
In ULMA, we are so sure that our material delivers good results that we offer a warranty of up to 10 years for our ventilated facade systems.
Does your building's facade also have damage caused by a saline environment? Contact us.
Blending the building into the surroundings
By the way, have you seen the photographs that accompany this article?
What do you think about the colour and texture of the Aquarium's facade?
Do you think that we managed to make it blend in with those marvellous surroundings?
In this specific case, our aim was to give it a stony appearance, so we used a slate-earth texture with a dark colour.
What do you think of the result?
