The invention of the arch, the use of steel, reinforced concrete, glass, and the elevator are well understood as innovations that changed architecture in often dramatic ways.
Only few people, though, would count caulk among the disruptive inventions and game changers in architecture. But that may be an oversight. For understanding what really enables the type of urban architecture we take for granted today, the role of joint fillers (commonly known as caulk) can't be underestimated. In fact, the story of caulk isn't interesting for the nerdy details of such mundane materials as caulk themselves but for the implications they have on style, architecture and even structural design. Here is the story:
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The view of the 9/11 site in lower Manhattan in 2006 seen through a
full glass wall (Photo: K. Philipsen) |
In the small bit of literature there is about caulk it is usually noted that joint fillers have been around forever, for example, as mud and pitch. Examples of early uses includelog cabins where the logs weren't carefully hewn for good fit and using mud between rocks. Mud between layers of stone or early bricks were also common. One could even go as far as to call the mortar used in masonry a joint filler,and that wouldn't be entirely wrong. So what is so special about modern caulk?Of those historic precedents the only...
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