Terrace and pergola project finished

Last summer, I wrote about our terrace and pergola project; and in May this year I mentioned that we are continuing with the paint layers next. After that, most of May and June free time was spent adding a couple of layers of paint to every surface of the construction. The rafters (or laths) supporting the transparent roofing were painted while still on the ground. The transparent roofing was made from Icopal Fastlock Uni — a strong polycarbonate sheet material, which has UV filtering top layer and a 10 year guarantee. However, I think “Fastlock” is a bit exaggeration on the fixing mechanism: it took a couple of days of dedicated pushing, pulling and nailing to get the thin, 20 cm sheets connected and then solidly fixed to the rafters. The outcome was nice, though. The roof looks pretty neutral (and it is a must in a climate like we have in Finland). Here are some photos:

Freshly painted terrace, doing some washing:
24.05.2009

Fixing the “fastlocks”:
27.06.2009

The finished terrace & pergola:
28.06.2009

You can see the entire story of the project in photos via this link.

Nordenstreng & Sipilä farewell lectures

The farewell lectures of professors Kaarle Nordenstreng and Jorma Sipilä are now available also as a video recording. Only in Finnish, I am afraid, but providing long perspectives and much insight to the development of Finnish university system, as well as our university and its certain disciplines. Flash video is here:

http://www.uta.fi/ajankohtaista/yliopistouutiset/0509/2705/jaahyvaisluennot.html

PDF version of Nordenstreng’s talk is here:

http://www.uta.fi/ajankohtaista/yliopistouutiset/0509/2705/jaahyvaisluento.pdf

and Sipilä’s lecture text is here as an RTF:

http://www.uta.fi/ajankohtaista/yliopistouutiset/0509/2705/sipilanpuhe0509.rtf