Most roofs are built using frames and assembled slowly, carefully and with extreme caution. For good reason – the roof is the only thing that separates us from the rain, snow and sleet and keeps our heads warm and dry. One group of brick builders in Mexico refuse to subscribe to that philosophy though, instead relying on instinct and quick-thinking to assemble their bovedas, or vaulted ceilings.

Few outsiders have seen the magic of the “bovederos”, until Coleman Priske uploaded the following video back in September. Now everyone can see how these master craftsman create a beautiful vaulted ceiling without any frame or ceiling mount of any kind. All they have is their instinct, experience and their quick-setting mortar. The results are completely out of this world!

“To create such a curvy ceiling with bricks and no framework needed, builders have to use a fast setting mortar to allow the brick to hold itself after being tapped into place,” describes an article on the bovedas, also known as Catalan Vaults.

All the pieces of brick are laid by hand, one by one until the ceiling slowly closes in on itself. They don’t pre-measure the bricks or set up any sort of system – these guys are just grabbing bricks, cutting them to the appropriate size, slapping on some mortar and going to town.

While this type of construction may seem thrown-together and rather flimsy, arched architecture has long been known as one of the most effective forms and far stronger than it appears. If you still don’t believe that these roofs are strong, Priske posted another videoshowing how hard it is to actually break one of these.

SHARE this video today so everyone can see these incredible bovederos and their fascinating brick-laying talents!

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