Mind was blown first time I learned that gluing wood together along the grain is often as strong a bond as the wood itself.
Also it's a moisture barrier. This could cause problems for buildings in the long run (100 years).
During a house's long lifetime, it's likely that there are problems and some structure gets to experience some moisture at some point. It should be able to recover.
A friend told that a house expert had a quote.
"There's two kinds of houses: 'if' houses and 'despite' houses."
The 'if' houses stay in shape if everything works correctly. The 'despite' houses stay in shape despite there being occasional maintenance lapses. The key takeaway is robustness to real life events.
After reading the article I was curious about the actual adhesives used...I've seen what mother nature can do to sheets of ordinary plywood after only a couple of years outdoors an had my doubts about exterior applications...
Found more info on the adhesives here...
http://www.glulam.co.uk/principalChoices_adhesives.htm
I did not find an answer to the question: What sort of regular maintenance is required... sealers...waterproofing?
Nice write-up...some of the photos are stunningly beautiful...