I can't speak for other materials, but for wood, a properly glued joint is far superior to fasteners. The glue combines the wood at the molecular level, so that

I can't speak for other materials, but for wood, a properly glued joint is far superior to fasteners. The glue combines the wood at the molecular level, so that the two pieces are one. There are similar glues for plastics, too. I don't know about metal and mortar, but if such a thing exists, using it would be much better than bolts or screws. The one drawback is that, if you have to replace a portion of a structure that is glued, the process is necessarily destructive. You can limit the destruction, but you still have to cut the old piece out. It doesn't seem like this would generally be a problem with buildings, though, as almost every type of renovation is destructive.