Paola Condoleo

Strategy for Integrated Surveying Techniques Finalized to Interpretive Models in a Byzantine Church, Mesopotam, Albania

The research is part of a larger project, within an international cooperation, supported by UNESCO, for the study, restoration, and revitalization of Byzantine and Ottoman monuments in Southern Albania. The project was carried out on the Saint Nicholas monastic complex located in the Mesopotam area (Albania) by a multidisciplinary group of researchers from different Italian universities. Using integrated surveying technologies, the diagnostic investigation focused on enhancing our knowledge of structural behavior as a qualifying element for future conservation and maintenance programs. The aim was to develop interpretive models able to connect thematic and geometric information to the history of the monument by reading and recognizing the constructive technologies that were employed. Hence, the term “surveying techniques” includes geometrical surveys by laser scanner and photogrammetry, stratigraphic analysis, crack pattern surveys, and crack monitoring. The study was carried out on the Church of Saint Nicholas in order to collect data on the morphological and structural problems of the building. The results show that the damage of the structure started long ago and was probably caused by earthquakes. Moreover, the continuous, slow, long-term outward movement of the facades and of the apse should be controlled by an appropriate design for strengthening and repair. At the same time, the methodology highlighted the need for investigating the different structural technologies and skills before planning interventions. With such a common geospatial semantic matrix, progressively developing toward a historical building information four-dimensional (4D)model, further surveys—using techniques ranging from the micro-UAV campaign to multispectral analysis—can be better oriented in the future.

Modeling the Static Behaviour of a Double Curvature Brickwork Vault

For safety assessment, a double curvature hollow bricks cloister vault with lunettes has been studied. Its geometry, constructive aspects, crack pattern have been surveyed and a 3D finite element analysis has been carried out, the numerical model exploiting the accurate survey of the vault geometry.

Structural and Conservation Analysis of an Industrial Masonry Chimney in Monza, Italy

During the industrial revolution, the diffusion of furnaces for different productive activities implied a spread use of masonry chimneys that characterized the city landscape. The Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage have included a large number of them in the list of “protected buildings”. Thus, they have to be maintained in a good state of conservation and repaired when necessary. Unfortunately, in the Northern Italy most factories have fallen into disuse and chimneys turn out to be the only protruding element, surrounded by abandoned buildings, often partially collapsed. This work presents the assessment of a masonry chimney in Monza, near Milan, approximately 90 years’ old that was part of the thermal plant for the production of felts. The plant was dismissed and abandoned in the ’70s. The circular chimney, built in a truncated cone shape through a brickwork double wall, is approximately 40 m high. For the recovery plan of the area, an investigation on the state of damage was required, since the chimney showed a visible crack pattern and local decay. The assessment was carried out through a multidisciplinary approach. An experimental campaign included geometrical survey, out-of-plumb measurement and crack pattern survey as well as the investigation of the damage along the whole height of the chimney. The endoscopic inspections allowed to investigate the construction phases and technique. With the measured data, a numerical model was developed and structural analyses under wind and earthquake loads were developed. The damage pattern was compatible with the significant effects due to wind action.

HBIM Feeding Open Access Vault Inventory Through GeoDB HUB

This paper describes a methodological workflow starting from a punctual informative Historical Building Information Models (HBIM) - derived from the geometric analysis of the construction technology of vaulted systems - used to feed an open access Geospatial Data Base based on a Virtual Hub technology. Vaulted systems, which are characterized by a variety of solutions developed across time and space, and whose knowledge is obtained during the analysis and diagnostic phases planned for preservation purposes, are mostly unknown to the public and collected information risks to be missed. This way, the chain of knowledge transfer is interrupted both for more informed future sustainable interventions and touristic purposes. The potentials offered by the adoption of a Pan European Virtual Hub to manage open data with semantic, spatial and temporal sub-setting allows to reconstruct a new framework of the construction techniques widespread across the world, permanencies and mutations to the common typologies with the contribution of skilled workers moving during the centuries across Europe. The case study of Palazzo Magio in Cremona with a rich abacus of vaults apparently belonging to a simple ‘cloister’ typology is described from the HBIM generation to data publication in the GeoDB HUB. Different Level of Detail, Geometry and Information, acquired in other Cremona Palaces, are feeding the DB and its vocabulary in a bottom-up process. The result is a contribution to the construction of an open access updatable inventory model inheriting the tradition of historical repertoires.

Investigation Methodology Applied to the Structure of the Church of St. Biagio in L’Aquila

After the earthquake that stroke the city of L’Aquila during the night of April 6th 2009, many historical buildings at the city centre were severly damaged. Nevertheless many others survived the seismic event with only local damages, showing a good mechanical behaviour against vertical and horizontal actions. In order to continue preserving these buildings, a careful investigation is necessary before applying any repair technique, new or traditional to understand the past design practices for building durable and safe structures. In order to understand the structural behaviour of the church of St. Biagio in L’aquila, an extensive diagnostic investigation based on non-destructive and minor destructive techniques was carried out by the authors. The paper describes mainly the applied methodology which can produce some guidelines to be followed in the future study of other Cultural Heritage (C. H.) buildings hit by the earthquake.

Repair Mortars Studied for the Conservation of Temple G1 in Mỹ Sơn, Vietnam

Since 2001 the authors have been involved with the archaeologists of the Fondazioni Lerici, Politecnico di Milano, in the preservation of some Hindu temples in Mỹ Sơn, Vietnam. The characterisation of the brick- masonry materials was carried out at the Politecnico di Milano. Especially interesting was the successful study of the natural resin used to bond externally the bricks in the masonry; this allowed the formulation of a new compatible resin to be used for the conservation project. In the masonry internal leaf, the joint material, based on clay, was substituted by a new hydrated lime and powdered bricks mortar. The results of the research presented here allowed the direct application of the new materials in the conservation project of G1, G3, and G5 of group G.

The Mỹ Sơn Temples in Vietnam: Construction Techniques and Structural Issues

The monumental area of Mỹ Sơn, whose actual name means “beautiful mountain”, was located in the ancient and blooming Amarāvatī , one of the five provinces in the kingdom of the Cham population, who dwelled in central Vietnam from the 2nd century. In the beginning their reign was known as Lin Ly; only after the 6th century did it become the Champa reign (Vickery 2005 ). Nowadays Mỹ Sơn extends over almost 15 ha in the Quảng Nam province (central Vietnam), approximately 50 km south-west from the city of Da Nẵng. The archeological area is located in a small valley surrounded by a semicircular chain of low mountains, from which mount Hon Châu rises, also named Răng Meo(“the cats tooth”) by the local population for its peculiar shape (Fig. 4.1 ).