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Preliminary Investigations, Condition Assessment, and Mapping of the Deterioration Patterns

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Conserving Stone Heritage

Part of the book series: Cultural Heritage Science ((CUHESC))

Abstract

Although generally assumed as long-lasting and extremely stable materials, natural stones are subjected to complex and interconnected damaging actions over the prolonged exposure time usually associated with heritage sites. Therefore, evaluating and monitoring the state of conservation of the stone surfaces of the built heritage is integral to the design and management of appropriate and effective preservation strategies. This chapter provides a critical overview of different approaches for the condition assessments of the stone surfaces, by examining international standards, guidelines, and methodologies for the identification and mapping of the deterioration patterns. The application of theoretical frameworks to precisely describe and evaluate the actual complex field conditions requires multidisciplinary contributions and an appropriate and sustainable diagnostic support. Selected case studies are also presented to discuss objectives and challenges in applying condition assessment strategies to the long-term evaluation of past conservation treatments, to inform and design suitable conservation strategy for historic façades, and for the preservation of modern architecture.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    CEN/TC 346/WG 3 – Porous inorganic materials constituting cultural heritage https://standards.cen.eu/dyn/www/f?p=CENWEB:7:0::::FSP_ORG_ID:411505&cs=11466D45DFEFF63DD425BA5D9657E4415

  2. 2.

    Here translated according to the most similar terms available in the ICOMOS glossary.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Davide Gulotta

  2. Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Lucia Toniolo

Authors
  1. Davide Gulotta
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  2. Lucia Toniolo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Davide Gulotta .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Investigative Science, Historic England, Portsmouth, UK

    Francesca Gherardi

  2. School of Architecture, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece

    Pagona Noni Maravelaki

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Gulotta, D., Toniolo, L. (2022). Preliminary Investigations, Condition Assessment, and Mapping of the Deterioration Patterns. In: Gherardi, F., Maravelaki, P.N. (eds) Conserving Stone Heritage. Cultural Heritage Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82942-1_1

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