The Challenges of the Conservation of Earthen Sites in Seismic Areas

Abstract

During the 1990s, the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) carried out a research and laboratory testing program, the Getty Seismic Adobe Project (GSAP), which investigated the performance of historic adobe structures during earthquakes and developed cost-effective retrofit methods that preserve the authenticity of these buildings. While the GSAP methodology was excellent and effective, it felt its reliance on high-tech materials, equipment and professional expertise was a deterrent to it being more widely implemented. To address this, the GCI initiated in 2009, the Seismic Retrofitting Project (SRP) with the objective of adapting the GSAP approach to better match the equipment, materials, and technical skills available in many countries with earthen sites located in seismic regions.

The paper will analyze how the SRP was communicated and bought in by national and international stake holders, how high techniques analysis and low-key testing was combined to better understand the seismic performance of earthen sites, how the knowledge acquired in the process was disseminated among Peruvian and Latin American professionals, how two implementations’ projects were carried out and how a set of guidelines were adopted by Peruvian authorities.

1 The Conservation of Earthen Sites

For centuries, humans have constructed buildings using earth. This form of construction is universal and ever-present and can be seen in ancient archaeological sites such as the pre-Colombian city of Caral in Peru and in twentieth-century complexes like New Gourna Village in Egypt, designed by Hassan Fathy. Earth has been used in diverse regions and climates and ranges in scale from vernacular housing to large complexes, such as the almost 4,000 Ksour of Northern Morocco and the Mosque of Djenné in Mali. It has also been beautifully used in the form of decorated surfaces, such as the high reliefs of Huaca de la Luna in Trujillo, Peru, and the earthen plasters of Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, USA (Figs. 1 and 2).

Fig. 1.

Kasbah Taourirt, Ouarzazate, Morocco.

Fig. 2.

Huaca de La Luna, Trujillo, Peru.

While this legacy of earthen building constitutes a rich and vast heritage, earth remains to this day an omnipresent modern construction material and an essential form of shelter. Currently there is a total of 89 earthen sites out of the 897 sites on the World Heritage List—10%. Of the 52 sites on the list considered endangered, 14 are made of earth—27% [1]. The United Nations has estimated that more than 30% of the global population lives in a house made of earth [2]. In this respect, earthen architecture represents a critical aspect of both social and environmental sustainability as well as a critical element of self-determination in many lesser developed regions of the world. Recyclable and low in energy consumption, earthen construction materials have a minimal carbon footprint. While earthen architecture while well maintained is often undervalued, it is a testament to cultural and technological diversity as well as adaptation to its environment, particularly for the latter, earthen architecture has adapted its techniques to face earthquakes, a major threat for its conservation.

2 The GCI Vision for the Conservation of Earthen Sites

Due to its widespread use and potential as a sustainable form of shelter, the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) has engaged in a variety of projects and initiatives for over thirty years to advance the field of earthen conservation. These efforts have been founded upon strong collaborations with institutions and professionals from around the world. By working across different cultures and geographical borders, the GCI has aimed to create new knowledge that combines innovative research with traditional techniques. Some of the projects undertaken by the GCI include the Getty Seismic Adobe Project (GSAP), the Terra Project (Terra), and the Earthen Architecture Initiative (EAI). Additionally, the GCI has leveraged its resources to promote collective action and inspire a global network of committed professionals, including engineers, dedicated to the conservation of earthen architecture.

The GCI thinks it is time to pause, reflect and design the next projects in a more holistic way, answering the international needs for the advancement of earthen conservation in a very pragmatic approach. The EAI has started the design of its project plan for the next ten years and the inclusion of other professions like conservation engineering will be essential. Additionally, the tackle of climate change and disaster management is a must to further advance the field. The EAI hopes to define and develop projects that could address these important issues soon.

3 Research for the Conservation of Earthen Sites

Over the past 30 years, the GCI’s involvement in earthen architecture has greatly expanded. However, the organization’s initial foray into the field was due to a need for scientific research. In the 1980s, a small yet significant project was launched at Fort Selden under the guidance of New Mexico State Monuments (NMSM) and the National Park Service (NPS) Southwest Region. The project aimed to investigate the treatment of earthen archaeological remains through various interventions like chemical consolidation, capping, and protective coatings. In 1987, the GCI joined NMSM and NPS in undertaking Phase II of the research at Fort Selden. This phase focused on investigating chemical consolidants and other treatments for earthen walls, sparking the GCI’s direct engagement with earthen architecture. As a result of this engagement, several articles and reports were published [3].

In 1990, given the prevalence of earthen architecture in earthquake-prone regions of the world, the GSAP was established, in cooperation with Stanford University to develop and test minimally invasive and easily implemented techniques to avoid the collapse of historic earthen structures during a seismic event. This first approach addressing the vulnerability of earthen structures in seismic regions brought together architectural historians, engineers, and architectural conservators to design proper techniques using modern materials and professional expertise. Basing the research on articles 2 and 10 of the Venice Charter [4], the GSAP group provided a series of guidelines to implement the designed techniques for adobe historic buildings in California, USA.

4 Professional Exchange and Knowledge Sharing on the Conservation of Earthen Sites

The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) values the sharing of knowledge - both its own work and that of others in research and practice - within the professional community. Over the past thirty years, the GCI has provided support for international conferences and colloquia that focus on preserving earthen architecture. Beginning with its participation in the Fifth International Meeting of Experts on the Conservation of Earthen Architecture in Rome in 1987, organized by ICCROM and CRATerre, and building on its previous research at Fort Selden, the GCI, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the National Park Service collaborated with ICCROM and CRATerre-EAG to organize the sixth international conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico - known as Adobe90. At this time, professionals working in the field were primarily architects and scientists with an interest in conserving earthen sites.

Adobe90 played an instrumental role in transforming what were initially small, specialized meetings of experts into truly international conferences. This was achieved through a significant expansion of the number and geographic distribution of participants and papers, as well as the production of a substantive publication that helped to legitimize the work being done in the field. As a result of these efforts, Adobe90 set a new standard for conferences within the earthen architecture community and inspired institutions in other regions of the world to take on the sponsorship of similar international conferences. Today, these conferences occur every four years and receive hundreds of abstract proposals. During Adobe90, a section on structural conservation was presented for the first time, although a couple of papers had been presented during previous conferences and colloquia [5].

With the intention of organizing the first conference in Africa, the GCI partnered with the Ministry of Culture of Mali to carry out the 10th Terra conference. Four hundred and fifty participants from sixty-five countries attended the conference in Bamako in 2008 [6]. In June 2022, the GCI-EAI in collaboration with the National Park Service, Vanishing Treasures Program and University of Pennsylvania, Stuart Weitzman School of Design and under the aegis of ICOMOS–ISCEAH, organized the thirteen congress in Santa Fe New Mexico. Hundreds of specialists in the fields of conservation, anthropology, archaeology, architecture and engineering, scientific research, and site management of earthen architectural heritage including regional practitioners from the pueblos, tribes and communities in and around New Mexico engaged in caring for this heritage attended the congress. The four-day program convened a diverse group of professionals from a wide range of geographic regions to share their knowledge and experience on the state of the art of earthen heritage study and conservation through presentations, posters, and videos/digital media (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.

Participants of the XIII Terra congress in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States.

Up to this point, these international colloquia, conferences, and congresses have strengthened collaboration, created regional networks, generated partnerships, and produced proceedings. Three of these proceedings have been published by the GCI. The GCI is also committed to promoting professional exchange globally through institutional support for professional networks such as ISCEAH, Proterra, and Mediterra. The latter collaborated with the GCI to develop its strategic planning in 2009 [7].

The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) has organized several international colloquia to address specific issues related to the conservation of earthen sites. In 2001, the GCI organized the Protective Shelters for Archaeological Sites in the Southwest colloquium in Tumacacori, Arizona, USA under the umbrella of Terra. Three years later, another Terra colloquium was organized in Mesa Verde, Colorado in 2004 to address the challenges facing the conservation of decorated surfaces on earthen architecture. Two years later, the GCI organized another colloquium at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, under the umbrella of the EAI, to assess the impact and efficacy of the GSAP. As described later in this paper, the Seismic Retrofitting Project (SRP) was created in response to the conclusions and recommendations made during this colloquium [8].

5 Education and Capacity Building

While all the Global Citizenship Institute’s efforts in the field of earthen architecture have primarily aimed to promote and exchange knowledge, initiatives targeted towards education have concentrated on cultivating a variety of specialists in this area.

Through the Gaia Project, four Preservation of Earthen Architecture (PAT) courses were organized between 1989 and 1994 in Grenoble, France, bringing together professionals from around the world for specialized training in earthen architecture conservation. In late 1994, the GCI joined forces with the Gaia Project to translate the international PAT curriculum into a regional, site-based training program. Hosted at the archaeological site of Chan Chan in Trujillo, Peru, PAT96 and PAT99 integrated site management planning into the more technically oriented curriculum, in response to the needs of the field at large to contextualize conservation within a broader decision-making framework for heritage stewardship. During these two PAT courses, Peruvian engineers with expertise in the conservation of earthen sites participated as instructors. With this training partnership, the Gaia project evolved into Terra, which provided a platform for institutional collaboration in research, education, and professional development.

The cumulative PAT experiences helped to further build the network of those practicing and teaching earthen architecture conservation. These experiences also led to the development of the EAI Guidelines for the Teaching of Earthen Conservation, a series of teaching resources adapted from the PAT course materials available at the GCI website. However, the subject of conservation engineering was not properly developed even though the course was using a site located in a seismic region. This had to do with the fact that in these first courses and the development of didactic materials focused on a strong need -at that time- to emphasize the importance of management of archaeological sites made of earth.

Since then, the institute has conducted workshops and informal training, but there have not been any additional formal courses in earthen architecture. Several institutions, such as CRATerre in France and Dachverband Lehm in Germany, serve the European area, but there are limited professional training opportunities for the regions of North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, which are home to most of the world’s earthen heritage. Additionally, these regions were identified by the GCI as in need of training in the conservation of earthen sites.

Because of that, the GCI partnered with the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism to organize a course to serve mid-career professionals in the region (primarily heritage managers, architects, conservators, engineers, archaeologists) who work with earthen buildings and archaeological sites. Abu Dhabi was selected as the ideal location for this course because of its rich earthen heritage, professional level facilities, central location near the world’s most important earthen sites, and good partnership opportunity with DCT. To this date, two courses in 2018 and 2022 have been carried out for a total of 44 participants from Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Turkey, Afghanistan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, China, and India, among others. This course also includes a section on conservation engineer of earthen heritage as part of its curricula. The next course will be held also in Abu Dhabi in February 2025 [9] and the institution and its partner is looking into start developing more precise training materials on this topic (Figs. 4 and 5).

Fig. 4.

Participants of the 2018 Earthen Architecture Course in Abu Dabhi, UAE.

Fig. 5.

Materials science class. Right: Structural engineer class

6 Field Projects on the Conservation of Earthen Architecture

Perhaps the first GCI fieldwork related to the conservation of earthen sites was the Fort Selden Phase II project, although it was based on research. Much has evolved since then in the field of earthen conservation, both in general and in the GCI’s approach to implementing fieldwork. After our experience at Fort Selden, the importance of implementing discrete interventions has evolved into a more holistic approach to preserving earthen sites while also designing solutions for specific problems with the potential for wider impact.

Terra and later the EAI consider planning as a powerful tool for the conservation of earthen sites in a comprehensive way but still realize the need to investigate specific treatments and/or interventions to address other issues jeopardizing earthen sites. In recent decades, special attention has been paid to the complexity of addressing the seismic vulnerability of earthen buildings while preserving their historic fabric. Similarly, adapting historic urban settlements made of earth to safe and modern living conditions has also been identified as a need. In the last five years, the EAI has carried out model projects that intends to improve the way conservation interventions are carried out in two major areas: Seismic retrofitting and rehabilitation of historic earthen buildings.

The Conservation and Rehabilitation Plan (CRP) for the earthen ensemble of Taourirt in southern Morocco is another EAI model project which aims to develop a methodology for the conservation and rehabilitation of this traditional earthen ensemble that can be used as a model for similar earthen sites across the Maghreb. The CRP’s objective is to establish a conservation process that demonstrates appropriate re-use of such sites, respects the original building fabric, and preserves technical knowhow [10].

6.1 The SRP

On August 15, 2007, an earthquake of 8.0 Moment Magnitude (Mw) and a maximum local Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) of VII–VIII occurred with an epicenter off the coast of Pisco, Peru, resulting in 519 deaths and 1,366 injuries. A total of 650,000 people were affected and 80,000 dwellings damaged. From October 28 to November 2, 2007, a rapid assessment to better understand the failure of fifteen historic earthen sites was performed by a multidisciplinary team of national and international experts convened by the GCI. The assessment, which was organized in response to a request from the former Instituto Nacional de Cultura del Perú (INC, Peruvian National Institute of Culture; now the Ministerio de Cultura del Perú, or Peruvian Ministry of Culture), was also published [11].

Building upon the GSAP Colloquium conclusions mentioned above, the GCI designed in 2010 a seismic retrofitting research project with the objective of adapting the GSAP guidelines for countries where equipment, materials, and technical skills are not readily available by providing low-tech, cost-effective seismic retrofitting techniques and easy-to implement maintenance programs for historic earthen buildings that could improve their seismic performance while preserving their historic fabric. To accomplish this, the GCI joined with the Ministry of Culture of Peru and the School of Sciences Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú to launch in June 2011 the Seismic Retrofitting Project (SRP). Several schools of engineer joined the project at some points, like the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Bath and the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering of the University College London in the United Kingdom. Currently the SRP is working with the School of Engineering at the University of Minho in Portugal.

The project aims to design and test retrofitting techniques; to provide a methodology of intervention for those responsible for implementation, including conservation professionals, building officials, site managers and local builders; and to work with authorities to gain acceptance of these methods.

Peru was selected as the location for the project due to the current and historical knowledge and professional interest in the subject; the existence of potential partners for implementation of these techniques on model conservation projects; and background work already completed by the GCI. The SRP is being carried out in four phases: 1) feasibility; 2) research, including laboratory testing and numerical modeling; 3) dissemination of the methodology and results, and 4) implementation of model projects.

As part of the first phase four building typologies were defined and one representative construction was selected from each typology for further study. The definition of the typologies examined the characteristics of historic earthen heritage in South America, considering the constructions for which retrofitting techniques are much needed. Several characteristics were considered including use (residential or religious), location (Pacific coast or Andes region), and construction techniques. The selection process included site visits and evaluation of several criteria; among them, it was preferred that the selected building demonstrated typical modes of failure, so that the designed reinforcing techniques could be widely applied. The four building prototypes are: Hotel El Comercio in Lima and Ica Cathedral in Ica (near the Pacific coast), Casa Arones in Cusco and church of Santiago Apóstol of Kuñotambo (Andes region). The first two prototype buildings, Ica Cathedral and Hotel El Comercio, represent the very early adoption in Peru of anti-seismic measures including thin-walled adobe construction on the ground floor and lightweight quincha (a form of wattle & daub) construction for upper floors and roofs. In contrast, the two prototypes in the Cusco region are constructed with very thick adobe walls throughout and heavy timber truss roofs. These differing construction techniques and uses provided a representational group of earthen architecture typologies in the region. From 2010 to 2011, the SRP studied and analyzed the building prototypes resulting in the publication of the Construction Assessment report.

The second phase of the SRP started in 2011 and focused on the experimental and analytical investigations, including laboratory testing and numerical modeling. This phase demanded a close interaction between the construction assessments developed in the first phase, the experimental testing, and the numerical analysis. Numerical models for all four building prototypes were developed first at the University of Bath to represent the actual state of each of the building prototypes. The evolution of the models was transferred from Bath to UCL, which has published a series of papers describing UCL partial results of this phase [12]. From 2015 until 2017, the University of Minho used modeling as a method to understand structural behavior of the SRP building prototypes and validate the retrofitting techniques later design for them. The way modeling has been used was quite innovative, advancing the field of structural analysis of structures made of earth. From the second phase, four research reports have been published in English and Spanish: “Testing of Materials and Building Components of Historic Adobe buildings in Peru” [13], “Recommendations for Advance Modeling of Historic Earthen Sites” [14], “Modeling of Prototype Buildings” [15] and “Simplified Calculations for the Structural Analysis of Earthen Historic Sites” [16] (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6.

Set of research reports as part of the SRP available on the Getty website

Communication with Local and International Stake Holders.

Since its conception of the project GCI staff and consultants have traveled to Peru to study and analyze the buildings at least three times a year. During each visit, GCI staff make the effort to always carried out meetings with MDC authorities as well as owners and managers of each of the four prototype buildings. These meetings have the objective to inform the authorities of the advancement of the work as well as next steps. The project always met with those local actors at the beginning and at the end of each campaign, which normally lasted three weeks.

As part of the campaign, GCI staff and consultant met with local communities with an interest in the project. Similarly to the meetings with authorities, the advancement of the project was presented to all community members and discussions about next steps were carried out. It was the enthusiasm of local communities which produced the elaboration of construction documents for the Church of Kuñotambo as well as Ica Cathedral, the retrofitting of the first one as part of the implementation of the conservation project of the Church by the local branch of the MDC in Cusco, and the participation of a representative of the Kuñotambo community at the Terra 2022 congress with the intent to create international relations with similar communities across the globe. The implementation of the Ica Cathedral conservation and retrofitting project is expected to start in 2023.

The SRP also created a peer review group to meet and review the work done at key moments of the project. The SRP peer review group was composed by professional with expertise in conservation engineering, architectural conservation, and conservation of earthen sites from different countries representing ISCEAH, ISCARSAH, CRATerre, PROTerra, University of Minho, University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fundación Antiplano (Chile), Technical University of Catalonia as well as local institutions like the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and local engineering design studios. The first meeting of the SRP peer review was organized in Lima with a site visit to Hotel El Comercio and Ica Cathedral in July of 2011with the objective of reviewing the project methodology, the publication of the Construction Assessment report and the proposal for the testing and modeling research phase. The second meeting of the SRP peer review group was organized in Cusco with a site visit to Casa Arones and the Church of Kuñotambo in July of 2017 with the objective of reviewing the results of the testing and modeling research phase (Figs. 7 and 8).

Fig. 7.

Presentation of Ica Cathedral Construction Documents to authorities in Ica, Peru.

Fig. 8.

Visit of SRP peer review group to Kuñotambo, Cusco, Peru.

The SRP would have never been successful on implementation if it was not because of the creation of channels of communication at the local and international level. Retrofitting projects are not just technical solutions to a problem. For sites located in seismic regions, the retrofitting of historic sites is a question of life and dead.

Communities know the importance of preserving the site but also the need to keep the site safe. Churches should be places where communities go after an earthquake and not a place they run out of when once happens. The sense of feeling safe in a historic site is something that the public only learns once informed. It just not happened when the building is retrofitted. The continuous information and involvement of the community is extremely important, particularly to ensure the regular maintenance of the site once retrofitting is implemented. Similarly, the engagement of the international community enriched the project content and outcomes but gave a push to self-confidence to the community and created pride on their heritage.

High Techniques and Low-Key Testing.

The Testing publication is a summary and conclusions of the more than 300 experimental tests to characterize the materials and structural components of the four building prototypes, carried out PUCP campus. The performed tests were designed and carried out as part of the SRP, being some of these implemented for the first time on earthen materials, structural components and/or traditional construction techniques, providing valuable information to the field.

The tests also provided valuable information to the partial and global models of each of the prototypes later developed by the University of Minho. Partial Results of the testing program have been published in several international conferences. The final report gives a general overview and a deeper understanding of the mechanical behavior of materials and structural components of historic earthen buildings in Peru.

To understand the modes of failure of the building protypes under seismic loading and considering those depend on the mechanical properties of units and mortar and on the overall geometric configuration of the building (Varum et al. 2014), the project investigated the main structural analysis methods available, both static and dynamic, as well as the finite element method (FEM). Different modeling techniques or homogenization techniques were also used, including the different constitutive models available in commercial software.

The use of high techniques for modeling and low-key testing methods was the perfect alliance to move the project forward. While conducting the testing and modeling a series of workshop regarding the project methodology was delivered to Peruvian professionals as well as an upcoming workshop on the use of the modeling techniques not only for analysis but also monitoring will be delivered this year.

Additionally, it was extremely important to use the process layout at the Burra Charter, particularly to understand the values of each site, their significant features and attributes to identify which elements could be modified or intervened to provide the needed level of performance. This exercise generated a dialogue between the different professionals and stake holders involved in the project that has continued until today. Trying to find a common methodology that pleases conservation engineers and architectural conservators has been a challenge but a very productive exercise.

The ultimate outcome of the SRP will be a series of guidelines to be developed with the Ministry of Culture of Peru. These will include the detail description of the methodology used for the significance of the prototypes, the study of the structural systems, the desired performance level, the tests and modeling performed to understand modes of failures and provide proper retrofitting and repairs techniques.

The Importance of Dissemination and Implementation.

The activities carried out as part of the implementation phase have been significative for the advancement of the project. For the development of the structural component of Ica Cathedral and Kuñotambo, the GCI worked with engineers Daniel Torrealva and Erica Vicente from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. For Ica Cathedral, the GCI also worked with consultant conservation architects José García Bryce and Mirna Soto to develop all construction documents, as well as the timber specialist, Mikel Landa. For the Church of Kuñotambo, the architectural and conservation proposal was developed by the MDC branch in Cusco, under the direction of architectural conservator Etel Hania Cruz Moscoso; in collaboration with the GCI [17] (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9.

(a) Participants at the Kuñotambo inauguration, (b) Interior of the Church after retrofitting.

Construction work by the MDC branch in Cusco started in September 2016. The worksite supervision by the MDC was crucial to ensure the drawings were carefully executed and the seismic retrofitting works were implemented as expected. Major changes to the structural interventions were tested in the numerical model before their approval. During the worksite, the GCI organized several workshops for the professional staff of the MDC to disseminate the approach to the conservation of the church and to share the findings of the research. The church was inaugurated in June 2019 with a ceremony attended by various international and Peruvian stakeholders and saw the participation of the communities of Kuñotambo and of the nearby villages [18].

The possibility to show the completion of a retrofitting project during the implementation phase was major for the project. Furthermore, the GCI in collaboration with Peruvian partners and local stakeholders has installed a Structural Monitoring system for the church of Kuñotambo, as part of larger Maintenance and Monitoring plan. The plan will contribute to extend the life of the site and manage its risks; to verify the results of the interventions with particular attention to the seismic retrofitting of the structure and the conservation of its decorated surfaces; and, to monitor the behavior of the building over time and changes after major events. On May 26, 2022, a few weeks after the implementation of the monitoring system, there was a 6.9 earthquake with the epicenter in Ayavari, Puno but felt in the Cusco region. The site was not damaged, and the monitoring system was able to record the event and send the plots generated by the sensors to the University of Minho. The project hopes to start the implementation phase of Ica Cathedral in 2023 and once finished, the same system will put in place for further monitoring of the site.

7 The Challenges and Opportunities of the Conservation of Earthen Sites in Seismic Areas

For the past 30 years, the GCI has been working in the field of earthen conservation addressing a series of issues for archaeological sites and historic buildings. As part of congresses, model project, scientific research and capacity building activities, the GCI has involved a series of professionals expanding the field. The importance of a multidisciplinary team has been crucial to approach the conservation of earthen sites in a holistic manner.

The multidisciplinary work required that architects, conservation engineers, conservators and community leaders speak the same language. ICOMOS has created a series of international scientific committees which have developed a series of guidelines and charts that have helped to shape this new language. New advances have been developed to tackle projects in all-inclusive approach and now more structural engineers are able to address the retrofitting of earthen sites and have been training at the post-graduate level to properly implement repair and retrofitting techniques. However, a more specific approach for the conservation of earthen sites in seismic regions need to be further developed.

The principles of authenticity should be applied in different ways while dealing with sites threated by earthquakes. The resilience of heritage against earthquakes needs to be studied and preserved, particularly the t traditional approach of conservation, including maintenance. However, if modes of failures have been identified, the possibility of reconstruction and use of modern techniques should be considered; particularly if the site needs to perform at the level to avoid total collapse and secure life. The multidisciplinary approach supports the development of innovative solutions that could address several issues like heritage resilience, sustainability, and adaptation to the environment.