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The weathering of historical buildings and, indeed, of monuments and sculptures of natural stone is a problem that has been encountered for hundreds of years. However, a dramatic increase in deterioration in the structure of our built heritage has been observed during the past century. To understand the complex interaction that the stone in a building suffers with its near environment (the building) and the macro environment (the local climate and atmospheric conditions) requires an interdisciplinary approach and the application of many disciplines. Climate change over the next 100 years is likely to have a range of direct and indirect impacts on many natural and physical environments, including the built environment. The protection of our architectural heritage has both cultural and historical importance, as well as substantial economic and ecological value. Large sums of money are being spent world-wide on measures for the preservation of monuments and historical buildings. The past few decades has seen an unprecedented level of research activity in this area, the results of which are often difficult to access and are summarized in the new edition of STONE IN ARCHITECTURE.
One distinct feature of human society since the dawn of civilization is the systematic use of inorganic building materials, such as natural stone, unburnt and burnt soil, adobe and brick, inorganic binders like lime and cement, and reinforced concrete. Our heritage has cultural, architectural and technological value and preserving such structures is a key issue today. Planners and conservation scientists need detailed site surveys and analyses to create a database that will serve to guide subsequent actions. One factor in this knowledge base is an understanding of how historic materials were prepared and the crucial properties that influence their long-term behaviour. Any assessment of the w...
This volume focuses on research and practical issues connected with mortars on historic structures. The book is divided into four sections: Characterisation of Historic Mortars, Repair Mortars and Design Issues, Experimental Research into Properties of Repair Mortars, and Assessment and Testing. The papers present the latest work of researchers in their field. The individual contributions were selected from the contributions to the 2nd Historic Mortars Conference, which took place in Prague, September, 22-24, 2010. All papers were reviewed and improved as necessary before publication. This peer review process by the editors resulted in the 34 individual contributions included in here. One extra paper reviewing and summarising State-of-the-Art knowledge covered by this publication was added as a starting and navigational point for the reader. The editors believe that having these papers in print is important and they hope that it will stimulate further research into historic mortars and related subjects.
The contribution of this study to the general body of knowledge is in providing an understanding of the thermodynamic behaviour of soluble salt mixtures in historic buildings located in the tropical marine zone of Tanzania. This tropical zone is found in the eastern part of the country along the Indian Ocean coast. This research is geared towards informing the general public, most of whom believe that salt crystallisation is the main cause of historic buildings deteriorating. This belief emanates from the understanding that historic buildings in a marine environment are highly susceptible to salt crystallisation, more so because they tend to receive daily oceanic spray which contains salt. T...
Apulian limestones constitute the historic building constructions of the Puglia region (in the south of Italy) named trulli (representing an outstanding universal value for UNESCO), but also other stone buildings of the well-known Itria Valley. Trulli are drywall (mortarless) constructions made of roughly worked limestone blocks collected from neighbouring fields. The limestone for trulli is quarried from different Apulian localities and, together with another local lithotype, represents the stone heritage of the Itria Valley. This book begins with an introduction to the region of southern Italy where trulli and other typical stone architecture can be found. The Itria Valley with its towns a...
The Mogao Grottoes, a World Heritage Site in northwestern China, are located along the ancient caravan routes—collectively known as the Silk Road—that once linked China with the West. Founded by a Buddhist monk in the late fourth century, Mogao flourished over the following millennium, as monks, local rulers, and travelers commissioned hundreds of cave temples cut into a mile-long rock cliff and adorned them with vibrant murals. More than 490 decorated grottoes remain, containing thousands of sculptures and some 45,000 square meters of wall paintings, making Mogao one of the world’s most significant sites of Buddhist art. In 1997 the Getty Conservation Institute, which had been working with the Dunhuang Academy since 1989, began a case study using the Late–Tang dynasty Cave 85 to develop a methodology that would stabilize the deteriorating wall paintings. This abundantly illustrated volume is the definitive report on the project, which was completed in 2010.
There are many UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany. Most of them are built with natural stones. These sites are commonly presented to the public with a lot of information regarding historical, cultural and artistic aspects. Mostly, there is no focus on the main building material if it concerns natural stones. This work aims to show that it is precisely the natural stone that lends the sites their distinctive character. The used stones demonstrate the context and the interaction with the geology of the surrounding countryside as well as possibilities of transport and treatment. They reflect the culture and society at the time of the building phases. The second part of the work presents the...
Geomaterials derived from the Earth’s crust and used in construction after appropriate processing are among the earliest raw materials exploited, processed and used by humans. Their numerous functional properties include accessibility, workability and serviceability, and these are explored within this volume. In modern society, sustainable use of raw materials, specifically those exploited in large volumes such as geomaterials for construction, raises questions of reducing extraction of primary resources and thus minimizing impacts on natural systems, and also employment of materials and technologies to lower emissions of deleterious substances into the atmosphere. This will be possible only if we fully understand the properties, processing and mode of use of traditional geomaterials. Although most of the papers within this volume were written by geologists, the contributions will also be of interest to those working in cultural heritage, monument conservation, civil engineering and architecture.
Natural stone is considered to be a versatile, durable and aesthetically pleasing building material. From the beginning of civilization, important structures and monuments have been built from, or based on, natural stone. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the use of local stone re-sources was mostly in balance with the local environment. Strict environ-mental legislation has resulted in the closing of many long-standing quar-ries in industrialized countries, which has led to a shortage of traditional stone varieties. This has caused problems for restoration practice. Cheap, imported stone from less industrialized countries has become more widely available in recent years. Some of the issues related to built stone conservation and restoration cov-ered by this volume are: the establishment of inventories of possible re-placement stones; understanding the decay mechanism and use of preven-tive conservation methods for slowing down decay processes; evaluation of the properties of natural stone; and assessing the risks of using replacement stones of different qualities.
This book is about the stone used to build the castles of Edward I in North West Wales. It provides a description of the available geological resources and the building materials used in the construction of Caernarfon, Conwy, Harlech and Beaumaris Castles. It takes a broad view of this subject, placing the stone used in the castles in the context of both earlier and later buildings across the region of study, from the Neolithic up until the present day. The book will serve as a useful source book for geologists, archaeologists, architects, representatives of the natural stone industry, historians and cultural heritage management professionals specifically and for academic and non-academic communities, travellers and tourism industry operators in general.