Restoration of historic buildings: conservation principles and structural assessment

摘要

As part of the cultural heritage, historic structures must be restored according to general conservation criteria. In addition to an adequate conservation, actions oriented to the restoration of heritage structures need also to address the safety of people and the integrity of the possible artistic contents though certain requirements on structural reliability. The resulting problem is a complex engineering one involving the identification of optimal solutions which, while granting the reliability requirements, cause the minimum possible alteration to the original features of the structure. Verifying the structural reliability constitutes in itself a complex aspect of the problem which cannot be solved based solely on structural calculations. Complementary approaches involving historic research, comparative analyses and monitoring are also needed within the frame of a broader and more flexible understanding. These ideas are discussed on the base of some international documents, including the Nara one on Authenticity (1994) the Recommendations of the ICOMOS/ISCARSAH Committee (2003, 2005) and the ISO 13822 Standard on Assessment of Existing Structures (2010).