The importance of long-term hygrothermal assessment of museum spaces: method and application in a permanent exhibition in a historical building (original) (raw)
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Environmental monitoring in four European museums
Atmospheric Environment, 2001
In a European multidisciplinary research project concerning environmental diagnostics, museums have been selected, having di!erent climate and pollution conditions, i.e.: Correr Museum, Venice (Italy); Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (Austria); Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp (Belgium); Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich (UK). Some "eld tests investigated the microclimate, the gaseous and particulate air pollution and the biological contamination to suggest mitigative techniques that may reduce the potential for damage in the long run. Potential risk factors are generated by imbalance in temperature and humidity, generated by heating, air conditioning or ventilating system (HVAC), or the building structures, exchange of outside air, or large visitor numbers. HVAC may also enhance indoor gaseous pollution. Plants and carpets represent potential niches for bacterial colonisation. Pollutants and particles have been recognised having partly external and partly internal origin. Tourism has a direct negative impact, i.e. transport of external particles, release of heat, vapour and CO , as well as generation of turbulence, which increases the deposition rate of particulate matter. However, the main problem is that the microclimate has been planned for the well being of visitors during only the visiting time, disregarding the needs of conservation that requires a constant climate by day and by night. In some of these cases, better environmental niches have been obtained with the help of showcases. In other cases, showcases worsened the situation, especially when incandescent lamps were put inside.
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In recent decades, the obvious deterioration suffered by the collections exhibited in museum rooms has become alarming. The lack of environmental control is currently one of the most vulnerable points in the exhibition of objects and works of art in museums.In historic cities, museums are usually housed in old buildings or museum-houses that were not created specifically for the preservation of heritage objects. In this case, preventive conservation includes both the collections and the building itself. The possibilities of creating stable microclimates for the conservation of objects on display are reduced when it is not possible to change its architectural characteristics either due to lack of resources or because it is a priority to conserve the building envelope.The literature indicates that within the criteria of preventive conservation, the monitoring and control of environmental conditions are essential practices to minimize damage to the heritage during the exhibition.The pu...
Applied Sciences, 2022
Preservation of the cultural heritage of museums includes measures to prevent degrading effects induced by air temperature and humidity factors which are difficult to control. The present paper includes a synopsis of values of air temperature and relative humidity characterizing the indoor climate of the “Poni-Cernătescu” Museum of Iași, Romania for a period of one year. The objective of this research was to describe the museum microclimate and to identify and analyze the degradation risk of museum artifacts in order to study the impact of hygrothermal indoor and outdoor loads on indoor microclimate parameters. To achieve the objective, the following activities were carried out: acquisition of data on the relative humidity and the temperature of indoor and outdoor air; analysis of data with climate analysis tools and statistical methods; and transformation of data into quantitative and qualitative numerical measures of collection decay risks. The collected data enabled us to accurat...
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The University of Florence has equipped one of the most representative Florentine historical Museum, "La Specola", of a specific microclimatic monitoring system installed in some rooms. The paper presents the results of one-year record of temperature and relative humidity, regarding a room and its showcases. The elaboration and analysis of the microclimatic data have been carried out according to the Italian Standard UNI 10829 and the Performance Index of the most important thermo-hygrometric parameters has been calculated and assessed. Moreover, a dynamic thermal simulation to assess the effectiveness of some passive refurbishment strategies has been carried out in terms of annual and monthly Performance Index and dry bulb temperature variations. The results can be extended to several historical buildings, where poor envelope performances and large windows or skylights imply not acceptable indoor environmental conditions that can even cause damage to the artefacts.
Investigations of Museum Indoor Microclimate and Air Quality. Case Study from Romania
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Poor air quality inside museums is one of the main causes influencing the state of conservation of exhibits. Even if they are mostly placed in a controlled environment because of their construction materials, the exhibits can be very vulnerable to the influence of the internal micro-climate. As a consequence, museum exhibits must be protected from potential negative effects. In order to prevent and stop the process of damage of the exhibits, monitoring the main parameters of the microclimate (especially temperature, humidity, and brightness) and keeping them in strict values is extremely important. The present study refers to the investigations and analysis of air quality inside a museum, located in a heritage building, from Romania. The paper focuses on monitoring and analysing temperature of air and walls, relative humidity (RH), CO2, brightness and particulate matters (PM), formaldehyde (HCHO), and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC). The monitoring was carried out in the Summer-Autumn 2020 Campaign, in two different exhibition areas (first floor and basement) and the main warehouse where the exhibits are kept and restored. The analyses aimed both at highlighting the hazard induced by the poor air quality inside the museum that the exhibits face. The results show that this environment is potentially harmful to both exposed items and people. Therefore, the number of days in which the ideal conditions in terms of temperature and RH are met are quite few, the concentration of suspended particles, formaldehyde, and total volatile organic compounds often exceed the limit allowed by the international standards in force. The results represent the basis for the development and implementation of strategies for long-term conservation of exhibits and to ensure a clean environment for employees , restorers, and visitors.
Bioclimatic museum architecture in historic buildings: instrument of environmental sustainability
5th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HERITAGE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Throughout the development of the museums architecture, despite many advances and achievements of this architectural typology, there has been a gap between architecture and the museums environment. The microclimate that is created within a museum building, in particular in existing buildings, usually does not favor collections conservation. In Brazil most of museums are installed in historical buildings and the studies about the building influence in microclimate inside de museum are just beginning. The building is a passive agent of conservation but the architectural projects developed in traditional museums have not taken the performance of the building into account. It’s necessary to develop in Brazil more embracing and updated databases on temperature, humidity, lighting and others parameters to improve those projects. The application of bioclimatic strategies and environmental indicators in existing buildings can drive the internal microclimate in the direction of the preventive conservation needs, and the intentional creation of microclimate can harmonize museum architecture and museum collection, frequently thought as independent beings in Brazil.
CYTEF 2018 − IX Congreso Ibérico | VII Congreso Iberoamericano de las Ciencias y Técnicas del Frío, 2018
It is recognized worldwide that indoor air quality (IAQ) conditions in museums influence the preservation of the exhibited items. Recently, international guidelines towards environmental management in the field of conservation have been revised, leading to a different perspective on ‘ideal/fixed’ hygrothermal air conditions, namely EN 15757:2010. Herein, some results of the ongoing study of the IAQ conditions in the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra (UC) are discussed, following a continuous monitoring campaign recently implemented (since January 2017). These data are compared with those of a previous study on the environmental conditions of this museum, a XVI-XVIII century heritage building with no mechanical air conditioning and ventilation (HVAC) system, which was grounded on several non-consecutive monitoring campaigns conducted over more than one-year focused on the hygrothermal air conditions of two exhibition rooms of the Museum. The obtained results reinforce the need for further investigation on the subject. HVAC might be required for proper control of the indoor conditions, e.g., for minimizing the impact of the identified risky conditions.
41st IAHS WORLD CONGRESS: Sustainability and Innovation for the Future Abstract: In Brazil, the large number of museums installed in previously existing buildings, produced by different proposals and architectural answers, have demanded frequent studies and evaluations to better facilitate their operations. One of the most important conflicts that need to be solved by architecture in a museum installed in historic buildings is caused by the inner microclimate created by the construction and its interference in the preventive conservation of collections. Additionally, we must respect the historic building because it is part of the heritage. It’s needed to develop an evaluation methodology that considers different interferences in the museum architecture in historic buildings, in order to have a tool for decision-making involving utilization requirements and the environmental performance of the buildings, aiming to use heritage to leverage sustainable development. To obtain the environmental indicators for museum in traditional buildings, it’s proposed in our ongoing doctorate the use the Bioclimatic Diagram, including recommended strategies to achieve conditions of environmental comfort. The environment control parameters for objects are included inside the zone of comfort. This Bioclimatic Diagram can also be used to assist corrections in buildings in order to achieve favorable conditions for environmental control. Besides these parameters, safe values of lighting for conservation of collections can also be plotted in a Tridimensional Diagram. Measurements of climate parameters (temperature, relative humidity and lighting) in three different locations, at the same area in the city of Rio de Janeiro, through dataloggers placed in two museums and one outdoor area, have also been conducted in our work. The bioclimatic strategy has consolidated tools for environmental analysis that can be used for the development of sustainable museum architecture in existing buildings in Brazil.
Return to basics – environmental management for museum collections and historic houses
Proceedings of the 49th AiCARR International Conference on Historical and Existing Buildings: Designing the Retrofit – An Overview from Energy Performances to Indoor Air Quality, Roma 26-28 February 2014, 2014
Over the last few decades, research on the impact of environment on the cultural heritage and material response to processes of deterioration and at the same time introduction of risk-based methodology in developing preservation strategies lead to the revision of the guidelines for environmental management in the field of conservation of cultural heritage and resulted in more relaxed standards, giving advantage to measures for enhancing passive control of indoor environment. Following this approach and taking into account minimal risks to collections Central Institute for Conservation in Belgrade has been working with museums in Serbia on determining the necessary environmental requirements for a specific collection or a museum and proposing adequate control strategies. The recommendations based on surveys of facilities and collections and monitoring of indoor environmental parameters, focus on eliminating sources of extreme conditions, and improving the existing conditions at the level of building, or even maintaining the existing conditions when they are observed as stable both for collections and building. This strategy favors solutions which do not affect the building as a historical monument or its structural and functional integrity or impose excessive investments in museum building. The paper will present issues and solutions for preservation of museum collections set in historic buildings, through several case studies and from the position of conservators, based on gathered data on collections, building and risks to collections.