Effects of Climate Change on the Future of Heritage Buildings: Case Study and Applied Methodology

Abstract

Heritage buildings and the precious artworks contained therein, represent inestimable cultural and artistic evidence from the past that must be properly preserved for future generations. In the last decades, climate change has gained relevance and is becoming crucial to assess the building performance under such effect to provide timely mitigation actions to preserve our cultural heritage. In this regard, this paper outlines a method that combines different experimental activities and tools to forecast possible future risks due to climate change for the conservation of the artworks and provide its application in a relevant case study in Italy, the Duomo di Milano. In detail, the suggested method consists of the monitoring of the building indoor climate to validate a simulation model, defining possible future scenarios based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projections, and evaluation of the future conservation risks of the main artworks. The results of the analysis carried out, show that for some artworks (e.g., stone sculptures, some organic materials, etc.), the conservation conditions will not worsen compared to the current situation, while for others (e.g., paintings, wooden objects, etc.) the risk of deterioration is expected to increase substantially. This study helps to understand how the future climate can affect the indoor environment of a huge masonry building and allow to plan targeted mitigation strategies aimed to reduce the future risks.

The Restoration of St. James’s Church in Como and the Cathedral Museum as Agents for Sustainable Urban Planning Strategies

“…In the ongoing St. James's operation, the most advanced digital techniques are implemented [51], such as the 3D survey carried out by a team from Politecnico di Milano under the responsibility of Marco Scaioni (Figure 6); the traditional stone slabs covering the roofs will be treated, extending their service life, instead of disposing and replacing them with new stones transported from a far distance quarries with a high carbon footprint [52]; and a more efficient heating system will reduce the energy consumption, as already tested in other important churches in Italy [53], which is an issue to be dealt with also taking into account the Climate Change impacts [54]. However, as advanced and noninvasive as they are, those methodological choices will not fully reach their targets without comprehensive reflections on the potential role of such an important monument in the urban system and the set of targets that could be hit, enhancing the integration of the cultural offers, the training institutes, the return on the investment in conservation, the cooperation among the Taking advantage of being in Lombardy Region, where advanced models of wide-area comprehensive programs for heritage-led local development have been successfully tested since 2000 [56,57] (pp.…”

Climate change impact on the degradation of historically significant wooden furniture in a cultural heritage building in Vestfold, Norway

“…When fluctuations exceed the "elastic behaviour" area, deformations become irreversible, increasing in magnitude as the relative humidity fluctuations distribute deeper in the area indicated as "plastic behaviour compression response" or "tension response". Finally, when the environment becomes too dry, the RHresponse can reach the "failure" area in Figure 3, causing visible cracks in the material (Camuffo, 1998;Huerto-Cardenas et al, 2021).…”

“…As a result, the artifacts hosted in such buildings will experience new ambient conditions with further implications on their deterioration. Martens (2012), Silva and Henriques (2015), Rajčić et al (2018) and Huerto-Cardenas et al (2021) investigated the impact of climate change on the mechanical, chemical and biological deterioration of wooden artifacts that are hosted inside museums. The methodologies that they implemented can be applied to any case study and provide a good indication of the threats of climate change on the artifacts.…”

Analysing the Main Standards for Climate-Induced Mechanical Risk in Heritage Wooden Structures: The Case of the Ringebu and Heddal Stave Churches (Norway)

“…Simulations and risk assessments on the evolution of energy consumption and costs for historical buildings and buildings that house artefacts have been carried out in the framework of global climate change [23], ensuring that the indoor climate is compliant with the ASHRAE [18], Thomson [19] and FCT-UNL guidelines [24]. Thus, not only has the evolution of energy consumption/cost due to the climate change been simulated, but the possible future risk for artworks has been evaluated as well [25]. In this framework, the current work aimed to investigate the main standards in matter of conservation of the wooden cultural heritage subjected to climateinduced risks.…”