Architecture & Engineering

Today The Preservation Technology Podcast joins NCPTT’s Andy Ferrell, as he speaks with Tom Jones, an urban conservator for the West Ward Urban Ecology Project in eastern Pennsylvania. They will discuss the West Ward Ecology Project and something called the Green Design Laboratory.

Download Episode 10 as an mp3 or subscribe via iTunes.

Lansing Community College in Lansing, Michigan, is presenting a three-day workshop on March 8, 9 and 10, 2010, to introduce a wide variety of interested personnel, including State Historic Preservation officers, Department of Transportation officials, engineers, engineering students, general contractors, and historic bridge preservationists, to restoration processes of historic metals using electric arc welding, heat straightening, and hot riveting processes. Funded in part by a grant from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training.

This summer, NCPTT, the Tulane School of Architecture, the Preservation Trades Network, and Save Our Cemeteries hosted training on treatments for above ground cemeteries damaged during Hurricane Katrina.

Topics included masonry applications, preservation technology, limewash, appropriate treatments for tombs, and a history of the cemeteries of New Orleans. This video was produced by Tulane University.

This CD-ROM course, BPR 140: Mechanical Systems, is designed to familiarize the student with the plumbing, electrical, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and insulation systems in historic buildings. The department recognizes that each of these trades is a career in itself and that this course can’t possibly teach you everything about these trades. What this course does attempt to do is to:

Planetizen is offering a webinar on preservation and sustainability tomorrow, July 30, 2009, at 11:00AM PDT/2PM EDT. This $49.95 course defines sustainable development as keeping what is “valuable by meeting our needs without prejudicing the ability of future generations to meet other own needs.”

This course shows how sustainability and historic preservation work hand-in-hand to meet the goals of both.

The instructor, Hector Abreu Cintron, is well known in the preservation community as a cultural resources management expert.

NCPTT has completed the rewriting and editing of 12 Standard Treatments for the DOD.

Sixteen additional treatments are under review, and DOD comments will be incorporated as they are received.

This effort is directed at improving the technical content of the draft DOD treatment standards and the stewardship of DOD cultural resources.

NCPTT joined Tulane School of Architecture, Preservation Trades Network and Save our Cemeteries to host “Cities of the Dead: Above-Ground Cemetery Preservation, Conservation, Documentation Methodology and History,” July 13-31, in New Orleans, La.

This grading protocol is a review of historical wood testing and standards development, wood condition assessment basics, and a query-based wood grading program. The goal of this protocol is to change the typical decision-making process by giving engineers and architects the means to better understand the grading of wood members in relation to building code requirements.

Save the Date for IPTW-ITES 2009 from August 25-29, 2009 in Leadville, Colorado. The 13th annual International Preservation Trades Workshop will be held by the Preservation Trades Network in partnership with the Colorado Mountain College Historic Preservation program. Sponsored in part by NCPTT.

If you’re interested in sharing your skills and knowledge as a “hands on” demonstrator at IPTW 2009 submit a demonstration proposal online. Some travel assistance may be available for demonstrators. Contact Rudy Christian at rchristian@ptn.org for details.

This past November the Friends of NCPTT and the National Trust for Historic Preservation convened a small group of experts to discuss historic preservation and environmental sustainability.

After two days of intense discussions, the group developed the core of the Pocantico Proclamation on Sustainability and Historic Preservation. While a good starting point to further discussion on sustainability of the built environment, we ask that you review the Pocantico Proclamation and add your comments. Input from the broader preservation community is critical. We appreciate your participation.

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) in partnership with Save Our Cemeteries, Inc. (SOC) will be holding a Limewash Workshop on June 13, 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Transcript and show notes for the Preservation Technology Podcast, Episode 3: Rapid Documentation of Historic Resources with Barrett Kennedy.
Download Episode 3 as an mp3 or subscribe via iTunes.

Preservation Institute: Nantucket (PI:N) is an interdisciplinary program that exposes participants to the theories and methodologies of international cultural heritage conservation and the research, documentation, and management of current and potential World Heritage sites.

Kirk Cordell and Andrew Ferrell of NCPTT will be guest lecturing at the Preservation Institute: Nantucket.

The registration deadline for this workshop is April 24, 2009. The workshop will provide guidance for professionals and students in the use of diagnostic nondestructive testing for historic structures. It is intended for technically oriented graduates and practicing engineers, architects, preservation consultants, and contractors who are not familiar with this subject area.

The Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) developed the Architectural Records Symposium: Managing and Preserving Design Records to improve practices for preserving and providing access to architectural records in museums, archives, libraries, and historic sites throughout the country.

This video shows how to build small drystone retaining walls from beginning to end; laying out the shape, digging the foundation, determining the wall angle, building the face, packing the back, and leveling the top.

Dr. George Skarmeas will speak on the topic of preservation and sustainability with case studies on Tuesday, March 10, 2009, at 5:00PM at LSU, Baton Rouge, Design Building Auditorium, Room 103.

Limewash is enjoying renewed interest as a protectant for historic structures, thanks in part to research undertaken by NCPTT and its partners.

he main objective of this research project is to better understand the failure strength and the modes of failure of different types of mechanical anchor systems in stone masonry.

The ATC and SEI Conference Program Committee is currently accepting abstracts for individual presentations and proposals for complete sessions. Submission will be accepted until February 27, 2009.