Poultice Desalination of Porous Building Materials Workshop, New Orleans

May 24-28, 2010
New Orleans, Louisiana

	Salt cross section. Photo: Eric Doehne

From Angkor to Zanzibar and Venice to New Orleans, soluble salts are responsible for causing significant damage to porous building materials. But how does salt weathering take place, and what level of salts are harmful? Are certain salts more damaging than others? Should they be removed and if so, how?

The use of poultice treatments is well established in conservation, however the complexities of salt migration within historic structures have produced variable and unpredictable results. The Poultice Desalination of Porous Building Materials Workshop presents new applied research on the process of poultice desalination through practical applications for conservators and others whose job is to assess, treat, and evaluate the impact of salts on porous building materials.

Designed for field-based conservation professionals, this hands-on workshop will be conducted through a combination of pre-workshop reading assignments and workshop lectures, demonstrations, and field trials. It will provide participants with a solid foundation for the poultice treatment of salt-laden building materials.

Topics to be addressed include:

• Guidelines for poultice desalination
• Building pathology – understanding the building construction context for moisture and salt related damage
• A review of the behavior of porous building materials
• Salt and moisture transport through porous building materials
• Introduction to salts and salt weathering
• Working principles of poultice systems: optimizing salt removal
• Criteria for poultice selection: modifying your poultice to match your substrate
• Practical pre- and post- poultice treatment investigation and assessment methods
• The limits of poultice desalination

Poultice Desalination of Porous Building Materials is organized by the GCI Education Department as part of its Science Workshop Series: Research into Practice, which aims to disseminate the results of important research to the conservation field. This workshop is a result of research conducted through the GCI Science project, Desalination of Porous Building Materials.

Eligibility and Selection
Applicants are expected to have the equivalent of five years field experience in the conservation of porous building materials. Admission is competitive and limited to a maximum of 20 participants.

Decision notices will be sent to candidates via e-mail on February 3, 2010.

Language
The workshop will be conducted in English.

Facilitators
An international team of conservators, conservation scientists, and a conservation architect will teach the course.

Fee
USD $500

The fee for this workshop covers instruction and workshop materials only. It does not cover travel to New Orleans, meals, lodging, or other incidental expenses.

How to Apply:

Complete the online form available from the Getty website.

Built Heritage Research Fellowships

There are a couple of research fellowships at the University of SA that may be of interest to APT Australia Chapter members or their colleagues.  Applications close on Monday, so time is limited.

The collections of the Architecture Museum in the School of Art, Architecture and Design provide a rich and unparalleled resource for research into South Australia’s social and cultural history through the lens of architecture and the built environment.

The Museum has the generous support of the South Australian Department for Environment and Heritage (DEH) through the SA Built Heritage Research Fellowship. This annual Fellowship provides the opportunity for in-depth investigation into an aspect of the state’s built heritage.

Since mid 2005, the Department for Environment and Heritage has been offering the DEH SA Built Heritage Research Fellowship at the Architecture Museum, University of South Australia.

Application guidelines and forms 2009/10

In 2009/2010, DEH is offering two Fellowships. One will continue the original Fellowship focus on a subject from a general list of topics and the other will concentrate specifically on the sustainability benefits of the adaptive reuse of buildings in general and of heritage buildings in particular. In each instance applicants should aim to utilise the collections and library of the Architecture Museum. The same applicant will not be awarded both Fellowships.

DEH SA Built Heritage Research Fellowship

• Guidelines and application form (Word doc)
• List of topics (Word doc)

DEH Sustainability and Adaptive Reuse Fellowship

• Guidelines and application form (Word doc)
• Case study template (Word doc)

Closing date for applications (both Fellowships): Monday 9 November 2009

Convenor’s Report

APT Australia Chapter
OCCASIONAL REPORT

The (Un)Loved Modern conference has passed very successfully with the involvement of several APTI Members including a number from the USA. The conference provided a good opportunity to reflect on our Australia Chapter and where we might like to take it over the next few years. Some current thoughts follow.

THANK YOU TO DAVID WEST
A big thank you to David West for his tireless work in getting technical discussion into the (Un)Loved Modern conference and for attracting such high level input from Kyle Normandin (APTI Treasurer), Anne Weber (APTI Board Member and Co-Chair of Publications Committee),  and Pamela Jerome (APTI member) to name three. David’s work has assured a higher profile for our APTI local chapter that we can now exploit in our planning for future activities.

CHAPTER REACH
There was some discussion at (Un)Loved Modern about the reach of the Australia Chapter and whether it might become an Australasian Chapter, as it was in the 1980s. Some of our New Zealand colleagues would be keen for that and it has been contemplated that we might be able to also use our South East Asian connections to assist some of our neighbouring colleagues to become active in APTI. We recognize that cost of full membership would be a barrier to many in SE Asia but they all have internet connections so something should be possible. We should keep an open mind until an opportunity presents.

TECHNICAL SEMINARS
APT’s main interest is the dissemination of information, which it has been doing successfully for 40 years. The Australasian Chapter can only play its part through partnership and collaboration. A couple of ideas are taking form. But there must be more opportunities than we are aware of currently? So if you have an idea or see an opportunity for collaboration please let us know. It may be that the APTI contribution could make the difference between something happening or not happening.

INCOME GENERATION
It has never been an aim to generate income but it could be time to think more about raising some money for a good cause. For example, there are three key ways in which we could use limited funding to good effect: 

• Sponsorship of visiting technical specialists; perhaps to anchor a seminar or series of technical discussions.
• Support for attendance at the APT annual conference to ensure that we have at least one member attending each year.
• Sponsorship of students to attend the APT annual conference.

Our next opportunity to promote these ideas at the international level will occur in Los Angeles in November.

PRESENCE AT APT ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN LOS ANGELES IN NOVEMBER
Is anyone planning to attend the APT Annual Conference in Los Angeles in November 2009? If you are planning to attend please let us know so that we can assure the best value from your attendance. 

Donald Ellsmore
Convenor
APTI Australia Chapter

(Un)Loved Modern – final opportunity to submit abstract

A reminder that the call for abstracts for the (Un)Loved Modern conference to be held in Sydney in July 2009 is closing this week.  If you are interested in presenting a paper at this conference, please see this previous post for details of the conference themes.

(Un)Loved Modern – call for papers

Please download this call for papers for the (Un)Loved Modern conference to be held in Sydney 7-10 July 2009.  Organisers welcome abstracts on any aspect of the conference themes.  In particular, APT Australia Chapter members David West and Elisha Long are keen to hear from anybody interested in presenting a paper on technical aspects of conserving 20thC heritage.

Papers are particularly sought for subjects that support the major sub themes of: Re-engaging with the original designer, Unloved Modern, War in the Pacific, Managing 20^th century obsolescence, Rethinking colonial heritage, The single house under threat.

This call for papers seeks papers and case studies for the technical streams on:

• Opera House Materials -eg, development, repair/renewal/replacement of the original fabric and finishes of the Opera House
• Curtain walls -eg original construction and development, deterioration mechanisms, leakage and responses, metal corrosion issues, glass types, etc.
• Cladding -(architectural precast and stone) eg panel design, mix design, curing, exposure of aggregates and finishes, adequacy of fixing constraints, bowing marble cladding, matching stone in repair programs
• Tiled finishes -(terracotta, glazed tiles, mosaics, faience), eg Adhesion vs mechanical restraint.
• Services -(lifts, air-conditioning, lighting, communications, electrical), eg conserving redundant services, dealing with original life-cycle, adapting for sustainable performance, meeting contemporary operational requirements and building code compliance
• Perception of Risks -eg perception and publicity, impact on public safety, owners perspective
• Proprietary items -eg responses to change/cessation of manufacturing process, decision matrices
• Artwork and sculpture -eg conservation, interaction with substrates, fixings
• Hazardous materials -eg asbestos, lead based paints and putties, VOCs

The papers could focus on one or more of the following aspects:

• What was originally constructed and how?
• What went wrong and why?
• The conservation options, the method selected and its success.

Abstracts are due by 14 November 2008 and should describe the proposed paper in no more than 300 words.

Accreditation for Conservation Engineers in Australia

Bill Jordan advises that Engineers Australia has launched a scheme for accreditation of engineers specialising in heritage and conservation engineering.  Details are available from the Engineers Australia website.

This web page also contains a link to the Guideline document published by the National Engineering Registration Board.

Engineer members of APT Australia Chapter are encouraged to explore the requirements for accreditation in this discipline.