Assessment and Monitoring of Historical Timber Construction: Available Tools to Support Decision-Making Processes

Abstract

Timber structures represent a rich although still underestimated portion of the historical built asset worldwide documenting a tradition of sustainable practices and craftsmanship. Assessment of their condition is a fundamental step towards their conservation. While some overarching approaches for the assessment of timber structures are not dissimilar to those used for other types of structures, there are some specific factors affecting timber structures behavior that should be taken into consideration. Such factors are especially related to the organic nature of wood, which makes timber's properties largely variable and influenced by the environment. Successful conservation of historical timber structures requires combination of many different disciplinary contributions, from wood science and technology, to structural engineering, building physics, architecture, art history and environmental science, among others. This contribution aims to present an overview of tools supporting decision-making processes for the assessment and conservation of existing timber structures, including both methodological frameworks and technical approaches for data collection and analysis. These tools are reviewed according to the scope of the assessment and considering multiple levels at which timber structures are studied, at the material, system and building scale. Additionally, emerging approaches and challenges for holistic assessment of historical timber structures are discussed.