Geological risk assessment of Amtoudi Agadir in southern Morocco: a key case for sustainable cultural heritage

Medieval fortified granaries known as “agadirs” are very common in southern Morocco, being catalogued as world cultural heritage by United Nations. These Berber buildings (made of stones and tree trunks) usually located on rocky promontories, constitute historical testimonials related to the origin of Morocco, and, as tourist attractions, have a positive impact on the local economy. The sustainability of these ancient monuments requires geological-risk evaluations of the massif stability under the agadir with the proposal of stabilization measures, and an architectonic analysis with appropriate maintenance of the structural elements. An interdisciplinary study including climate, seismicity, hydrology, geology, geomorphology, geotechnical surveys of the massif, and diagnosis of the degradation of structural elements have been performed on the Amtoudi Agadir, selected as a case study. The main findings from this study are that the prevalent rocks used for construction (coming from the underlying substratum) are good-quality arkosic sandstones; the SW cliffs under the agadir are unstable under water saturation; some masonry walls are too thin and lack interlocking stones and mortar; and failures in the beams (due to flexure, fracture, and exhaustion in the resistance due to insect attacks or plant roots) are common. The basic risk assessment of ancient buildings of cultural heritage and their geologic substratum are needed especially in undeveloped areas with limited capacity to implement durable conservation policies. Therefore, recommendations have been provided to ensure the stability and maintenance of this important archaeological site.

The Conservation of our Built Heritage, in Particular Statues in Aberdeen, Evaluated Through a Social and Historical Context and Their Impact, Through the Use of 3D Scanning

Cultural heritage sites all over the world are at risk due to aggressive urban expansion, development, wars and general obsolescence. Not all objects are recorded in detail although they may have social and historical significance. For example more emphasis is placed on the recording of castles and palaces than on crofters’ cottages or tenement blocks, although their history can be just as rich. This paper will investigate the historic fabric of Aberdeen through the use of digital scanning, supported by a range of media including old photographs and paintings. Dissemination of social heritage through visualisations will be explored and how this can aid the understanding of space within the city or specific area. Focus will be given to the major statues/monuments within the context of the city centre, exploring their importance in their environment. In addition studying why many have been re-located away from their original site, the reasons why, and how we have perhaps lost some of the social and historical importance of why that monument was first located there. It will be argued that Digital Media could be utilised for much more than re-creation and re-presentation of physical entities. Digital scanning, in association with visualisation tools, is used to capture the essence of both the cultural heritage and the society that created or used the sites in association with visualisation tools and in some way re-enacting the original importance placed upon the monument in its original location, through adoption of BIM Heritage.

Structural Analysis with ANSYS on Stone Constructions in the Historical Spanish Heritage

According to the importance of rehabilitation and recovery of Architectural Heritage in the live of people, this paper is aimed to strengthen the traditional methods of stone vaults calculation taking advantage of the technological characteristics of the powerful program ANSYS Workbench. As an example of this, it could find out the possible pathologies that could arise during the construction history of the building. To limit this research, the upper vault of the main chapel of the Santiago parish church in Orihuela -Alicante- is selected as a reference which is a Jeronimo Quijano´s important building work in the XVI century in the Renaissance. Moreover, it is an innovative stone masonry vault that consists of 8 double intercrossed arches with each other and braced by severies. During the seventeenth century there was a lantern in the central cap and it is unknown why it was removed. Its construction could justify the original constructive solution with intercrossed arches that freed the center to create a more enlightened and comfortable presbytery. By similarity with other Quijano’s works, it is considered a small lantern drilling the central spherical cap. It is proposed to carry out a comparative study of it with different architectural solutions from the same period and based on several common parameters such as: a vault of square plant with spherical surround, intercrossed arches, a possible lantern, the dimension of the permitted space, similar states of loads and compact limestone masonry. The three solutions are mainly differentiated by their size and the type of lantern and its comparison lets us know which one is the most resistant and stable. The other two building works maintain some connection with the Quijano's professional scope. It has selected the particular case of the Communion chapel of the Basilica in Elche (a large prismatic lantern with a large cylindrical drum that starts from the own arches and an upper hemispherical dome), for its conservation, its proximity to Orihuela and its implementation during the century XVIII. Finally, a significant Dome Spanish Renaissance complete the selection: a cross vault of the Benavides Chapel of the Saint Francisco Convent in Baeza - Jaén-, designed by Andres of Vandelvira in the sixteenth century (a large hemispherical dome that starts from the own arcs). To simplify the calculation and standardize the work that have to be contrasted, all of them were considered with some similar characteristics: 30 cm constant thickness, the intercrossed arches were specifically analyzed and had identical loads, Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio. Regarding the calculation solutions, in general terms, the compressive stresses predominate, influencing on it the joint collaboration of the filling material on the vault, the vault itself, the thick side walls, the buttresses and the top cover weight . In addition, the three solutions are suitable, being the Orihuela one the safest and the Baeza one the riskiest for its large dimensions. Thus, the idea of intercrossed arches with suitable thickness would allow carry out the heaviest lantern and this would confirm it as a Renaissance architectural typology built in stone.

Preservation tax incentives for historic buildings /

Shipping list no.: 97-0065-P.

Caring for the past : preserving, rehabilitating and restoring historic buildings.

Shipping list no.: 97-0056-P.

Juma al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage Competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1993 (unbuilt project)

[Schematic Design Drawing of East Elevation and] East-West Section. Black ink, colored ink and pencil drawing with marker coloring on two blue-line prints, 8 1/4 x 38 & 15 x 41 1/4 inches [from photographic copy by Lance Burgharrdt]

Juma al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage Competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1993 (unbuilt project)

[Schematic Design Drawing of] East Elevation. Black and colored ink and pencil drawing with marker coloring on two blue-line prints, 9 1/4 x 38 & 9 1/2 x 41 1/2 inches [from photographic copy by Lance Burgharrdt]

Juma al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage Competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1993 (unbuilt project)

[Conceptual Sketch], untitled. Brown ink sketch on tracing paper, 18x28 iinches [from photographic copy by Lance Burgharrdt]

Juma al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage Competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1993 (unbuilt project)

[Conceptual Sketch], untitled. Ink sketch with marker coloring on tracing paper, 18 x 37 1/2 inches [from photographic copy by Lance Burgharrdt]

Juma al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage Competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1993 (unbuilt project)

[Conceptual Sketch], untitled. Blue pencil sketch on tracing paper, 18 x 37 1/2 inches [from photographic copy by Lance Burgharrdt]

Juma al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage Competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1993 (unbuilt project)

[Conceptual Sketch], untitled. Ink and blue, orange and green pencil sketch on tracing paper, 18x37 inches [from photographic copy by Lance Burgharrdt]

Juma al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage Competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1993 (unbuilt project)

[Conceptual Sketches], untitled. Ink sketches on tracing paper, 12x24 inches [from photographic copy by Lance Burgharrdt]

Juma al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage Competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1993 (unbuilt project)

[Conceptual Sketches], untitled. Ink sketches on tracing paper, 18x22 inches [from photographic copy by Lance Burgharrdt]

Juma al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage Competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1993 (unbuilt project)

[Conceptual Sketch], untitled. Ink sketch with marker coloring on tracing paper, 18x38 inches [from photographic copy by Lance Burgharrdt]

Juma al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage Competition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 1993 (unbuilt project)

[Conceptual Sketch], untitled. Ink sketch on tracing paper, 12 x 32 1/4 inches [from photographic copy by Lance Burgharrdt]