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Transformative Technology – Tablet PC Software Modernizes Facility Condition Assessments

Chambers, Murphy and Burge Restoration Architects, are development partners for TPAS™  and have been utilizing the tablet-based digital annotation system in the field to document conditions and observations on their historic building restoration projects. In the article, Transformative Technology – Table PC Software Modernized Facility Condition Assessments, published in the October 2012 issue of  Properties Magazine…

Capitol Dome Is Imperiled by Cracks and a Partisan Rift – NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — To the myriad indignities suffered by Congress, including stagnant legislation, partisan warfare and popularity on a par with petty criminals, add this: the Capitol’s roof is leaking, and there is no money to fix it. The Capitol dome, the nation’s grandest symbol of federal authority, has been dinged by years of inclement weather,…

The Quarterly – August 2012

Read the August 2012 Quarterly Newsletter here. Subscribe to our blog in the sidebar  to get email updates as new items are posted throughout the year.

Building a Vault in the Style of Rafael Guastavino

Kent Diebolt, founder of Vertical Access, recently spent two days in July working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with John Ochsendorf, a group of his students and two masons from the International Masonry Institute (IMI), building a mock-up of a vault in the Guastavino style for the upcoming exhibition, Palaces for the People.…

The Role of Time in the Care of Buildings

When planning exterior repair projects, project teams sometimes speak of 20-year repairs, 30-year repairs or even 50-year repairs. These are the anticipated life spans of the major repairs carried out, with the expectation that the repair work will withstand the elements of weather and material degradation for one or two generations. The reality is that…

Kelly Streeter to Present to AIA Delaware and APT Washington, DC

Vertical Access Partner Kelly Streeter will be giving two presentations on May 24 this week.  The first presentation at 11 am is sponsored by AIA Delaware and will take place in Smyrna, DE.  This presentation, with Leila Hamroun-Yazid of Heritage Design Collaborative and Michael  Luciani of Hill International, will examine a collaborative approach to “Facade Inspection and Maintenance.”…

Communique: The Latest News from APT

The Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) is a cross-disciplinary, membership organization dedicated to promoting the best technology for conserving historic structures and their settings.  Here’s their latest newsletter – Communique: The Latest News from APT!.

The Quarterly – April 2012

Read the April 2012 Quarterly Newsletter here. Subscribe to our blog in the sidebar  to get email updates as new items are posted throughout the year.

Radio Frequency Safety: An Update with a Recent Perspective

On many Vertical Access projects, we work on roofs or the sides of buildings where there are radio frequency (RF) antennas.  Part of our site-specific safety check always involves assessing the risk posed by RF antennas, and we have discussed Radio Frequency Safety in a previous newsletter article.  In most of our projects the small…

The Faces of LeVeque Tower

In Rome’s Capitoline Museum are preserved portions of the Colossus of Constantine, a marble statue of the emperor who ruled over the Roman Empire in the beginning of the 4th century CE.  The head of the statue, which depicts Constantine’s “Sacred Countenance” gazing over his earthly domain, measures nearly 8 feet tall.  A bit closer…