At Vertical Access, we go to great lengths—and heights—to help you gather meaningful data about your project’s site conditions. Our Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) services bring together the expertise of five FAA-certified drone pilots, architectural conservators, engineers and historians to investigate buildings and infrastructure.
Vertical Access enhances our inspections services at any height with a team of FAA-certified UAV pilots. Our pilots utilize drone technology in a number of applications ranging from reconnaissance surveys highlighting areas of concern for further investigation to flying lightweight rigging cords up-and-over structural elements to gain hands-on access.
We currently operate a fleet of DJI™ Phantom quadcopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or drones) to aid in the investigation of buildings and infrastructure. If hands-on access is not feasible, high resolution photographs and video taken from mounted cameras provide sharp images for conditions assessment.
Regardless of the application, our team operates in full compliance with FAA Part 107, Small Unmanned Aircraft Regulations. All of our aircraft are registered and each of our TSA-vetted operators holds a Remote Pilot Certificate.
More information on our UAV Surveys is found here and in published articles including: Olson, Kristen, and Kelly Streeter, P.E. “3D Models Take Off with Drone Technology.” SWRI Applicator Magazine, Summer 2016. Download the UAV Technical Highlight here.
Vertical Access has had the privilege of making several trips to Boston’s Trinity Church over the years in order to assist with the investigation of interior and exterior conditions. Consecrated in 1877 and situated on a prominent public square in Boston’s Back Bay, Trinity Church is considered the masterpiece of architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Today, the parish is officially known as Trinity Church in the City of Boston.
Trinity Church, a National Historic Landmark, is one of the finest examples of American architecture of the late nineteenth century. H.H. Richardson’s competition-winning design employs the rounded arches, deep window reveals and turret forms that are characteristic of his eponymous style, Richardsonian Romanesque. Trinity is organized as a compact Greek cross, with an auditorium-like seating arrangement beneath a massive, square central tower. The church is decorated with richly-colored interior murals by John La Farge, sculpture by Daniel Chester French and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and stained glass windows by La Farge and other leading glass designers.
A five-year restoration of the church and parish house began in 2001, directed by Goody Clancy. Work included masonry repairs at the tower exterior, improvements to life safety and mechanical systems, and restoration of the stained glass windows and interior finishes. Also as part of the project, the church undercroft and parish house basement underwent an award-winning conversion into universally-accessible meeting and classroom spaces.
As exterior work began in the spring of 2003, Vertical Access was asked to document the La Farge murals and architectural details at the interior of the central church tower. Industrial rope access was used to gain access to the tower interior, and VA scheduled the work to avoid interrupting the three daily church services. Vertical Access worked closely with Goody Clancy to capture high-quality imagery of the delicate interior finishes.
Looking down from the attic, a Boston Globe photographer captured James Banta, left, and Kent Diebolt, with camera, documenting the La Farge murals inside Trinity Church’s central tower.
Vertical Access’ photodocumentation was used by the Trinity Boston Preservation Trust in their 2004 campaign to fund the restoration of Trinity’s murals and stained glass windows.
David, photographed by Vertical Access in 2003.
More than a decade after the interior documentation and restoration, VA returned to Trinity in August, 2016. Kelly Streeter and Kristen Olson joined Casey Williams of Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger on the tower roof to document the condition of the clay tile roof, along with the northeast turret. VA was working for SGH, who were under the direction of Goody Clancy.
From left, Casey Williams, Kelly Streeter, and Kristen Olson on the central tower in 2016, with the “world’s longest selfie-stick”. The pole-mounted GoPro camera was used to document the condition of the copper cross and stanchion atop the tower.
VA’s latest visit took place in September, when Kelly and Kristen participated in the Documentation Technologies Workshop presented by the Northeast Chapter of the Association for Preservation Technology. The event brought together an international audience for presentations and demonstrations of cutting-edge technology used in the documentation and characterization of historic structures.
Kelly and Kristen presented “Drones: The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown”, an overview of the applications for drones in building documentation, the potential for drones to augment hands-on inspections, available drone hardware and accessory technologies, and current FAA regulations. We followed the presentation with a live demonstration of our new drone, a DJI Phantom 4, inside the church sanctuary.
Left, a live feed video stream of the interior murals as they are captured by the drone, at right.
At 289 feet tall, the dome of the United States Capitol towers over the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., an instantly recognizable symbol of democracy. The cast iron dome itself was completed in 1863, after the nation’s rapid growth necessitated a remodel and expansion of the entire Capitol in the 1850s.
By the 1950s, however, the 9 million–pound dome had numerous fissures, and an attempt to weld them during a 1959–60 restoration was largely unsuccessful. The entire surface was cracking by 2014, prompting a three-year project that was completed in time for the 2017 Inauguration.
Last week, architects, engineers, and preservationists made the trek to Salt Lake City for Mesa to Mountain: Preservation in the American West. The three-day symposium, hosted by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Association for Preservation Technology International, drew audiences and presenters from New England to the Pacific North West. Vertical Access’ Kent Diebolt and Kristen Olson served on the Planning Committee. VA technicians Patrick Capruso, Kevin Dalton, and Keith Luscinski also attended.
Mesa to Mountain opened at the historic Alta Club with a reception and plenary session presented by Peter Goss, Ph.D. on architectural typologies found in the Beehive State. The symposium moved across South Temple the following morning to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where Lee Kreutzer, Cultural Resource Specialist for the NPS National Trails System, delivered her keynote address, “Paths, Pathogens, Ponies, and Wheels: How Trails Changed the Cultural Geography of America.” Kreutzer’s overview provided context for the paper sessions which focused on seismic mitigation, materials, and cultural heritage. Presenters offered talks on a variety of subjects specific to western architecture and preservation ranging from the influence of midcentury precast concrete in the Rocky Mountain Region to documenting the decorated earthen plaster and wood of a 12th century kiva at Utah’s Bare Ladder Ruin. Mesa to Mountain’s regional focus lent a sense of relevance to the paper sessions with common threads woven through each presentation.
Those same themes were apparent during the field sessions offered on the third day of the event. Whether it was a trip to Antelope Island State Park to catch a glimpse of bison and pronghorn sheep while exploring an 1848 adobe ranch house, touring the shop at Historical Arts and Casting, one of the nation’s premier metal casters, or viewing the base isolators at the Utah State Capitol Building and the lattice-truss arch system at the Mormon Tabernacle each session reinforced information presented the day before. The Mesa to Mountain Symposium was a success due in large part to its historic venues and regional focus.
Vertical Access is exited to see The Powerhouse Workshop project moving forward. We had the pleasure of assisting Roux Associates and Silman with the structural characterization and investigation of roof framing components as part of their site investigations.
The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Central Power Station was constructed in 1902 to supply electricity to the newly consolidated local steam railroad, elevated railroad and street car system.
Designed in the Romanesque Revival style by Thomas E. Murray, the BRT Powerhouse consisted of two parts. The extant south building housed the dynamo and engines, and the Boiler House, which contained the furnaces and coal storage. The Powerhouse was decommissioned and the boiler house demolished in the 1950s.
The powerhouse structure is comprised of built up steel lattice columns with infill brick walls. The roof structure is framed by primary modified Raised Toe trusses that span the space and are supported at the steel columns. Two secondary lateral trusses brace the primary trusses at the approximate third points.
Posted on by Vertical AccessLast modified: February 24, 2017
Organizers of the 6th International Architectural Paint Research (APR) Conference are delighted to announce that Vertical Access has signed on as a sponsor of this year’s gathering. “This conference is a much-anticipated opportunity for professionals and academics to learn from each other and work together to protect and restore irreplaceable historic and cultural artifacts. Vertical Access’ support of this effort is critical to our success,” stated Conference Co-Chairs Mary Jablonski of Jablonski Building Conservation, Inc. and Kirsten Moffitt of Colonial Williamsburg.
The International Architectural Paint Research (APR) Conference will be held from March 15-17, 2017 in New York City on the historic campus of Columbia University. APR is a multi-disciplinary field, and this conference promises to bring together members of this vibrant, international community who include historic paint analysts, scholars, curators, art conservators, materials scientists, decorative painters, preservation architects, heritage managers, contractors, suppliers, preservationists, students, historians, and designers.
