Posted on by Vertical AccessLast modified: November 14, 2014
Last month, Evan Kopelson, Berta de Miguel and Kristen Olson traveled to Quebec City for the annual conference of the Association for Preservation Technology International. APT is a cross-disciplinary member organization promoting the best technology for conserving historic structures and their settings¹. The theme of this year’s conference was métissage, or the fruitful encounter of differences.
The Monument to the Faith statue and fountain with the Chateau Frontenac behind.
The conference was held at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, an iconic historic hotel situated on a high cliff overlooking the Saint Lawrence River. The hotel is located within the fortified walls of the old city, the most intact example of a colonial walled city north of Mexico and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Against this spectacular backdrop, the APT conference offered a chance to hear from preservation professionals engaged in all types of work around the globe. Over 600 people were in attendance, with four simultaneous presentation tracks exploring a variety of preservation and conservation topics. Presentations included case studies ranging from traditional mud-brick buildings to modern and even postmodern structures, and from the application of technology to characterize material properties to management strategies for academic campuses and national parks.
Evan Kopelson describes Vertical Access’ investigation of the Sibley Hall Dome.
VA Partner Evan Kopelson, along with Janet Null of Argus Architecture & Preservation, P.C. presented Sibley Hall Dome: Integrating Investigative Techniques to Diagnose and Preserve an Iconic Steel Roof. The presentation examined the cross-disciplinary approach and investigative techniques used by the project team to understand the condition of the dome and to determine appropriate treatments. As part of the team for the conceptual design phase, VA used industrial rope access to perform a hands-on investigation of the dome, built in 1902 to connect the existing east and west wings of Sibley Hall on the campus of Cornell University. VA used an ultrasonic thickness gauge to measure the thickness of the dome’s sheet metal cladding, and employed live-feed video to discuss connection details with project team members in real time. Moisture testing at the interior of the dome confirmed condensation as the cause of corrosion in limited areas. Hands-on inspection showed the structure and cladding of the dome to be in good shape overall, and the information gathered during the investigation led the project team to recommend a conservative repair treatment that will preserve much of the dome’s original fabric.
Place Royal in Quebec City’s Lower Town
The conference was packed with activities, but we found a little bit of time to explore Vieux Quebec, walking among 17th and 18th century buildings in the Lower Town and touring the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Quebec. One of the highlights was getting to know our tablemates and deciding as a group which dessert to bid on during the Student Scholar Dessert Fundraiser auction.
The pear tart created by the Chateau Frontenac’s pastry chef was amazing!
A narrow street in the Lower Town leading to the Funicular.
Ceramic plaques identify historic buildings in the Lower Town.
Many of the shops in the Lower Town have whimsical signs like this one.
The Place d’Armes and Chateau Frontenac at dusk.
We’re looking forward to APT’s 2015 conference in Kansas City, Missouri!
Company Gets Up Close and Personal with Skyscrapers
by Bernard Slushman, August 20, 2014
NEW YORK— Historic landmark buildings, museums, the United States Capitol – all seen from top to bottom just inches from one’s face. To get there you have to be an engineer, an archaeologist, and part-daredevil. It may look like fun, but this is serious business. One team from the company “Vertical Access” is preparing to survey the exterior of a 37-story Wall Street building. Literally climbing the walls is the cheapest way for engineers and architects to monitor a building’s rehabilitation and upkeep.
Test your knowledge of historic and iconic buildings in the U.S. (and beyond!) in this series of “guess the building” blog posts.
Series No. 1: A Neoclassical “Temple of Liberty”
This iconic building has undergone several expansion campaigns since construction first began in the eighteenth century. It now contains over 600 rooms totaling 1.5 million square feet of space, and it is visited by millions of people annually. Where is this remarkable building? Scroll down for the answer.
Answer: The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Built in stages under the supervision of a half-dozen architects, the Capitol is an instantly-recognizable symbol of national identity. The massive cast-iron dome was surveyed by Vertical Access in 2007 and 2010, and is currently undergoing the first major restoration in over 50 years. Click here for more information about the Capitol and the dome restoration.
Capitols are among our favorite types of buildings to work on, and since our first investigation of the Massachusetts State House twenty years ago, we’ve had the pleasure of visiting ten of them – eight state capitols in addition to the U.S. Capitol and Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador Confederation Building. Earlier this month, Vertical Access returned to the Michigan State Capitol, where we first worked in 2005 with Quinn Evans Architects and The Christman Company.
Kent inspects the drum of the Michigan State Capitol in 2005.
The last major restoration of Michigan’s capitol was completed in 1992, and the purpose of our 2005 visit was to see how the paint coatings and materials were holding up at the drum, dome and lantern. Nine years later, with over twenty years elapsed since the 1992 restoration, we once again made the trip to Lansing, Michigan to inspect the dome. This time, there were also reports of water infiltration. Returning with the same project team, technicians Evan Kopelson and Keith Luscinski surveyed the dome, drum and lantern using TPAS™ (Tablet PC Annotation System) to document existing conditions for an upcoming repair project.
Do all of the state capitols have domes?
All but twelve of the fifty state capitols have an exterior dome (original plans for both the Ohio and New York State Capitols included domes that were never built). Many early state capitol buildings in the United States were topped with domes inspired by examples from Europe and ancient Rome. The U.S. Capitol dome, completed in 1866, set the standard for the state capitol domes that would follow. Most of the current state capitols were built after 1866, and the national capitol’s massive cast-iron dome had a strong influence on many of them.
Access challenges
It can be difficult to gain hands-on access to all of those domes and cupolas. Fixed ladders, access hatches, and windows usually provide a way to reach the exterior of a dome lantern or cupola, where we can set up anchors for rope access drops. But some buildings have no access systems in place, like the Wyoming State Capitol, where we hauled a heavy 40-foot ladder into the dome in order to climb to the top. Even with these challenges, using industrial rope access for domes, cupolas, and towers is fast, efficient, and economical compared to other means of access.
The New Jersey State House before restoration (left, during VA’s 1996 investigation) and after restoration (right, during our 2013 visit).
Capital projects for capitol buildings
Monumental public buildings often have monumental price tags for restoration, with deferred maintenance being a major cost driver. Some of the challenges for building professionals working on state capitols include ever-changing occupant needs, increased standards for safety and security, accessibility, energy efficiency, and technology upgrades. Facilities maintenance was put on the back burner during the Great Recession, but many states are now moving ahead with repair and restoration projects. State capitols in the news for recent, ongoing, or planned repair and restoration campaigns include Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, and the U.S. Capitol.
A few of the conditions we’ve documented on capitol buildings.
Dates and Architects: 1793 (William Thornton, Stephen Hallet), 1795-98 (George Hadfield), 1798-1802 (James Hoban), 1803-1818 (Benjamin Henry Latrobe), 1818-1826 (Charles Bulfinch), 1850-68 (Thomas U. Walter, Montgomery C. Meigs)
Landmark Status: National Historic Landmark
Materials: Cast iron
Scope of work: VA conducted a hands-on inspection of all of the cast iron dome’s exterior from the base of the Statue of Freedom to the peristyle column capitals.
Dates and Architects: 1792 (Jonathon Doane), 1845 (John Notman), 1871 (Samuel Sloane), 1889 (dome, Lewis Broome)
Landmark Status: Contributing resource in a National Register Historic District
Materials: Cast iron drum and lantern and gilded copper dome.
Scope of work: VA coordinated site investigations and safe access for a comprehensive restoration completed in 1999. Our 2013 investigation included ultrasonic testing, paint adhesion testing, and fiber-optic investigation with live-feed video.
Documenting the roof trusses of the New York State Capitol.
New York State Capitol
Dates and Architects: 1867-1875 (Thomas Fuller), 1875-1883 (Leopold Eidlitz, Henry Hobson Richardson), 1883-1899 (Isaac G. Perry)
Landmark Status: National Historic Landmark
Materials: Iron roof trusses, iron and glass skylights
Scope of work: VA surveyed the trusses supporting the massive roofs, performed water testing and fiber-optic investigation, and provided client access to skylights.
Inspecting the gilded copper dome of the Massachusetts State House.
Massachusetts State House
Dates and Architects: 1795-1798 (Charles Bulfinch and Charles Brigham), 1917 (Sturgis, Chapman & Andrews)
Landmark Status: National Historic Landmark
Materials: Sheet copper
Scope of work: VA surveyed the dome, which was gilded in 1874 and had been painted many times since then. The dome was restored and re-gilded following VA’s investigation.
Scope of work: VA conducted a 100% hands-on survey of the drum, dome, and lantern exterior, characterized the materials used at various locations, assessed the condition of paint coatings (including adhesion testing and removal of samples), and identified prior painting campaigns.
Kelly inspects the Newfoundland and Labrador Confederation Building.
Newfoundland and Labrador Confederation Building
Date and Architects: 1960 (Lawson, Betts, and Cash, with A.J.C. Paine)
Materials: Limestone and brick
Scope of work: VA conducted a hands-on survey of the limestone masonry, hammer-sounding each unit, and used non-destructive evaluation to identify blind delamination within limestone units.
Project team: Jokinen Engineering Services
This video from the Architect of the Capitol about the U.S. Capitol dome restoration includes photographs from VA’s condition survey.
At the end of July, Keith Luscinski attended the SPRAT 2014 Summer Standards Meeting in Denver, Colorado. Each year, SPRAT holds two large gatherings. The annual conference, which is held during the winter and draws many attendees, includes technical presentations and meetings of all the SPRAT committees. The mid-year Summer Standards Meeting, however, draws a small crowd of representatives from the rope access industry that are passionate about keeping SPRAT’s standards current and relevant.
The Standards Committee is continually working to update SPRAT’s Safe Practices for Rope Access Work and Certification Requirements for Rope Access Work documents. Other works in progress include the development of a rope access company accreditation system and the publication of documents that address rope access practices for specific industries.
During the meeting, Keith was also appointed to the chair position of the Research Grant Committee. As the new chair, he is working to develop a grant application process, whereby SPRAT members can apply for research funding. By providing research funding, SPRAT’s goal is to drive innovation in the rope access community. The committee hopes to increase the knowledge of the entire SPRAT body by proposing that grant recipients present their findings at each annual conference.
Stay tuned to stay up to date on SPRAT’s activities!
Earlier this month, Vertical Access technicians Joe Haun and Kristen Olson attended a 16-Hour Suspended Scaffold User Course at TSC Training Academy in Long Island City, Queens. Completion of the course is required for anyone working on a suspended scaffold or performing industrial rope access work in New York City. (Access the NYC DOB Industrial Rope Access Fact Sheet here)
Suspended scaffolds, also called swing stages, are work positioning platforms that hang from overhead supports. They are used by window washers, façade inspectors, and people performing work of all types on tall buildings and other structures.
Over the two-day training course, Joe and Kristen learned about the regulations governing the use of suspended scaffolds in New York City, the components of a suspended scaffold system, and how to inspect equipment and identify hazards. Hands-on portions of the course included knot tying, assembling wire rope terminations, and raising and lowering a two-person motorized suspended scaffold.
Using suspended scaffolds requires safety procedures similar to those used in industrial rope access, including daily inspections of equipment, careful selection of tieback and lifeline anchors, and generous safety factors for all components of the system. As with rope access systems, workers on suspended scaffolds must use a fall arrest system including a backup or safety line attached to a full body harness. And, suspended scaffold users should be able to visually inspect the entire scaffold system and identify potential hazards, even if the rigging was performed by another worker.
Berta de Miguel takes pictures while inspecting the Municipal Building in Manhattan. [Photo: Adrienne Grunwald for The Wall Street Journal]
Berta de Miguel looks perfectly at ease climbing high on the exterior of Manhattan’s Municipal Building, a 40-story structure across the street from City Hall.
But even while hanging more than 500 feet above ground, she isn’t a daredevil—she is an architect and skilled rock climber surveying the landmark building’s aging facade.
“As a human being up this high, it is natural to be nervous but when I’m on the rope, I’m not nervous,” said Ms. de Miguel, her waist in an apparatus that connects to sturdy ropes.
Ms. de Miguel, 31 years old, is part of a team of professional ropers with Vertical Access LLC, a company commissioned by engineers and architects to survey the exteriors of usually-tall buildings throughout New York City.
Checking buildings while hanging from ropes is considered an efficient way to examine trouble spots and is often a more cost-effective first step than scaffolding, although that is frequently needed later for construction work and repairs.
The National Park Service is collaborating with CyArk and DJS Associates to generate a 3D model of the Lincoln Memorial using laser scanning technology. The goal is to produce digital documentation to assist with future preservation work, and to allow visitors worldwide to virtually tour the memorial. Vertical Access was asked to assist with the project in an area of the memorial where the location and operation of the scanning equipment presented a challenge to position. Learn more.