Helping Architects and Engineers Deliver Superior Design Documents Vertical Access is an award-winning consulting firm with nearly 30 years of experience collaborating with architects, engineers and building professionals to provide existing conditions documentation, diagnostic investigations, inspections of commercial, residential and institutional buildings, and more. When gaining access is a challenge on your project, our nationwide […]
Each week we’re bringing you an in-depth look at one of the standard conditions we encounter and document during inspections of buildings and civil structures. Part 12: Hollow Areas Hollow areas appear to have a void behind an intact surface based upon sounding with a mallet. Hollow areas are most commonly documented in masonry, plaster […]
By Kristen Olson On March 22 and 23, I had the pleasure of attending Architectural Ceramics in the 21st Century: Design & Preservation of Contemporary & Historic Architecture, a conference sponsored by the Boston Society of Architects Historic Resources Committee, the MIT Department of Architecture – Building Technology Program, and Technology & Conservation Magazine. Joining me was Berta de […]
A structure planned to “stand with practically no visible sign of change for 5,000 years.” That assessment, by Perry Borchers, was published in the Ohio State Engineer journal in 1940, soon after west façade of The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine was completed and just before the entire length of the Cathedral was […]
Listen to NPR Podcast from April 29, 2013 and/or read the transcript. A Washington, D.C., museum wants you to spend some time looking up — to see soaring, vaulted tile ceilings built by a father-son team who left their mark on some of America’s most important public spaces. These ceilings grace landmarks that include state […]
The Toronto Union Station is a grand monument to the age of railroad travel, which continues to serve as a major transportation hub both for local commuting lines and international inter-city travel. Located in Toronto city center, the railroad station was designed by Ross & Macdonald, a Montreal architecture firm with connections to Carrière and […]
Recently published in the APTI Communique, here is Kent’s report on the APTI Study Group trip to Cuba, in February: (APTI Members will find this on-line, along with Mary Jablonski’s trip report and all sorts of other current APTI news) On the morning of February 4th, 29 APTI members met at Miami International Airport and […]
Vertical Access founder Kent Diebolt was elected to the Association for Preservation Technology Northeast Chapter (APTNE) Board of Directors at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the chapter. Kent has had a long involvement with the Association for Preservation Technology International (APTI), serving as a Director, Vice President and then President of the APTI board between […]
by Kent Diebolt In mid-December of 2010, I travelled to Barcelona where Derek Trelstad, of Robert Silman Associates and I were given a tour of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in the Eixample, near Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. We were hosted by Jose Luis Gonzalez and Gloria Riba, both of whom I first […]