Climate for Collections

This volume presents key papers from international conference Climate for Collections: Standards and Uncertainties. Marking the Doerner Institut’s 75th anniversary, the event addressed pressing questions around environmental standards for cultural heritage collections in the face of climate change, energy demands, and shifting conservation expectations. Featuring the latest research-including findings from the EU-funded Climate for Culture project-the book explores climate control strategies, sustainability, and the implications of expanding acceptable climate parameters for museums and loaned collections.

The debate about environmental standards for museum collections has by no means been resolved. Climate change, ever increasing energy bills, the complexity of air-conditioning systems, the feasibility of alternative climate control strategies and the real effects of inappropriate indoor environments on collections pose major questions for conservation professionals. The papers in this volume , given at a major international conference, held at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich from 7 to 9 November 2012 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Doerner Institut, investigate what is known and what is not known about suitable environmental conditions for cultural heritage collections, presenting the most significant recent research on the subject. The global imperative to save energy and reduce our carbon footprint is evident. Museums and other cultural institutions are deeply implicated in these concerns as major consumers of energy, particularly those housed in modern buildings. The demand for a better understanding of the interactions between cultural heritage collections and the climate is pressing. The EU-funded research project Climate for Culture is currently investigating the influence of current and future climate change on cultural heritage objects. Serious concerns have been raised in the conservation community at recent extensions of the range of acceptable climate criteria for both permanent exhibitions and loans, and new theories such as the ‘proofed fluctuation concept’ are much discussed. Climate for Collections Standards and Uncertainties addresses these issues. By adopting broad definitions of both ‘climate’ and ‘collection’, the subject has been expanded beyond the concerns of previous conferences such as ‘Museum Microclimates’ (Copenhagen 2007) and recent discussions such as ‘The plus/minus dilemma’ (IIC/AIC 2010). To ensure these questions are addressed in depth, the topics of climate change and sustainability have been introduced.

Allowable microclimatic variations in museums and historic buildings: reviewing the guidelines

Lukasz Bratasz

Towards a common understanding of standards?

Jane Henderson and Shumeng Dai

Conservation of cultural heritage - European standards on the environment

Jesper Stub Johnsen

Collections demography: stakeholders' views on the lifetime of collections

Catherine Dillon, William Lindsay, Joel Taylor, Kalliopi Fouseki, Nancy Bell and Matija StrlicEc

The limits of Garry Thomson's Museums Temperate Zone:can they be enlarged?

Luis Efrem Elias Casanovas, Vasco Peixoto de Freitas, Claudia Ferreira and Silvia Oliveira Sequeira

Acoustic emission monitoring: on the path to rational strategies for collection care

Michal Lukomski, Janusz Czop, Marcin Strojecki and Lukasz Bratasz

How the usual museum climate recommendations endanger our cultural heritage

Andreas Schulze

Field-tested methodology for optimizing climate management

Jeremy Linden, James M. Reilly and Peter Herzog

Evaluation of different approaches of microclimate control in cultural heritage buildings

Tor Brostrom, Tomas Vyhlidal, Goran Simeunovic,

Poul Klenz Larsen and Pavel Zitek

A critical look at the use of HVAC systems in the museum environment

Edgar Neuhaus

The role of historic house heating systems in collections climate control at the National Trust

Nigel Blades, Hazel Jessep and Katy Lithgow

A museum storage facility controlled by solar energy

Morten Ryhl-Svendsen, Lars Aasbjerg Jensen, Poul Klenz Larsen, Benny Bohm and Tim Padfield

Passively conditioned zero-energy storage for cultural properties and archival material

Lars Klemm

New meets old - the requirements and limits of new collection facilities at the Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin

Peter Bartsch, Christiane Quaisser, Peter Giere, Arwid Theuer-Kock and Norbert Feck

The use of underground structures as a solution towards sustainable museums in the Mediterranean basin

Dimitrios Karolidis

Sustainable climate control for art galleries? Experiences at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery

David Crombie, Chris Bailey, Bernard Connolly, Sonia Jones,

Siobhan Watts and Sally Ann Yates

Solutions for challenging buildings: Storage projects at the Science Museum

Marta Leskard and Louisa Burden

Learning from history. Historic indoor climate conditions and climate control strategies

Melanie Eibl and Andreas Burmester

From artwork to building preservation. Some considerations on the 'historical' indoor climate of Villa Reale in Milan

Andrea Luciani, Carlo Manfredi, Davide Del Curto and Luca P. Valisi

Uncertainties in the interaction between a canvas painting support and moisture

Anna von Reden

Monitoring complex objects in real display environments - how helpful is it?

Naomi Luxford and David Thickett

What real museum objects can teach us about the influence of climate conditions

Paul van Duin

The Oseberg ship. Long-term physical-mechanical monitoring in an uncontrolled relative humidity exhibition environment. Analytical results and hygromechanical modeling

Paolo Dionisi-Vici, Ottaviano Allegretti, Susan Braovac, Guro Hjulstad, Maria Jensen and Elin Storbekk

Comparison of indoor climate analysis according to current climate guidelines with the conservational investigation using the example of Linderhof Palace

Kristina Holl

Quantification, the link to relate climate-induced damage to indoor environments in historic buildings

Charlotta Bylund Melin and Mattias Legner

Development of damage functions for copper, silver and enamels on copper

David Thickett, Rebecca Chisholm and Paul Lankester

Delivering damage functions in enclosures

Paul Lankester and David Thickett

Stuffing everything we know about mechanical properties into one collection simulation

Stefan Michalski

Climate risk assessment in museums

Marco Martens and Henk Schellen

The use of computer simulation models to evaluate the risks of damage to objects exposed to varying indoor climate conditions in the past, present, and future

Zara Huijbregts, Marco Martens, Jos van Schijndel and Henk Schellen

The application of damage functions to future indoor climate predictions

Paul Lankester, Peter Brimblecombe and David Thickett

Uncertainties in damage assessments of future indoor climates

Gustaf Leijonhufvud, Erik Kjellstrom, Tor Brostrom, Jonathan Ashley-Smith and Dario Camuffo

The influence of the museum environment in controlling insect pests

Robert Child

Inverse modeling of climate responses of monumental buildings

Rick Kramer, Jos van Schijndel and Henk Schellen

The moving fluctuation range - a new analytical method for evaluation of climate fluctuations in historic buildings

Stefan Bichlmair, Kristina Holl and Ralf Kilian,

Allowable microclimatic variations in museums and historic buildings: reviewing the guidelines

Lukasz Bratasz

Towards a common understanding of standards?

Jane Henderson and Shumeng Dai

Conservation of cultural heritage – European standards on the environment

Jesper Stub Johnsen

Collections demography: stakeholders’ views on the lifetime of collections

Catherine Dillon, William Lindsay, Joel Taylor, Kalliopi Fouseki, Nancy Bell and Matija Strlicˇ

The limits of Garry Thomson’s Museums Temperate Zone:can they be enlarged?

Luis Efrem Elias Casanovas, Vasco Peixoto de Freitas, Cláudia Ferreira and Sílvia Oliveira Sequeira

Acoustic emission monitoring: on the path to rational strategies for collection care

Michal Lukomski, Janusz Czop, Marcin Strojecki and Lukasz Bratasz

How the usual museum climate recommendations endanger our cultural heritage

Andreas Schulze

Field-tested methodology for optimizing climate management

Jeremy Linden, James M. Reilly and Peter Herzog

Evaluation of different approaches of microclimate control in cultural heritage buildings

Tor Broström, Tomas Vyhlídal, Goran Simeunovic,

Poul Klenz Larsen and Pavel Zítek

A critical look at the use of HVAC systems in the museum environment

Edgar Neuhaus

The role of historic house heating systems in collections climate control at the National Trust

Nigel Blades, Hazel Jessep and Katy Lithgow

A museum storage facility controlled by solar energy

Morten Ryhl-Svendsen, Lars Aasbjerg Jensen, Poul Klenz Larsen, Benny Bøhm and Tim Padfield

Passively conditioned zero-energy storage for cultural properties and archival material

Lars Klemm

New meets old – the requirements and limits of new collection facilities at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

Peter Bartsch, Christiane Quaisser, Peter Giere, Arwid Theuer-Kock and Norbert Feck

The use of underground structures as a solution towards sustainable museums in the Mediterranean basin

Dimitrios Karolidis

Sustainable climate control for art galleries? Experiences at Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery

David Crombie, Chris Bailey, Bernard Connolly, Sonia Jones,

Siobhan Watts and Sally Ann Yates

Solutions for challenging buildings: Storage projects at the Science Museum

Marta Leskard and Louisa Burden

Learning from history. Historic indoor climate conditions and climate control strategies

Melanie Eibl and Andreas Burmester

From artwork to building preservation. Some considerations on the ‘historical’ indoor climate of Villa Reale in Milan

Andrea Luciani, Carlo Manfredi, Davide Del Curto and Luca P. Valisi

Uncertainties in the interaction between a canvas painting support and moisture

Anna von Reden

Monitoring complex objects in real display environments – how helpful is it?

Naomi Luxford and David Thickett

What real museum objects can teach us about the influence of climate conditions

Paul van Duin

The Oseberg ship. Long-term physical-mechanical monitoring in an uncontrolled relative humidity exhibition environment. Analytical results and hygromechanical modeling

Paolo Dionisi-Vici, Ottaviano Allegretti, Susan Braovac, Guro Hjulstad, Maria Jensen and Elin Storbekk

Comparison of indoor climate analysis according to current climate guidelines with the conservational investigation using the example of Linderhof Palace

Kristina Holl

Quantification, the link to relate climate-induced damage to indoor environments in historic buildings

Charlotta Bylund Melin and Mattias Legnér

Development of damage functions for copper, silver and enamels on copper

David Thickett, Rebecca Chisholm and Paul Lankester

Delivering damage functions in enclosures

Paul Lankester and David Thickett

Stuffing everything we know about mechanical properties into one collection simulation

Stefan Michalski

Climate risk assessment in museums

Marco Martens and Henk Schellen

The use of computer simulation models to evaluate the risks of damage to objects exposed to varying indoor climate conditions in the past, present, and future

Zara Huijbregts, Marco Martens, Jos van Schijndel and Henk Schellen

The application of damage functions to future indoor climate predictions

Paul Lankester, Peter Brimblecombe and David Thickett

Uncertainties in damage assessments of future indoor climates

Gustaf Leijonhufvud, Erik Kjellström, Tor Broström, Jonathan Ashley-Smith and Dario Camuffo

The influence of the museum environment in controlling insect pests

Robert Child

Inverse modeling of climate responses of monumental buildings

Rick Kramer, Jos van Schijndel and Henk Schellen

The moving fluctuation range – a new analytical method for evaluation of climate fluctuations in historic buildings

Stefan Bichlmair, Kristina Holl and Ralf Kilian

• Edited by Jonathan Ashley-Smith
• Edited by Andreas Burmester
• Edited by Melanie Eibl