Docomomo International is pleased to share that “the latest issue of the APT Bulletin: The Journal of Preservation Technology is a special issue devoted to multiple aspects of disaster mitigation. It was guest-edited by Rosa Lowinger, president and chief conservator at RLA Conservation of Art + Architecture, and Kyle Normandin, associate principal at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
The article entitled “Post-Disaster Amnesia: Lack of Mitigation Planning and Heritage Rationality in a Port-au-Prince Megaproject ” by Olsen Jean Julien discusses how Haiti ignored seismic risk in planning for its bicentennial celebration in 1950. As a result, many of the buildings built for the bicentennial collapsed in 2010 after a major earthquake.
“Preemptive Strategies and Collaboration for Emergency Planning: Lessons Learned at Vizcaya in Miami” by Lauren Reynolds Hall examines how institutions can be better prepared for disasters through a case study of the Vizcaya Museum in Miami, which was subject to severe flooding in 2017 as a result of Hurricane Irma. Hall discusses the importance of having a disaster-mitigation plan in place so that valuable time is not wasted.
Sujin Kim and Morris Hylton III’s “Sea-Level-Rise Modeling and Impact Assessment for Historic Coastal Communities” outlines how to make the threat of climate change easier for the general public to understand through computer-modeling programs. The authors use computer imagery to show the audiences what coastal neighborhoods would look like as sea levels continue to rise.
Another modeling paper is “Storm-Surge Modeling for Assessing Vulnerability of Historic Buildings in Miami-Dade County, Florida” by Sonia R. Chao and Benjamin Ghansah. The authors discuss their study of the vulnerability parameters of 53 historic buildings in Miami-Dade County; they point out that vulnerability parameters are not equal and that some are of more importance than others
“Building Rural Resilience: Community-Led Disaster Mitigation and Landscape Restoration in Emerging Nations” by Stacy Crevello looks at how emerging nations are working toward increasing resilience. Four countries are featured: Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Tanzania.
This issue of the Bulletin also includes a Practice Point, twenty-second in the series, which is entitled “Analysis of Segmental and Semicircular Masonry Arches” by Thomas E. Boothby. The author discusses how to determine whether a masonry arch is stable or unstable by using different types of analysis.
Book review co-editors Lesley Gilmore and Natascha Wiener secured several reviews for this issue. Adaptive Strategies for Water Heritage: Past, Present, and Future, edited by Carola Hein, is reviewed by Jennifer Wellock. Tracy Metz and Maartje van den Heuvel’s Swee&Salt: Water and the Dutch is reviewed by Natascha Wiener. The Structures of Skyscapers in America, 1871–1900: Their History and Preservation written by Donald Friedman and published by the Association for Preservation Technology International is reviewed by Elizabeth Manning. This issue’s Building Technology Heritage Library feature by Mike Jackson highlights historic trade catalogs relating to storms.”
The Association for Preservation Technology is the only international organization dedicated solely to advancing appropriate traditional and new technologies to care for, protect, and promote the longevity of the built environment and to cultivate the exchange of knowledge throughout the international community. Founded in 1968 in Québec as a joint venture between Canadian and U.S. preservationists.
Visit http://www.apti.org for more information.