Aspects of conserving exposed concrete architecture with wotruba church as an example

Author(s): M. Ban
Paper category: Workshop
Book title: RILEM International workshop on performance-based specification and control of concrete durability
Editor(s): D. Bjegović, H. Beushausen, M. Serdar
ISBN: 978-2-35158-135-3
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-136-0
Pages: 549 - 556
Total Pages: 8
Language: English

Abstract: 
This study illustrates the conflict surrounding the conservation of modern and contemporary concrete architecture by drawing on the example of Vienna's 'Church of the Holy Trinity' (1974-1976), popularly known as the 'Wotruba Church'. A sacral sculpture built entirely from reinforced concrete, Wotruba Church's hilltop location has left it exposed to intense weathering for nearly 40 years. Following vigorous debate over the environment's impact on the structure's durability, the city's archdiocese took up a suggestion by the Institute of Conservation and Restoration of Vienna's University of Applied Arts to conduct a thorough stability and damage analysis using non- and low-destructive examination methods.
Moreover, some of the necessary treatment, such as crack closure and the tightening of leaking joints, required materials already commonly used in the preservation of historicalarchitectural heritage to be tested in laboratory and field trials prior to application. The findings in this study have provided the basis for a well-founded discussion concerning further measures and a sustainable and durable treatment strategy.

Online publication: 2013
Publication Type: full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00