Nathaniel B. Smith, P.E., is a Senior Project Manager at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger’s office in New York City. He serves as Project Manager on numerous projects involving repair and rehabilitation of houses of worship. He can be reached at nbsmith@sgh.com.
This series of articles discusses a number of commonly encountered structural issues on renovation and restoration projects that focus on historic houses of worship, and provides guidance on ways to address them. Parts one, two, and three of this series dealt with foundations, wall systems, and roof framing in historic houses of worship. This article addresses interior architectural components and finishes. …
This series of articles discusses some of the commonly encountered structural issues during the renovation and restoration of historic buildings of this type, and provides guidance on ways to address them. Parts one and two of this series focused on foundation and wall systems, respectively. This part focuses on roof structures. …
This series of articles discusses some of the commonly encountered structural issues with renovation projects focusing on historic buildings of this type, and provides guidance on ways to address them. Part two of this series focuses on wall systems. Part one, published in the December 2014 issue of STRUCTURE magazine, reviewed common issues with foundations. Part three, to be published in an upcoming issue of STRUCTURE, will focus on historic roof systems. …
Performing renovation or restoration work on historic houses of worship presents a unique set of challenges for design professionals, and in particular structural engineers. These structures often feature large open-space areas, archaic structural systems and hard-to-define load paths, and varying degrees of deterioration or distress (often lack of maintenance and upkeep driven). …