Salt Weathering of Built Heritage Materials: How Scientific Research Can Better Support Practical Conservation.

Among the several interplaying weathering mechanisms threatening the preservation of heritage buildings and sites, salt crystallization plays a leading role, with an impact that extends from the geomorphological scale of outcrops to architectural surfaces. As a global issue, salt-related damage has been extensively investigated and documented under various exposure conditions, including extreme environments such as polar and desert regions. Moreover, the impact of salt weathering is expected to be altered and, in some regions, further exacerbated by climate change.

Salt-related occurrence, progression, and severity of damage in porous materials are influenced by interactions among inherently unstable environmental parameters and material-dependent factors. Due to the complex and fluctuating nature of these interactions and despite extensive theoretical and applied research on this topic, assessing the salt-decay susceptibility of porous building materials and predicting damage remains challenging.

This talk will examine the main damage mechanisms associated with salt crystallization phenomena and the deterioration patterns they induce in built heritage exposed outdoors. It will also present recent advances in laboratory methods for evaluating the durability of building materials, focusing on more realistic accelerated aging procedures. Additionally, it will discuss integrated strategies for detecting damage occurrence and monitoring its development by combining laboratory research with field techniques applicable at heritage sites, with implications for conservation practice.

Davide Gulotta, PhD, leads the Built Heritage Research Initiative at the Getty Conservation Institute’s (GCI) Science Department in Los Angeles, where he applies scientific methods to investigate and preserve traditional and modern built heritage materials to inform conservation practices. As an architect and conservation scientist, his work focuses on characterizing built heritage materials, understanding their weathering mechanisms, and developing strategies to monitor the performance and durability of conservation treatments through integrated laboratory and field methods.

Before joining the GCI, he was a research fellow and adjunct professor at Politecnico di Milano. He holds a Ph.D. in Preservation of Architectural Heritage from Politecnico di Milano, with a focus on the compatibility and durability of natural hydraulic lime-based restoration mortars. He earned an M.S. in Architecture from Politecnico di Torino, specializing in the conservation of 19th-century industrial archaeological heritage, and a postgraduate certification in scientific methods for cultural heritage from Università di Pisa, where he explored innovative biocleaning strategies. 

As an active member of RILEM, Davide has contributed to the Technical Committees ASC-271, which developed a new accelerated laboratory test for assessing the durability of porous building materials against salt crystallization, and 277-LHS, which prepared specifications for testing and evaluating lime-based repair materials for historic structures.

He has co-authored over 70 scientific contributions, including peer-reviewed papers, conference proceedings, and book chapters. He has participated in international research and training programs across Europe, the United States, Armenia, and Vietnam.

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