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TRADITIONAL BUILDING TECHNOLOGY A6934-1 Fall 2025 Tim Michiels

 

Course description:

This course introduces students to the analysis of the existing built environment through the study of existing building technologies, preservation methods, and scientific evaluation. It emphasizes the evolution of construction systems and materials, equipping students to identify, interpret, and assess traditional building elements in the field. Lectures (online and in-person) and site visits focus on common structural systems—such as masonry, timber framing, and early steel and concrete frames—and explore how these systems interact, perform, and deteriorate over time. The course situates building materials and systems within technological, historical, and economic contexts, with an emphasis on physical behavior, environmental exposure, and patterns of decay.

Students will examine traditional materials such as brick, stone, iron, steel, mortar, wood, terra cotta, metals, and concrete. Each is discussed in terms of sourcing, fabrication, embodied carbon, and degradation processes. Scientific principles underlying building diagnostics are introduced as essential tools for preservation and adaptive reuse. Field-based case studies, in New York City, allow students to apply observational and analytical skills in real-world contexts. Through this approach, students gain foundational knowledge for future study in conservation, retrofit technologies, and sustainable preservation practices. This course establishes a critical and scientific framework for understanding the built environment, preparing students to engage with aging structures through informed analysis and intervention.

Course format:

Weekly on-line review of recorded lectures.

Bi-weekly in-person lectures, with (past) recordings available online.

Bi-weekly walking tours in New York City.

 

Learning objectives:

 

  • Advanced knowledge of the vocabulary of traditional construction

  • Recognize traditional building technologies and systems in the field

  • Situate buildings and their materials in their sociological, historical and economic context

  • Understand and identify the physical and structural behavior of masonry, wood and metal frame structures over time

  • Understand the sourcing, production, joining and assembly of building materials

  • Understand the evolutionary forces that shape building technology

  • Understand how social, cultural and climactic factors influence building technology

  • Understand basic preservation repairs to traditional buildings

  • Gain insights in the embodied carbon of historic materials

  • Learn how to interact critically with AI-generated content on traditional building technology

 

Requirements:

  1. 7 short (weekly) assignments

You will be asked to actively look for examples of concepts covered in class in buildings and to submit pictures on a weekly basis.

Assignments can be conducted from any city/town and going out into the field will be necessary.

  1. 5 Field Report assignments

You will be tasked by writing a brief report of two buildings or building elements discussed during the bi-weekly field trips.

  1. Final Project

Students will choose or be assigned one building and will identify its building systems and materials in an annotated presentation.

  1. Midterm and Final exam. Students can use a limited number of personal notes, and example questions will be shared on Courseworks in advance.

Components considered for grading: Final exam, Midterm, Final Project, Short assignments, Field Reports
GSAPP students will be graded HP/P/LP/F per GSAPP policies. Non-GSAPP students will be graded A-F unless otherwise agreed with the instructor.

Minimum standard (Low Pass): Perform all assignments*, minimum score of 50%** on final exam, and demonstrate basic understanding of building technology on final assignment.

Acceptable work (Pass): Perform all assignments*, minimum score of 70%** on final exam, demonstrate clear understanding of building technology on final assignment.

Superior work (High Pass): Perform all assignments*, minimum score of 85%** on final exam and perform well on open-book optional advanced final exam (taken in class), demonstrate superior understanding of building technology on final assignment.

*Any student can miss up to one assignment – no questions asked. Other missing assignments will need to be made up in the absence of extenuating circumstances.

**Reference score levels may be adjusted based on the class curve upon the instructor’s discretion.

Short assignment topics – deadlines see schedule and courseworks:

  1. Stone Identification

  2. Masonry

  3. Metals

  4. Terra Cotta

  5. Concrete and Cast Stone

  6. Wood

  7. Roof coverings

Brief feedback on short assignments will be provided. Short assignments are not graded for content.

Field Trip Reports – deadlines see schedule and courseworks:

  1. Cathedral of St. John The Divine

  2. Metals walking tour downtown

  3. No-Ho walking tour

  4. Windows of the West Village walking tour

  5. Ellis Island Hospital Wing

Topics covered:

Vernacular architecture: adobe and rammed earth

Timber-frame building (Colonial and post-Revolutionary, enslaved people dwellings): braced frame, balloon frame, half-timber, European cathedral roof framing

Load-bearing masonry structures: brick, stone, structural tile

Foundation systems

Evolution of glass in historic buildings

Cast-iron construction

Early skyscraper development:

early-frame structures: masonry and iron

steel frame buildings

concrete frame buildings

Roof coverings and roof trusses

 

Guest walking tour: Metals by Richard Pieper

Guest lecture and walking tour: Windows by Michael Devonshire

Guest in-class lecture: Traditional Chinese timber structure by Xin Gao

 

 

 

 

Lecture and field trip schedule is subject to change.

 

 





Suggested reading list – readings will typically be made available on CourseWorks.

Readings are provided to provide further background information, technical details and clarifications. Students are not encouraged and not expected to read the readings before class. The lectures are in essence illustrated summaries of these readings.

Introduction

Feilden, Bernard. Conservation of historic buildings. Routledge, 2007. – Part 1.2 Structural actions of historic buildings p25-37

Masonry

Condit, Carl W. "American building. Materials and techniques from the first colonial settlements to the present." (1968). – Chapters 2 and 5 – Masonry Construction

Elliott, Cecil D. Technics and architecture: the development of materials and systems for buildings. MIT press, 1992. Section I.2 Masonry P23-51

McKee, Harley J. "Introduction to early American masonry stone, brick, mortar and plaster." (1973). – Chapters TBD (for sure Mortar)

McGrath, Thomas L. "Notes on the Manufacture of Hand-Made Bricks." Bulletin of the Association for Preservation Technology 11.3 (1979): 88-95.

Winkler, Erhard. Stone in architecture: properties, durability. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013. – until page 60

NPS brief 42, The Maintenance, Repair and Replacement of Historic Cast Stone

NPS brief 2, Repointing Mortar Joints in Historic Masonry Buildings

MDCS / Monument Diagnosis and Conservation System – The online damage-expert for monumental buildings. http://mdcs.monumentenkennis.nl/

Ochsendorf, John. Guastavino vaulting: the art of structural tile. Princeton Architectural Press, 2010. – Chapters TBD

Torraca, Giorgio. "Lectures on materials science for architectural conservation." (2009). Sections 2.3 Gypsum, 2.4 Lime and lime mortars, 2.5 Pozzolanic mortars, 2.6 Hydraulic Lime, 2.7 Cement http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/torraca.pdf

 

Metal Structures and decorative metals

Friedman, Donald. Historical building construction: design, materials, and technology. WW Norton & Company, 2010. Chapters 3-4

NPS brief 27, The Maintenance and Repair of Architectural Cast Iron

NPS brief 49,  Historic Decorative Metal Ceilings and Walls: Use, Repair, and Replacement

Dierickx, Mary B. "Decorative metal roofing in the United States." The technology of historic American buildings: studies of the materials, craft processes, and the mechanization of building construction. Association for Preservation Technology, 1983. 153-187.

Gayle, Margot, David W. Look, and John G. Waite. Metals in America's historic buildings. DIANE Publishing, 1998.

Earth construction

NPS brief 5, The Preservation of Historic Adobe Buildings

Houben, Hugo, and Hubert Guillaud. Earth construction: a comprehensive guide. Intermediate Technology Publications, 1994.

Gernot, Minke "Building with earth." Design and technology of a sustainable architecture. Basel (2006). Chapters 1-2

Cody, Jeffrey W. "Earthen walls from France and England for North American farmers, 1806-1870." 6th International Conference on the Conservation of Earthen Architecture: Adobe 90 preprints: Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA, October 14-19, 1990. Getty Conservation Institute, 1990.

Pieper, Richard. "Earthen Architecture in the Northern United States." European Traditions in Earthen Construction', Cultural Resource Management Bulletin, VI (1999): 30-33.

 

Terra Cotta & Flooring Systems

NPS brief 7, The Preservation of Historic Glazed Architectural Terra-Cotta

Elliott, Cecil D. Technics and architecture: the development of materials and systems for buildings. MIT press, 1992. Section I.3 Terra Cotta p51-67

Friedman, Donald. Historical building construction: design, materials, and technology. WW Norton & Company, 2010. Chapter 7 Floor Systems p108-131

Torraca, Giorgio. "Lectures on materials science for architectural conservation." (2009). Section 2.2 Ceramic Materials

 

Concrete structures

NPS brief 15, Preservation of Historic Concrete

Elliott, Cecil D. Technics and architecture: the development of materials and systems for buildings. MIT press, 1992. Chapter I.7

Macdonald, Susan, ed. Concrete: building pathology. John Wiley & Sons, 2008. Chapters TBD

 

Roof trusses and roof covering

Yeomans, David T., et al. The trussed roof: its history and development. Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1992. Chapters 8 and 9

NPS brief 4, Roofing for Historic Buildings

NPS brief 19, The Repair and Replacement of Historic Wooden Shingle Roofs

NPS brief 29, The Repair, Replacement, and Maintenance of Historic Slate Roofs

NPS brief 30, The Preservation and Repair of Historic Clay Tile Roofs

 

Foundation Systems

F. W. Skinner, Foundations of Lofty Buildings. The Century Magazine, Vol. LXXVII, (New series Vol. LV) No. 4, March, 1909, pp. 771-781.

Feilden, Bernard. Conservation of historic buildings. Routledge, 2007. – Part 1.6 Foundations p70-93

Landmark Preservation Comission. Park Row Builiding. 1999

Landmark Preservation Comission. Corbin Builiding. 2015

 

Wood

Hoadley, R. Bruce. Understanding wood: a craftsman's guide to wood technology. Taunton press, 2000. - Chapters 1, 3, 4

Underhill, Roy. The Woodwright's Shop: A Practical Guide to Traditional Woodcraft. Univ of North Carolina Press, 2012.

Morrison, Hugh. Early American Architecture from the Colonial Settlements to the National Period. Oxford University Press, 1952. – Chapter 1

Sobon, Jack A. "Historic American timber joinery." Timber Framers Guild, Becket, MA (2002).

NPS brief 21, Repairing Historic Flat Plaster—Walls and Ceilings

NPS brief 26, The Preservation and Repair of Historic Log Buildings

 

Last updated: 9/01/2025

Course Summary:

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