Sustainable climate control for historic buildings in subtropical climates

Abstract

To preserve both cultural collections and historical buildings that house them, a technologically simple yet robust climate control system was installed in the Historic Archive of the Canary Islands. The archive is located in a municipal building, a late nineteenth century massive masonry building in the city of La Laguna, on Tenerife Island, Spain. The system was designed to maintain the RH level necessary for preventing microbial activities on collections in cultural institutions, by operating residential‐type ventilators and a convective heater under a humidistatic control. We have confirmed that the system not only successfully eliminated events of high relative humidity but also stabilized the climate. The annual temperature variation was significantly reduced, although daily variations increased. The room's moisture content was reduced to less than that of the outside, and microbial activities were reduced in the environment. The system was simple to install and inexpensive to operate.

Citation

Maekawa, S. and Toledo, F. (2003), "Sustainable climate control for historic buildings in subtropical climates", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 369-382. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777830310698321