Restoring the Palace of Westminster's nineteenth century ventilation system - Between Sustainability and Heritage

威斯敏斯特宫正面临着一项重大的修复计划。2012年10月，由下议院委员会和上议院委员会组成的一个联合研究小组报告说，历史悠久的布料已经严重腐烂，目前的通风系统已经过时，需要完全更换。这为系统地重新审视最初的维多利亚时代的烟囱通风系统提供了独特的机会，该系统在20世纪50年代被机械通风和空调取代之前已经使用了90年。PI之前的研究表明，历史系统非常复杂。它的设计经过了几十年的改进，遵循了类似于现代自然通风建筑中使用的原则，以减少能源消耗。它的设计是为了尽可能地利用宫殿的大型塔楼和众多哥特式角楼内的热风上升空气竖井产生的自然堆叠效应。然而，这个历史性的烟囱系统有多有效，它能在多大程度上得到振兴，才能在21世纪为通风提供可持续的解决方案？要解决这个问题，至关重要的是要对这个历史系统有一个批判性的理解。虽然各种研究都强调了宫殿在更广泛的环境设计历史中的重要性，但到目前为止，还没有对最初的堆叠系统进行全面的研究。该项目旨在填补文献中的这一重大空白，首次深入调查通风的设计、历史和性能，其基础是档案研究、宫内调查、对收集的历史数据的分析以及在1852年至1941年间进行的科学研究。此外，它还将调查如何在修复的同时修复它，开发其提供可持续战略的潜力。调查和档案研究将用于重建19世纪中期采用的原始技术安排，追溯科学家与建筑师和工程师一起工作是如何开发这些安排的，并探索该系统在其生命周期内是如何被修改的。历史实验记录、目击者描述和测量数据该项目将用于探索科学家如何对通风性能进行经验性评估，例如在热舒适性和空气质量方面。这些记录涵盖了90年的时间，还将用于深入分析通风在各种条件下的历史表现。然而，在获得这些见解之后，该项目不仅将跨越历史领域的不同领域(例如科学史、环境史和建筑史)，而且还将利用当前的科学方法从技术角度审查历史证据。在过去的3年里，PI进行了一项试点研究，由肯特人文高级研究所资助，并与威斯敏斯特宫修复和更新计划(R&R)建立了合作伙伴关系，后者是英国政府指定的协调修复工作的机构。认识到拟议的研究对该计划的重要性，议会大厦同意成为项目合作伙伴。研究将在方案内形成一个单独的工作流程，由PI领导，并直接提供给修复工作。除了参加在威斯敏斯特举行的项目会议外，国际和平协会还将领导一系列讲习班和项目会议，将回收和再循环小组和议会产业局聚集在一起，根据历史研究产生的新见解，制定重振烟囱通风的建议。除了展示如何利用历史研究来洞察过去的环境原则外，该项目还旨在展示如何将其应用于环境保护。

The Palace of Westminster is facing a major restoration programme. In October 2012 a joint study group of House of Commons Commission and House of Lords Committee reported that the historic fabric was in a serious state of decay, and that the current ventilation system were outdated and in need of a complete replacement. This provides the unique opportunity to systematically re-examine the original Victorian stack ventilation system, which had been in use for 90 years before it was replaced with mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning in the 1950s. Previous research by the PI has shown that the historic system was highly sophisticated. Its design had been refined over several decades and followed principles similar to those used in modern naturally ventilated buildings to reduce energy use. It was designed to exploit, as far as possible, the natural stack effect produced by hot air ascending air shafts within the large towers and numerous gothic turrets of the Palace. Yet, how effective was this historic stack system and how far could it be revitalized to provide a sustainable solution to ventilation in the 21st century?To address this question it will be essential to develop a critical understanding of the historic system. Although various studies have highlighted the importance of the Palace within the wider history of environmental design, to date there is no comprehensive study of the original stack system. This project aims to fill this significant gap in the literature by providing the first in-depth investigation into the design, history and performance of the ventilation, based on a combination of archival research, surveys inside the Palace, and the analysis of historic data collected and scientific studies conducted between 1852 and the 1941. Moreover, it will investigate how it could be restored in conjunction with the restoration, exploiting its potential in providing a sustainable strategy.Surveys and archival research will be used to reconstruct the original technical arrangements adopted in mid-19th century, to retrace how scientists, working alongside architects and engineers, had developed them, and to explore how the system was modified over its lifetime. Records of historic experiments, eye-witness accounts and measured data the project will be used to explore how scientists had empirically evaluated the performance of the ventilation, e.g in terms of thermal comfort and air quality. Covering a period of 90 years, these records will also be used to undertake an in-depth analysis of how the ventilation had performed historically under a variety of conditions. The gain such insights, however, the project will not only cross different areas within the field of history(e.g. history of science, environmental and architectural history), but also draw on current scientific methods to review the historic evidence from a technical perspective. Over the past 3 years the PI has conducted a pilot study, funded by the Kent Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, and built a partnership with the Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal Programme (R&R), a body appointed by the UK government to coordinate the restoration. Recognising the importance of the proposed research to the programme, the Houses of Parliament agreed to be project partner. The research will form a separate work stream within the programme, which will be led by the PI and feed directly into the restoration. In addition to taking part in project meetings at Westminster and the PI will lead a series of workshops and project conferences, bringing together the R&R team and Parliamentary Estate Directorate to develop proposals for re-vitalizing the stack ventilation based on the new insights yielded by the historical research. In addition to demonstrating how historical research can be used to gain insights into past environmental principles, the project aims to show how it can be applied in the context of conservation.