Show Notes
*🎙️ You can also access the full Audio version of this Podcast by searching for 'Heritage Buildings Podcast' on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, PocketCasts, and your favourite podcast apps.*
Welcome to another episode of the Heritage Buildings Podcast. Vincent Reed sits down with Mariachiara Faliva, accredited conservation architect and façade specialist, to explore the science behind historic buildings, material decay, and the investigative work required to understand why buildings fail. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience in conservation, diagnostics, and failure analysis, Mariachiara shares how studying chemistry for conservation in Italy led her into building pathology, laboratory analysis, and the study of historic materials. She explains why many conservation challenges stem from poor diagnosis and incompatible repairs, and why successful interventions begin with understanding how materials behave and deteriorate over time. Mariachiara also reflects on her work investigating historic structures in New York, including early steel-frame masonry buildings and terracotta façades, before moving to London to specialize in building performance and façade engineering. She discusses the importance of balancing repair and replacement, the role of maintenance in preventing water-driven damage, and how tools such as WUFI hydrothermal analysis support informed retrofit decisions. Through projects including Tate Liverpool and the Barbican renewal, she highlights the value of early-stage investigations, data-led design, material reuse, and collaboration across disciplines to deliver more sustainable outcomes for historic buildings.
*Other topics covered include:*
• How chemistry and material science support building conservation • Investigating historic materials through laboratory analysis • Why poor diagnosis often leads to failed repairs • The challenges of conserving early steel-frame masonry buildings • Repair versus replacement in historic façades • Water ingress, moisture movement, and long-term building deterioration • The role of maintenance in preventing costly failures • Building performance testing and façade engineering for heritage projects • WUFI hydrothermal analysis and retrofit risk assessment • Lessons from Tate Liverpool and the Barbican renewal projects • Planning for material reuse in conservation and retrofit projects • The importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration from project inception
Whether you're an architect, engineer, conservation professional, or heritage enthusiast, this episode offers valuable insights into the investigative side of conservation and how a deeper understanding of materials, moisture, and building performance can lead to more sustainable and effective preservation of historic buildings.
*Below is a more detailed breakdown of the video with relevant timestamps:* (Click the time on the left to jump straight to that section) 00:00 Introduction to Building Conservation and Heritage Retrofit 01:14 From Architecture to Conservation Architecture 03:23 Materials Science, Building Diagnostics, and Failure Analysis 07:34 Conservation Research at Politecnico di Milano 09:33 Facade Engineering and Historic Buildings in New York 13:35 Terracotta Facade Repair vs Replacement 17:33 Building Maintenance Lessons from Historic Building Failures 20:14 Moving to London and Transition into Building Performance 25:03 How Historic Building Investigations Are Conducted 32:06 Holistic Retrofit Design and WUFI Analysis 38:18 Moisture Modelling and Wall Performance Simulation 40:59 Data-Led Design for Heritage Buildings 43:39 Writing Effective Building Investigation Briefs 45:09 Tate Liverpool Retrofit and Internal Insulation Project 49:42 Barbican Estate Renewal and Conservation Challenges 54:30 Why Site Experience Matters in Conservation 57:07 Material Reuse and Circular Economy Strategies 01:02:42 Career Advice for Conservation Professionals 01:07:22 Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks
*Connect with M
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