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In the News

Moisture sensors are not limited to only new materials or construction
LINKEDIN | DEC, 2019
Moisture sensors readable with #RFID infrastructure, such as the CS108 & CS463, are changing the construction materials and maintenance industry..
RFID installation
Flourissant
Preserving Petrified Stumps in the Forests of Colorado

RESEARCH AT PENN |  2019
When concerned paleontologists from Colorado’s Flourissant Fossil Bed sent out a distress signal, Professor Frank Matero at the School of Design answered the call.
UPENN Students Uncover History at Taliesin West through Preservation Research

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT FOUNDATION | JUL 15, 2019
Earlier this year, two students in the historic preservation program at PennDesign, University of Pennsylvania’s Design School, conducted in-depth, on-site research on the historic preservation of Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and desert laboratory in Scottsdale, Arizona. Here they share some of their findings and what they took away from the experience.
Progress meeting

Mancos Press
Start the Press

SAN JUAN SKYWAY | FALL, 2019
Historical newspaper building revived as Mancos Common Press.

PennDesign Announces Partnership with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST | FEB 14, 2019
The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design (PennDesign) has begun a five-year collaborative research agreement with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, allowing graduate students at the school to study the life and work of the iconic American architect. 
Garden Room

Fort Union
Monitoring Heritage Sites with Drones and Remote Sensors

PENN TODAY | NOV, 2018
Frank Matero likes to say that adobe structures are the “canaries in the coalmine” for climate change adaptation. Building ruins like those at Fort Union National Monument in New Mexico, which Matero’s Center for Architectural Conservation has been studying for over three years, provide the perfect laboratory to study risk, threat, vulnerability, and resistance.

Bringing Back the Mancos Common Press

WEITZMAN DESIGN NEWS | SEP 19, 2018
Frank Matero, professor of Architecture and chair of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, and Matt Neff, director of the undergraduate fine arts program and former director of the Common Press at Penn, are key partners in an effort to preserve and revitalize the historic Mancos Times building in Mancos, Colorado.
Cranston

John and Frank
PennDesign Preservationists Complete Digital Documentation of Pa.’s Slatelands

PENN TODAY | SEP 21, 2018
This month, Frank Matero, chair of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at PennDesign, and John Hinchman, a PennDesign lecturer, completed a massive, three-year digital humanities project focused on the Pennsylvania slatelands.

Tumacácori to begin mission conservation project in August
NOGALES INTERNATIONAL | JAN 24, 2017
Following a recent evaluation, the Tumacácori National Historical Park announced it will embark on a five-year project to conserve plasters and painted finishes inside the San José de Tumacácori mission church.
Jean Treating

Nicole on Scaffolding
Federal grant funds conservation project at Mission San José de Tumacácori

ARIZONA DAILY STAR | JUL 22, 2017
A five-year, $192,000 federal grant is bringing national experts and University of Pennsylvania students to continue conservation work at Mission San José de Tumacácori.

Q&A: PennDesign's Frank Matero on preservation in Philly and around the world
PLAN PHILLY | JUL 3, 2017
Frank Matero has worked on the conservation of the Neolithic city of Çatalhöyük in Turkey, on the fortifications of Cairo, and the Native American ancestral grounds of Mesa Verde. He has helped in the preservation of the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials in Washington, Ellis Island, the Guggenheim Museum and Trinity Church. And that’s just scratching the surface.
Frank Matero

Mancos Press
Architectural Conservation Laboratory to Develop Training Curriculum for National Park Service
WEITZMAN DESIGN NEWS | FEB 1, 2016
The Architectural Conservation Laboratory (ACL) at PennDesign has received funding to support the Vanishing Treasures Program, a national leader in the preservation of traditionally-built architecture, in meeting its future education and training goals.

Architectural Conservation at Gordion
EXPEDITION MAGAZINE | WINTER, 2015
Following the preservation policy of many Mediterranean countries, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Turkey requires the directors of archaeological projects to focus not only on excavation but also on archaeological conservation and site improvement for visitors. From 2006 to 2014, this work at Gordion was conducted under the auspices of the Architectural Conservation Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania (ACL-UPenn), with Frank Matero as project director.
Cranston

Getty Conservation Institute
Assessment of Ethyl Silicate Consolidants for Earthen Finishes
GETTY CONSERVATION INSTITUTE | JULY, 2014
The Getty Conservation Institute in collaboration with the Architectural Conservation Laboratory (ACL) of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) assessed ethyl silicate-based consolidants and their effect on various clay-based surface finishes with the aim of providing information to conservators on which ethyl silicates are most appropriate for use with specific earthen finishes and under which conditions they can optimally be used.

Cranston press in Mancos is on a roll
THE JOURNAL | DEC 23, 2014
The old press came to life again under the skillful hand of Matt Neff, who directs the University Pennsylvania's The Common Press project. The project brought together historical presses for students and artists to use for custom graphic design.
Cleaning the Cranston

New York State Pavilion
Deterioration of New York State Pavilion retold in book with hopes of restoration
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS | SEP 8, 2011
Behind the decaying walls of the New York State Pavilion rests a piece of pop culture off limits to the public for decades. Buried beneath layers of fabric, sand and gravel lies a 22,000-square-foot terrazzo road map that made its debut at the 1964 World's Fair. Its deterioration is the topic of a new book, "After the Fair," written by conservators who want to call attention to the 567-panel map.

New York State Pavilion, relic of the 1964 World's Fair in Queens, wins approval as landmark

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS | SEP 15, 2009
Preservation experts from the University of Pennsylvania will study the pavilion this fall. Last year, university researchers helped restore tiles on a huge road map on the rotunda floor.
Progress meeting

New York State Pavilion
In the Tent of Tomorrow, a Faded Map of Yesteryear

THE NEW YORK TIMES |  APR 7, 2008
Prof. Frank G. Matero, the chairman of the graduate program in historic preservation at the University of Pennsylvania, is working with his graduate students on conserving four of the 567 4-by-4-foot panels that compose the map.

Service Learning Class Studies Local Cemetery

NEWS @ WESLEYAN | OCT 8, 2009
John Hinchman, a lecturer and research specialist in the Architectural Conservation Laboratory of the Historic Preservation Program at the University of Pennsylvania, taught professor Elizabeth Milroy’s students how to use a “total station” and scanner tool to map the cemetery’s terrain and grave markers. The collected data is imported into engineering software AutoCAD, and as a result, the class will have a detailed and accurate map of the entire cemetery’s physical layout.
Lily Milroy

Rosario Chapel
The Future of Our Past
PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE | JUL/AUG, 2009
Penn’s Architectural Conservation Laboratory takes a rigorous approach to historic preservation.

Back on the Map: Revisiting the New York State Pavilion at the 1964/65 World’s Fair
QUEENS MUSEUM | JAN 27, 2008
Due to atmospheric pollution, poormaintenance, building design, and inherent inadequacies of the original  marble, these columns had become seriously decayed and eroded. Instead of aggressiverestoration intervention, the National Park Service decided instead to stabilize and preserve the marble columns.
New York State Pavilion

Second Bank Columns
Second Bank of the U.S. - Conservation Treatment of the Portico Columns
PRESERVATION MATTERS | SPRING, 2007
Due to atmospheric pollution, poormaintenance, building design, and inherent inadequacies of the original  marble, these columns had become seriously decayed and eroded. Instead of aggressiverestoration intervention, the National Park Service decided instead to stabilize and preserve the marble columns.