Indoor Parameters of Museum Buildings for Guaranteeing Artworks Preservation and People’s Comfort: Compatibilities, Constraints, and Suggestions

Laura Cirrincione (), Maria La Gennusa, Giorgia Peri, Gianfranco Rizzo () and Gianluca Scaccianoce
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Laura Cirrincione: Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze Bld. 9, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Maria La Gennusa: Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze Bld. 9, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Giorgia Peri: Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze Bld. 9, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Gianfranco Rizzo: Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze Bld. 9, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Gianluca Scaccianoce: Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze Bld. 9, 90128 Palermo, Italy

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-22

Abstract: Since people tend to spend more and more time visiting museums, more accurate requirements are needed for the indoor environmental conditions of these confined spaces where two primary requisites coincide in defining their optimal indoor microclimate: the need for the appropriate artwork preservation and suitable levels of indoor comfort conditions for people visiting the exhibition buildings and/or working there. Regrettably, people and artwork requirements are sometimes characterized by different reference limits of the environmental parameters that, not rarely, could potentially conflict. Another important point to consider is that museums hosted by heritage buildings (particularly in Mediterranean climates, as is often the case in Italy) are often not equipped with climatization systems because of difficulty in installing generally bulky equipment such as HVAC systems. This circumstance represents another important limit for achieving suitable conditions for the two requisites. In addition, the recent pandemic-related occurrences are pushing technicians and designers to rethink the criteria for controlling the microclimate of public buildings, and museums among them. In this paper, this issue is addressed by reviewing current regulations, standards, and handbooks (and by means of a real case example related to the Italian context) in order to ascertain whether such documentation could facilitate the development of effective rules/guidelines for proper management of indoor parameters in museums.

Keywords: artwork preservation; human comfort; cultural heritage; indoor microclimate; technical standards and regulations; indoor quality; museums; museum buildings; energy optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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