Course Details

Reconstruction and Renovation of Historical Buildings

Academic Year 2025/26

NHB053 course is part of 3 study plans

​ NPA-SIS Winter Semester 2nd year

​ NPC-SIS Winter Semester 2nd year

​ NKC-SIS Winter Semester 2nd year

Cultural monuments and all the older or heritage buildings need to be renovated in a specific way. It is necessary to acquaint with historical building technology and used means creating their construction, architecture and embellishment. The course content is aimed right at this so that students can familiarize with traditional technologies, construction and craft industry. Last but not least they also learn how to deal with employees of conservation institutes.

Credits

5 credits

Language of instruction

Czech, English

Semester

winter

Course Guarantor

Ing. Lubor Kalousek, Ph.D.

Institute

Institute of Building Structures

Forms and criteria of assessment

course-unit credit and examination

Entry Knowledge

Basic knowledge of constructions of vertical and horizontal building parts; roof trusses and roof structures; interior finishing works; basics of the history of architecture; building structural and historical survey; building chemistry and physics; drawing of building structures and their changes.

Aims

Principles of care for architectural monuments and historic buildings. Development of building structures and architecture. Historical building structures, technology of exterior and interior decoration, surface finishes, decorative elements, painting techniques, vaults.  The legal requirements on the protection of cultural heritage in the Czech Republic.


The graduate obtains fundamental knowledge about the construction and project design process of building rehabilitation and reconstruction of historical buildings. The graduate is able to:
– describe the history of buildings and architectural styles in the Czech Republic;
– design the reconstruction of particular structures of historical buildings and building monuments;
– conduct the detailed building survey: basic structural and static survey, moisture survey and bio-corrosion evaluation, including a preliminary assessment;
– conduct the fundamental architectural analysis of the building;
– conduct the fundamental historical survey.

Basic Literature

VLČEK, Milan. Studijní opora pro předmět CH 55 – Obnova památek, VUT v Brně, FAST, 2009. (cs)
BENEŠ, Petr. Studijní opora pro předmět Sanace a adaptace budov, VUT v Brně, FAST, 2007. (cs)
MAKÝŠ, Oto. Technologie renovace budov. Bratislava: Vydavatelství Jaga group, s.r.o., 2004. ISBN 80-8076-006-3. (cs)
PEK, Tomáš. Stavební památky – Specifika přípravy a financování jejich obnovy, údržby a provozu, 1. vyd., Praha: Wolters Kluwer ČR, 2009, ISBN: 978-80-7357-462. (cs)
ŠTORM, Břetislav. Základy péče o stavební památky. Praha: NPÚ, 2007, ISBN 978-80-87104-13-2. (cs)
ŠKABRADA, Jiří. Konstrukce historických staveb, Praha: Argo, 2007, ISBN 80-7203-548-7. (cs)

Recommended Reading

HOLEČEK, Josef, GIRSA, Václav a kol. Projektování obnovy stavebních památek. Praha: NPÚ. 2008. ISBN 978-80-87104-34-7. (cs)
GIRSA, Václav, HOLEČEK, Josef, JERIE, Pavel, MICHOINOVÁ, Dagmar. Předprojektová příprava a projektová dokumentace v procesu péče o stavební památky. Praha: NPÚ. 2004. ISBN 80-86234-36-3. (cs)
MARSHALL, Duncan, WORTHING, Derek, HEATH, Roger, DANN, Nigel. Understanding Housing Defects, London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2013. ISBN 9780080971124 (en)
PAVLÍK, Milan a kol. Regenerace historických budov, sídel a krajiny, ochrana památek, Praha: ČVUT , 1998, ISBN:80-01-01797-4 (cs)
HOŠEK, Jiří, LOSOS, Ludvík. Historické omítky – průzkumy, sanace, typologie. Praha: Grada Publishing, a.s. 2007, 978-80-247-1395-3 (cs)
LOSOS, Ludvík, GAVENDA, Miloš. Štukatérství. Praha: Grada Publishing, a.s. 2010, ISBN 978-80-247-2175-0 (cs)

Offered to foreign students

To offer to students of all faculties

Course on BUT site

https://www.vut.cz/en/students/courses/detail/289568

Lecture

13 weeks, 2 hours/week, elective

Syllabus

  • 1. Introduction to the subject; monument care: development and contemporary legal requirements on the protection of cultural heritage in the Czech Republic; methods of protection and presentation of building monuments; surveys and diagnostics of historical buildings.
  • 2. Architectural styles in the territory of the Czech Republic.
  • 3. Historical development of building structures in the territory of the Czech Republic.
  • 4. Approaches to the conservation and interventions in individual building elements and structures of historic buildings and building monuments.
  • 5. Historical building technologies: stonemasonry; plastering of historic buildings; gypsum plasters and false vaults; stucco work.
  • 6. Historical building technologies: painting techniques in historical eras; fresco paintings; sgraffito decoration; stuccolustro.
  • 7. Historical building technologies: mosaic; wallpapers; gilding, patination, polychrome.
  • 8. Vaults: fundamental overview, building technologies, faults and repairs of vaults; exam instructions.

Exercise

13 weeks, 2 hours/week, compulsory

Syllabus

  • 1. Introduction to practice classes; credit granting conditions; assignment of input documents for semestral work.
  • 2. Individual consultation of the assignment and field work: preliminary survey, measurement of current state, photodocumentation, collection of the necessary information.
  • 3. Historical survey of the given building: work with archive and literary sources.
  • 4. Architectural analysis of the building and art history review: architectural style and detail; monument evaluation of the building.
  • 5. Building survey: basic structural and static survey, moisture survey and bio-corrosion evaluation, including a preliminary assessment of the current state.
  • 6. Design of the refurbishment of particular structures: processing the problems of reconstruction, rehabilitation or renovation procedures of selected building defects and failures (special technological procedures for the restoration of monuments are preferred).
  • 7. Individual consultation; presentation of work results.
  • 8. Submission of semestral work; credits.