CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES FOR CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT. CASE STUDIES: IPIRANGA MUSEUM AND VILA PENTEADO

• Grant number: 26/03281-0
• Support Opportunities: Special Projects
• Start date: July 01, 2026
• End date: December 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Fundamentals of Architecture and Urbanism
• Principal Investigator: Beatriz Mugayar Kühl
• Grantee: Beatriz Mugayar Kühl
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: São Paulo
• Associated researchers: Paulo César Garcez Marins ; Pedro Augusto Vieira Santos

Abstract

This research addresses conceptual and methodological issues in conservation management. To explore these matters in greater depth, it examines two case studies: the Vila Penteado, one of the buildings of FAUUSP, and the Museu do Ipiranga of USP. Both buildings, and the themes they raise, have been the subject of investigation for several years by professors at FAUUSP, in collaboration with Italian universities, particularly the DIAPReM laboratory (Development of Integrated Automatic Procedures for Conservation-Restoration of Monuments) at the Università degli Studi di Ferrara (Unife) and the Faculty of Architecture of Sapienza Università di Roma. The ongoing collaborative initiatives will be pursued in a coordinated manner, engaging researchers from the institutions, with the aim of consolidating and integrating studies previously carried out for other purposes. Particular attention will be devoted to specific aspects: critical reflection on theoretical-methodological and technical-operational questions of conservation-restoration, in their relationship with advanced methods of documentation, recording, and condition assessment-especially three-dimensional laser scanning (3DLS)-and on its application to conservation management through HBIM models, articulated with CIM models (Vila Penteado).The Vila Penteado was the subject of a laser scanning campaign carried out by the DIAPReM team in August 2025; the material will be processed as of 2026 and incorporated into the present proposal, which aims to establish the basis for HBIM and CIM models for conservation management. The Museu do Ipiranga was scanned by DIAPReM in 2017, prior to the conservation-restoration intervention that led to its reopening in 2022. A new scanning campaign is planned for 2026, which will make it possible to monitor its condition and behavior in the post-intervention phase, enabling a comparative study of the building before and after the works carried out. Once processed, this material will be made available to the Museum for the planning of an exhibition designed to create an immersive digital environment that will allow visitors to compare the building's spaces before and after the intervention. Following the survey, a pilot area of the Museum will be selected in order to structure a pilot HBIM model to be tested, which, after the completion of this project, may be extended to the remainder of the building.The research adopts as its method the analysis of bibliography and documentation concerning the interventions and their insertion within the broader context, in comparison with the 3DLS survey of the case studies and subsequent analysis for integration into HBIM and CIM models. Advanced methods of documentation, recording, and condition assessment will be critically examined in their articulation with conservation management; this issue will also be considered in relation to the theoretical-methodological principles of conservation-restoration, including their implications for design responses, understood as a means of anticipating and controlling conservationThe investigation therefore aims to contribute to conceptual and methodological discussions for the development of comprehensive plans for the management of information and the conservation of historic heritage-plans that may effectively guide institutional practices and serve as a model for other buildings and foster deeper reflection on the relationship between theoretical-methodological principles of conservation-restoration and design responses. This discussion is open to related topics, such as the interconnections between conservation-restoration and design, history, and recording, as well as the environmental impacts of conservation-restoration. (AU)