Indoor air quality for heritage objects and human health: just a different interpretation of the same measurements?

Abstract

The environmental conditions in a conservation-restoration studio for paintings induce an inherent risk to objects of art and to humans working on those objects. They are both subject to (sometimes dangerous) chemical substances and fluctuations in environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, relative humidity). In this paper, we report on a measuring campaign which lasted more than a year collecting data about the air quality within a painting studio of a higher education institute. An existing algorithm assessed the indoor air quality for heritage objects using international air quality standards. This contribution presents a new algorithm to assess indoor air quality for human health relying on thresholds imposed by legislation and recommended by reference institutes. This algorithm has been applied to the same measuring campaign. The assessments illustrate that the same environmental conditions have a different impact on canvas paintings, panel paintings, students, and staff. Air quality is thus a relative concept that depends on the object/subject that is considered in the analysis.Graphical abstract