An overview, focusing on the role of materials, examining the basic
steps on how we know the built heritage. These consist of understanding the
building, diagnose the building, understand the structural system, identify the
materials and understand the role they have in the behavior of the structural
systems, understand that the building is a “living organism” that – like human
beings – changes throughout its lifetime, and finally, intervene on a building
after an integrated diagnostic study has taken place
