Industrial archaeologist and building historian, undertaking documentation and recording of historic industrial sites, and curating exhibitions and conferences.
Steam pumping stations are exceptional buildings, a rousing, eloquent
architecture designed by en... more Steam pumping stations are exceptional buildings, a rousing, eloquent architecture designed by engineers, and an industrial edifice intended to express civic pride. They were invented, perfected and superseded in barely a century during the determined struggle to overcome the historic threat to urban life posed by industrialization. Of the buildings of the industrial period only train stations can compete with waterworks for stylistic bravura, carried over into the cool, tiled interiors and the sparkle and warmth of the cherished steam engine. This first comprehensive account of a remarkable fusion of machinery and structure weaves together architectural fashions, shifting social conditions and engineering inventiveness to show why such care was taken by the communities that commissioned them and by the men who built them, and what makes us take such pleasure in them today.
The industrial heritage of petroleum production is the result of the growth of the oil industry s... more The industrial heritage of petroleum production is the result of the growth of the oil industry since the 1860s. This heritage presents many challenges to habitual approaches to the evaluation and conservation of historic industrial sites. An international comparative study enables a global understanding of the oil heritage and priorities are proposed for preserving the most significant sites and types of infrastructure, including on the World Heritage List.
The steam-powered water pumping station was a key building type during the industrial revolution,... more The steam-powered water pumping station was a key building type during the industrial revolution, its architecture as much as its technology reflecting the dramatic retro-fitting of water supply and waste drainage into the industrial city. This account of the pumping station in Britain, where there are more conserved examples than the rest of the world.
The modern infrastructure to supply water and to remove and treat waste was retro-fitted to towns... more The modern infrastructure to supply water and to remove and treat waste was retro-fitted to towns and cities across the world, pulling them back from a sanitary crisis which was threatening to make life intolerable. Faced with industrialisation, miserable living conditions and repeated epidemics, water supply systems and drainage networks were devised and incorporated into urban landscapes. The impressive quality of their engineering and architectural design shows how important they were for the societies of the time, and many continue to make a vital contribution to living conditions today.
This first, and so far only, published research into the history of the industrial chimney in Bri... more This first, and so far only, published research into the history of the industrial chimney in Britain was commissioned by The Victorian Society and undertaken while studying at the Ironbridge Institute. It is a fully referenced study of the design, construction, and symbolic meanings of this truly iconic structure.
Se presenta un caso de estudio del conjunto de pintura mural de la Sala Capitular del monasterio... more Se presenta un caso de estudio del conjunto de pintura mural de la Sala Capitular del monasterio de Santa Maria de Sixena (Huesca), de época medieval, que fue gravemente dañado en 1936 durante los primeros días de la Guerra Civil. El monasterio fue incendiado, las pinturas se destruyeron en parte y el resto fueron arrancadas y traspasadas a un nuevo soporte.
El conjunto que se pudo salvar se encuentra desde los años 1940 en el MNAC, montado en soportes de madera que reproducen la forma de los arcos de la sala capitular original. Su estado de conservación es frágil a consecuencia delas vicisitudes a que han sido sometidas y de los materiales tradicionales que se emplearon, aunque se encuentra estable, gracias a las medidas de conservación preventiva aplicadas.
El criterio de presentación del conjunto fue respetuoso con las grandes lagunas de pérdida, limitándose a recrear un esbozo de la composición original que se pudo realizar gracias a la existencia de documentación antigua y de fotografías en blanco y negro anteriores al incendio. No obstante, una parte importante de la obra como documento artístico, - su cromatismo original-, se perdió de forma irremediable a causa de las altas temperaturas que calcinaron y transformaron químicamente la naturaleza de los pigmentos.
Para contrarrestar este aspecto y encontrar una solución museológica objetiva y acorde a los criterios actuales de conservación, a lo largo del tiempo se han ensayado diversas opciones de recreación virtual que permitan recuperar el cromatismo original de cara a una mejor comprensión de la obra por parte del público visitante del conjunto.
Introduction 2.1 Scope 2.2 Chronology 2.3 Comparative studies 2.4 The water industry on the World... more Introduction 2.1 Scope 2.2 Chronology 2.3 Comparative studies 2.4 The water industry on the World Heritage List 2.5 Collaboration 3. Terminology 4. Historical development of water infrastructure 4.1. Ancient and Classical supply systems 4.2. Early modern water provision 1500-1800 4.3. Industrialization 1800-80 4.4. Water and sewage combined 1880-1920 4.5. Modern water systems since 1920 5. Areas and values of significance 6. The water industry as World Heritage 7. uNeSCO evaluation criteria relevant to the water industry 8. Case studies: sites and networks for comparison
Introduction 2.1 Scope 2.2 Chronology 2.3 Comparative studies 2.4 The water industry on the World... more Introduction 2.1 Scope 2.2 Chronology 2.3 Comparative studies 2.4 The water industry on the World Heritage List 2.5 Collaboration 3. Terminology 4. Historical development of water infrastructure 4.1. Ancient and Classical supply systems 4.2. Early modern water provision 1500-1800 4.3. Industrialization 1800-80 4.4. Water and sewage combined 1880-1920 4.5. Modern water systems since 1920 5. Areas and values of significance 6. The water industry as World Heritage 7. uNeSCO evaluation criteria relevant to the water industry 8. Case studies: sites and networks for comparison
be separated into fractions including natural gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, fuel and lubricat... more be separated into fractions including natural gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, fuel and lubricating oils, paraffin wax, and asphalt and is used as raw material for a wide variety of derivative products. A subsurface oil accumulation. An oil field can consist of one or more oil pools or distinct reservoirs within a single large trap. Shale oil (or tight oil): refers to hydrocarbons trapped in formations that are not very porous. The oil is accessed by drilling horizontally across the deposit, and then hydraulic fracking to open up the rock and allow the oil to flow. One of the three commonly used divisions, it includes searching for potential underground or underwater oil and gas fields, drilling of exploratory wells, and subsequently operating the wells that recover and bring the hydrocarbons to the surface. Also known as the exploration and production (E and P) sector. Barrel: A non-SI Metric Unit System typically used to measure the volume of liquid hydrocarbons. One barrel equals 0.159 m 3 . Standard Oil introduced a steel version of the wooden 42-gallon oil barrel in 1902, with the same traditional bilged, cask-like appearance. The drilling tool used to cut the rock. The bit is screwed on the bottom of the drillstring and is rotated so that it scrapes or crushes the rock at the bottom hole. The wellbore itself, including the open hole or uncased portion of the well. Borehole may refer to the inside diameter of the wellbore wall, the rock face that bounds the drilled hole. Casing: Steel pipe lowered into an open hole and cemented in place during the well construction to stabilize the wellbore and to insulate it from surface water. The practice of cased wells completed with production tubing became standard by 1870, and wells were completed with open-hole or cased-hole techniques in the early 20 th century. Central power systems: Consisted of a steam or later oil or gas engine linked to the pump jacks by means of lines of wires, jerker or rod lines which transmitted the motion of the power. The word 'power' can refer just to the heavy iron contraption in the centre of the syste m, b ut it includes also the engine, engine house, the belt, the tripods, the rod lines, the jacks and the wells. The traditional compound (mechanical transmission of power with gears and chains) was replaced by independent electric motors in the 1920s, up to the application of frequency converters and of modern regulation systems. Condeep: Concrete deepwater drilling structure, gravity-based oil production platforms. The usually pyramidal structure used in the drilling of oil and gas wells as support for the drillstring of a drilling rig lowered into the well. Ephemeral, often removed or burnt, and made of wood until replaced by steel from the 1920s. Traditional derricks we re gradually replaced from the 1950s with more easily moved modular masts. Jackknife derricks are hinged on one side where they join the drilling platform and through winching systems may be raised or lowered in a single piece for transport. Disposal well: Often a depleted oil or gas well into which waste fluids can be injected for safe disposal. Drilling: Two general methods of drilling are generally employed: cable or percussion system, and rotary system or boring.
London’s Main Drainage was one of a number of projects in Europe and North America in the mid-19t... more London’s Main Drainage was one of a number of projects in Europe and North America in the mid-19th century to design and retro-fit a sewage network in cities struggling to cope with unprecedented health, sanitary and environmental problems caused by industrialisation. The Main Drainage was both the most ambitious of these, and the first in the world to be based around steam-powered pumps. They were used to lift very large volumes of human sewage, storm water and manufacturers’ waste so it would flow under gravity to beyond the limits of the metropolis. Once the plan had been approved, the Metropolitan Board of Works, led by its Chief Engineer J.W. Bazalgette, solicited proposals from leading foundries for how to pump the sewage, and the optimal size and configuration for the steam engines. Their suggestions formed the basis for the four pumping stations that were built. The largest, Crossness and Abbey Mills, were commissioned from a railway-station architect whose designs, despite the isolated locations, were highly expressive. Their construction and inauguration attracted enormous public attention, reflecting the high expectations of their sanitary and environmental benefits. These sites trialled the use of steam-powered pumps to raise sewage, a critical technological step in the history of urban systems, while their contribution to solving the Victorian sanitary crisis makes them of particular historical interest.
The use of GIS (Geographical Information Systems) to organise industrial heritage inventories pre... more The use of GIS (Geographical Information Systems) to organise industrial heritage inventories presents new opportunities for managers and users of databases of historic sites and landscapes. Adding an historical dimension to the dataset is a further development that has grown in the last five years into a distinct field of research, 'Historical GIS', with its own tools and methodologies. The Inventori del Patrimoni Industrial de Barcelona (IPIB) is a current project to create a spatial database of all historic industrial sites in the Catalan capital-existing and pastduring the period from 1732 when the first calico printing proto-factories were built in the walled city up to 1992. The inventory uses a GIS programme called Miramon, developed by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, to map the historical data collected in the database and to help industrial historians and industrial archaeologists to use the information. The final product will be a publicly available resource that can be accessed online and which will contribute to understanding the history of a modern industrial city.
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Books by James Douet
architecture designed by engineers, and an industrial edifice intended to
express civic pride. They were invented, perfected and superseded in
barely a century during the determined struggle to overcome the historic
threat to urban life posed by industrialization. Of the buildings of the
industrial period only train stations can compete with waterworks for
stylistic bravura, carried over into the cool, tiled interiors and the sparkle
and warmth of the cherished steam engine.
This first comprehensive account of a remarkable fusion of machinery and
structure weaves together architectural fashions, shifting social
conditions and engineering inventiveness to show why such care was
taken by the communities that commissioned them and by the men who
built them, and what makes us take such pleasure in them today.
Papers by James Douet
El conjunto que se pudo salvar se encuentra desde los años 1940 en el MNAC, montado en soportes de madera que reproducen la forma de los arcos de la sala capitular original. Su estado de conservación es frágil a consecuencia delas vicisitudes a que han sido sometidas y de los materiales tradicionales que se emplearon, aunque se encuentra estable, gracias a las medidas de conservación preventiva aplicadas.
El criterio de presentación del conjunto fue respetuoso con las grandes lagunas de pérdida, limitándose a recrear un esbozo de la composición original que se pudo realizar gracias a la existencia de documentación antigua y de fotografías en blanco y negro anteriores al incendio. No obstante, una parte importante de la obra como documento artístico, - su cromatismo original-, se perdió de forma irremediable a causa de las altas temperaturas que calcinaron y transformaron químicamente la naturaleza de los pigmentos.
Para contrarrestar este aspecto y encontrar una solución museológica objetiva y acorde a los criterios actuales de conservación, a lo largo del tiempo se han ensayado diversas opciones de recreación virtual que permitan recuperar el cromatismo original de cara a una mejor comprensión de la obra por parte del público visitante del conjunto.