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The Indoor Environment of a Modern Museum Building, The Sainsbury Centre

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Indoor Air 1999; 9: 146–164
Printed in Denmark. All rights reserved
The Indoor Environment of a Modern Museum Building,
The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK
P. BRIMBLECOMBE1*, N. BLADES1,7, D. CAMUFFO2, G. STURARO3, A. VALENTINO3, K. GYSELS4,
R. VAN GRIEKEN4, H.-J. BUSSE5,6, O. KIM5, U. ULRYCH5 AND M. WIESER5
Abstract A multi-disciplinary approach was used to investigate
the indoor environment of a modern museum building, and its
suitability for the conservation of the collection therein. Climate,
gaseous and particulate pollution and the concentrations of bac-
teria were measured in summer and winter campaigns. While the
environment overall was found to be an acceptable one, a num-
ber of drawbacks were highlighted, the most serious of these
being the large temperature and humidity fluctuations that oc-
curred in the summer.
Key words Museum; Conservation; Climate; Pollution;
Particles; Aerobiology.
Received 22 August 1998. Accepted for publication 30 January 1999.
C Indoor Air (1999)
Introduction
The internal environment provided by a museum
building is of critical importance for the preventive
conservation of the collections inside. Preventive con-
servation aims to provide an environment appropriate
for the storage and display of objects, such that deterio-
ration is either stopped, or at least slowed to acceptable
rates. Although the design and construction methods
used for museums vary, there is some consensus on
the type of environment they should aspire to provide.
This is characterised by stability of climate, in which
only moderate variations in relative humidity and tem-
perature occur; that light intensities should be main-
tained at appropriate values; and that gaseous and par-
ticulate pollution from inside and outside, should, as
far as practical, be excluded.
This paper considers the indoor environment of a
1
School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, 2Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR-ICTIMA, Padova, Italy, 3Consorzio
Padova Ricerche, Padova, Italy, 4Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp (UIA), Antwerpen, Belgium, 5Institut für Mikrobiologie und Genetik,
Universität Wien, Wien, Austria, 6Institut für Bakteriologie, Mykologie und Hygiene, Veterinärmedizinische Universität, Wien, Austria, 7Current address:
The Bartlett School of Architecture, Building, Environmental Design and Planning, University College London, London, UK, *Author to whom correspon-
dence should be addressed
Copyright c Munksgaard 1999
INDOOR AIR
ISSN 0905-6947
modern open plan building of contemporary construc-
tion materials: the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
(SCVA), Norwich, UK. We attempted to evaluate the
issues such designs raise for preventive conservation.
Thus, our study aimed to discover to what extent de-
sign factors and construction materials affected indoor
climate and air pollution and is part of a series of
studies on different museum buildings.
Indoor Environment
The following environmental factors considered im-
portant for conservation of museum objects were
studied here:
Climate
Relative humidity, specific humidity, temperature and
dew point were measured throughout the gallery to
build up a detailed picture of the internal climate. Lim-
iting relative humidity fluctuations is important in the
preservation of organic materials, while both metals
and organic materials should be stored at appropriate
relative humidity (RH) ranges (typically 40–70% or-
ganics and ∞45% metals) (Erhardt and Mecklenberg,
1994).
Gaseous pollution
Concentrations of the damaging pollutant gases nitro-
gen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide were
measured in and around the museum, using diffusion
tubes. These invasive pollutants enhance corrosion and
damage dyes and pigments, for example. They are not
the only pollutants of concern, ozone from outdoors is
troublesome as are the organic acids generated within

cases (Brimblecombe, 1990). It would have been desir-
able to have monitored ozone, but existing passive
techniques that could parallel the other measurements
proved unreliable.
Particulate pollution
Suspended particulate matter was measured by cas-
cade impact sampling. The particle size distribution of
the collected samples was found, and its elemental
composition determined, so that sources could be iden-
tified, and the potential harm evaluated. Deposition of
particles onto surfaces was also measured using ex-
posed Nucleopore filters. Particles within museums
soil objects (Nazaroff et al., 1993), but there is some
concern that they may also promote corrosion.
Microbiology
Airborne bacteria were sampled onto agar strips and
cultured in the laboratory so that the numbers of col-
ony-forming units could be counted, and the strains
characterised. Fungal attack on museum objects at high
humidity has long been a problem and some conser-
vators believe that bacteria may also present risks (e.g.,
Krumbein and Urzi, 1991; Krumbein et al., 1991).
Although there has been much interest in setting en-
vironmental standards within the conservation field,
those that exist are often arbitrary and thus not widely
accepted. Frequently they reflect what is achievable
with current technology rather than what might be ap-
propriate in terms of reducing damage to acceptable
levels. The problems of the RH standards are discussed
by Holmberg (1998) and the need to consider long-
term exposures of specific materials (e.g., sixty-year ex-
posure of leather to sulfur dioxide (Brimblecombe,
1996)).
The assessment of the SCVA’s environment was
made by simultaneously measuring the above factors
during two short campaigns. These ran in the winter
(December 1996–January 1997) and summer (July–
August 1997), so that seasonal differences might be ap-
parent.
The Building
The SCVA was designed by Sir Norman Foster to
house the art collection of Sir Robert and Lady
Sainsbury at the University of East Anglia, which occu-
pies a relatively unpolluted campus site on the edge of
a small (population 150,000) city in eastern England.
Opened in 1978, it is a modern building both in its
design and the materials used, which are mainly metal
and glass. The philosophy behind its design has been
described as that of ‘the well-serviced shed’ (Peckham,
The Indoor Environment of a Modern Museum Building
1978). There are no internal walls; gallery, restaurants
and art history school all share a single open space and
air volume. Figure 1 shows the ground plan of the
building.
It is an example of a modern museum with a design
concept very different from that of more traditional
museums, such as the Correr Museum, Venice, and the
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, that are subjects in
our parallel studies of internal environment (Camuffo
et al., forthcoming). Thus, this paper focuses on the
special character of the interior environment of the
modern building. It is of interest to examine this be-
cause such construction is likely to become more com-
mon in the future, despite the lack of studies of the
way in which such novel design affects conservation
needs. The main design features of the SCVA that set
it apart from more traditional museums include the
following.
Construction Materials
The building is constructed around a metal frame, and
clad with painted steel and glass panels. The side walls
are metal-skinned on the outside, with a 2-m-wide cav-
ity, used to house the building services and for general
purpose storage. The inner wall is a metal frame, clad
in metal louvres, backed by a 20 cm thickness of wood-
chip insulation. The inner wall extends to a height ap-
proximately 2 m below the roof, and above it the wall
is only single skin, consisting of a row of glass panels
running almost the complete length of the building.
The end walls are entirely of glass, with a very large
venetian blind on the inside of the gallery end, while
the side walls are surfaced with painted metal louvres.
With the exception of the public entrance area which
has a rubber floor, the floor of the museum is slightly
unusual in being fully carpeted.
These aspects of construction have a number of im-
portant implications for the environment of the mu-
seum. The metal and glass walls and roof will have
little thermal mass and so may change temperature
rapidly; the huge glass end walls will admit large
amounts of sunlight. Even though they are screened
with a substantial overhang which reduces direct radi-
ation, the sun’s rays are likely to have a considerable
heating effect.
The non-porous glass and metal walls have reduced
capacity for buffering humidity or absorbing pollutant
gases, though the large expanse of carpet may be able
to function in this way. However, carpet also has draw-
backs: it may act as a reservoir for particulate material,
including bacteria, fungi and arthropods where they
find suitable conditions for survival. From there they
can be resuspended to the air by the footsteps of
147
Brimblecome, Blades, Camuffo, Sturaro, Valentino, Gysels, Van Grieken, Busse, Kim, Ulrych and Wieser
Fig. 1 Ground plan of the SCVA. In the text, the space from the Special Exhibition Area to the Mezzanine Gallery is loosely referred
to as ’the gallery’
people walking through the gallery (Bernardi and Ca-
muffo, 1995).
The construction materials are likely to affect the
types of particles found inside the gallery. Previous
work on the measurement of particulate materials in
another museum (De Bock et al., 1996) has found that
a large number of particles consisted of gypsum, i.e.,
plaster particles as a result of disintegration of the
walls. The SCVA has few plastered surfaces, so these
particles were not expected to be prevalent.
Open-Plan Design Philosophy
At the SCVA it seems to have been the architect’s inten-
tion to have as open a layout as possible, so that galler-
ies, restaurants and an art history school all share the
same interior space. In the early days of the SCVA this
philosophy was taken to extremes, with an open plan
lecture area adjacent to the gallery space. However,
this idea proved impractical and was subsequently
abandoned – it was not possible to hear the lecturer
clearly in so large room, nor could the lecture area be
darkened sufficiently for slide projection.
The entrance from the outside to the display area
(known as the ‘Living Area’) is abrupt and immediate,
and also part of the architect’s intention to increase the
drama of entering the gallery (Peckham, 1978). The
visitor passes fleetlingly though a shallow transition
zone where coats may be hung, and then into the Cafe-
teria Area, immediately adjacent to the Living Area.
This design aspect is likely to have considerable ef-
fects on the internal environment. The direct connec-
tion between the external environment and the gallery
air space may increase the ease of transfer of external
humidity and gaseous and particulate pollutants to the
interior.
148
The SCVA is not an air-conditioned building but has
a series of fans installed in the walls, which circulate
air. In summer, air is drawn in through vents in the
external walls, exchanging it three times per hour. In
winter, most of the external vents are closed such that
about 80% of the air is recycled. Exterior air passes
through coarse particle filters.
The fact that the entire space is open plan, with a
high ceiling, means that it has a comparatively low sur-
face area/volume ratio, compared with a traditional
museum, which is divided into many small rooms and
galleries. Given that pollutants are often removed from
the interior air of a building by surface adsorption, this
means the SCVA design would be expected to be rela-
tively inefficient at removing interior air pollutants.
Earlier work at this museum (Davies et al., 1984) found
a high indoor/outdoor ozone ratio, of 0.7. Since this
study, there have been no changes to the museum ven-
tilation system. Office spaces might give values in the
range 0.2–0.3, and well-ventilated conference rooms
and dining halls may have ratios in the range 0.5–0.7
(Weschler and Shields, 1997). As can be seen, the SCVA
is at the top end of this range, so when high external
ozone concentrations occur, a high concentration of
this reactive gas may also be found inside the building.
This allows us to speculate on the potential for unusual
indoor air composition, most particularly some in-
creased nitrogen dioxide concentrations resulting from
high oxidant levels.
The large volume of air inside this open-plan build-
ing is more likely to be well mixed than the air inside
a museum consisting of many small rooms. The forced
flow and turbulence caused by the ventilation system
will probably be responsible for this mixing. This has
implications for the transport of particulate matter,

Fig. 2 Solar irradiation model for 10 December (winter cam-
paign). The graph shows how the irradiation changes with time
for horizontal surfaces (H) and vertical walls facing the different
directions (SE, SW). NE and NW are always zero
Fig. 3 Winter temperature profiles in the Living and Special Exhi-
bition Areas
gaseous air pollutants, heat and humidity. Because
there is no separation between the restaurant (smoking
permitted), cafeteria (with growing trees and smoking
also permitted) and display areas, pollutants such as
combustion products from the kitchens, and organic
debris (insect material as well as plant fragments) may
be carried into the display area.
There are then a number of ways in which the de-
The Indoor Environment of a Modern Museum Building
sign of this unusual building can affect its internal en-
vironment. The following sections describe in detail
the methodologies used to measure each environmen-
tal parameter, and the results obtained. The final sec-
tions examine these results and attempt to answer the
questions posed above.
The Microclimate
Methodology
The thermo-hygrometric parameters (air temperature,
relative and specific humidity, and dew point) were
electronically logged at 15-min intervals in a vertical
profile with thermistors (accuracy of 0.1æC) and psych-
rometric sensors. During the summer campaign, RH
was measured directly with capacitive sensors (accu-
racy of 2% RH). The sensors were placed at different
heights in order to monitor the atmospheric stability
and time trends. The horizontal distribution of these
parameters was also observed every 3 h on a grid
throughout gallery (1.5 m above the floor) with 40 ob-
servation points. These observations were made manu-
ally with a fast response psychrometer (Camuffo, 1983,
1998; Camuffo et al., 1995). The psychrometer used was
an electronic prototype built by CNR-ICTIMA with
Fig. 4 Winter relative humidity profiles in the Living and Special
Exhibition Areas
149
Brimblecome, Blades, Camuffo, Sturaro, Valentino, Gysels, Van Grieken, Busse, Kim, Ulrych and Wieser
thermistors (accuracy 0.1æC) and a response time of a
few seconds. The spatial data was collected in a fixed
sequence over a 15-min period.
Winter Survey
Solar irradiation was estimated from astronomical for-
mulae for the appropriate latitude, using an average
atmospheric attenuation for the English Midlands (at-
tenuation coefficient of solar constantΩ0.7; Kreith,
1973). The model showed that during the December
survey: 1) only the SE, SW faces and the roof can re-
ceive solar radiation throughout the whole day; 2) the
SE glass wall from 8:30 to 15:00 with a peak at 11:00;
and 3) the SW side from 9:00 to 15:30 with a peak at
13:00 (Figure 2). The December peaks in radiation on
these two walls were about half of the peak values dur-
ing the summer campaign (see Figure 6) and the De-
cember duration of solar radiation was 6 h 30 min com-
pared with 9 h found for the summer campaign.
Air temperature and RH were measured in a vertical
profile, at heights of 1, 3, 5 and 7 m in the Living and
Special Exhibition Areas. In the Special Exhibitions
Fig. 5 Plan of the spatial distribution of (a) temperature, (b) relative humidity and (c) specific humidity in the gallery (winter)
150
Area, air temperatures at the four heights were virtu-
ally identical. Only in the daytime was there any evi-
dence of temperature stratification and air layering
(Figure 3). The amplitude of the daily cycle was only
1æC. In the Living Area a different pattern was ob-
served. The measurements at 1 m height showed a col-
der, floor-based layer, while the 3, 5 and 7 m measure-
ments followed each other more closely. In the day-
time, the 3 m measurements were significantly cooler
than those at 5 and 7 m. This indicates that some mix-
ing with the floor-based layer is occurring, probably
due to turbulence generated by the ventilation fans
situated along the gallery wall at 3 m height, and the
movement of people through the gallery. The daily
temperature cycle had a maximum amplitude of 1.5æC,
measured by the 5 and 7 m sensors.
The trend of the RH (Figure 4) was strongly con-
ditioned by the large external changes of the specific
humidity (SH). The RH and SH concentrations in the
Special Exhibition Area were similar to the correspond-
ing ones in the Living Area, except that in the latter
site these parameters showed more short-term pertur-
 The Indoor Environment of a Modern Museum Building

roof is dominant and continuous from 5:00 to 19:00,

obviously with a peak at 12:00.
Throughout this survey the indoor temperature (Fig-
ure 7) was higher than the outdoor temperature, prob-
ably due to the greenhouse effect with a small contri-
bution from the gallery lights. The vertical profile in
the Special Exhibition area showed some internal
stratification in the daytime, with temperature increas-
ing with height; the effect became most pronounced in
the late afternoon, and disappeared entirely overnight.
The profile in the Living Area was similar.
In the morning, the Mezzanine Gallery (at 3 m above
Fig. 6 Solar irradiation model for 5 August (summer campaign). the gallery floor) had a temperature close to the
The graph shows how the irradiation changes with time for hori-
zontal surfaces (H) and vertical walls facing the different direc- ground level Living Area; in the late morning and the
tions (NE, SE, SW, NW) afternoon it was warmer following the vertical stratifi-
cation of the indoor atmosphere. In the daytime, the
ground-level doors were open to increase ventilation,
and exchange with the external air. Above this level, a
bation, probably because of the air introduced by the cushion of hot and humid air became trapped just be-
ventilation fans at this location.
Figure 5 shows a plan of temperature, RH and SH.
This was constructed from a matrix of spot readings
taken throughout the gallery in order to determine the
spatial variation of these properties. The cafeteria area
is slightly cooler than the rest of the gallery due to cold
air coming in through the main public entrance doors
situated at this point. The external metal walls, al-
though insulated, dissipated internal heat creating a
colder area all along the sides. The centre of the gallery,
away from the walls and reached by the air flows from
the fans was slightly warmer. The Mezzanine Gallery
was always warm, following the stratification of the
floor-based layer. Since the SH did not vary much at
this point, the RH was conditioned by the temperature Fig. 7 Summer temperature profiles in the Special Exhibition
distribution. Area

Summer Survey
The solar radiation during the August campaign, com-
puted for the four sides of the building and the roof,
is reported in Figure 6. The intensity of the solar radi-
ation falling on the sides SE and SW is exactly the
same, but symmetrical and displaced in time; the same
holds for NE and NW but with a lower intensity and
a shorter duration. As far as the exhibition area of the
SCVA is concerned, the glass wall of the Special Exhi-
bition Area is irradiated from 5:00 to 14:00 with a peak
at 9:15 (in the actual solar model. These are expressed
in true solar time). The SW side with large glass doors
is irradiated from 10:00 to 19:00 (peak at 14:45); the NE
side and entrance doors is sunlit only in the morning
from 5:00 to 10:00 (peak near 7:00); the glass wall of Fig. 8 Dew point spread, i.e. difference in degrees C between the
surface temperature and the dew point, at the gallery ceiling dur-
the restaurant in the afternoon from 14:00 to 19:00 ing summer campaign, measured on glass panes and metal
(peak near 17:00). The irradiation on the horizontal panels

151
Brimblecome, Blades, Camuffo, Sturaro, Valentino, Gysels, Van Grieken, Busse, Kim, Ulrych and Wieser
Fig. 9 Summer relative humidity profiles in the Living Area
low the roof and remained there until the night-time.
It was then cooled by contact with the cold glass and
metal structure and sinks to floor level.
During the night-time the internal temperature of
the glass panes on the roof approached or reached the
dew point causing condensation (Figure 8), while the
insulated metal roof panels maintained a slightly
Fig. 10 Plan of the spatial distribution of (a) temperature, (b) relative humidity and (c) specific humidity in the gallery (summer)
152
higher temperature, preventing condensation. The am-
plitude of the daily cycle of indoor temperatures was
up to 9æC, only slightly less than the external variation,
and this was measured on an overcast day.
The indoor RH oscillated daily between 30 and 70%
(Figure 9), which was less than the external variation.
The SH varied between 7 and 10.5 g/kg without a
marked daily trend; indoor values were close to out-
door ones.
The horizontal distribution of the air temperature
(Figure 10a), generated from spot readings, revealed
a pattern which was controlled by the heating of the
solar radiation penetrating the glass walls, doors and
windows. The internal venetian blind stops the pene-
tration of the solar radiation, but all the energy ab-
sorbed by the blinds is transformed into heat, locally
warming the Special Exhibition Area. The RH hori-
zontal distribution (Figure 10b), followed the tem-
perature distribution because the indoor SH (Figure
10c) had only a modest variation. The constancy of
SH in the Living Area (Figure 11) may be related to
the relatively small number of visitors in the gallery.

The SH in the Special Exhibitions Area behaved in a
similar fashion.
Gaseous Pollution
Methods
Concentrations of the gaseous pollutants nitrogen
dioxide, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide were
measured at the SCVA in the winter and summer cam-
paigns using diffusion samplers. These are plastic
tubes of either acrylic or FEP (an inert, high-density
plastic, similar to PTFE), with internal diameter 1.1 cm
and length 7.1 cm. During sampling one end of the
tube is open to the atmosphere. The other end is fitted
with a cap containing two stainless steel meshes,
coated with an absorbing compound appropriate for
the pollutant of interest. Polluted air diffuses down the
tube, and the pollutant reacts with the trapping agent
to form an non-volatile compound, which is retained
on the meshes, and can be analysed on retrieval of the
tube. The amount of pollutant collected is related to
the average concentration it was exposed to by Fick’s
Law of diffusion.
The nitrogen dioxide tube uses a coating solution of
triethanolamine (TEA). Atmospheric nitrogen dioxide
reacts with TEA to form a nitrosamine derivative. Dur-
ing analysis, this is converted to nitrite by reaction
with water in the presence of phosphoric acid, which
in turn reacts with sulfanilamide in a diazotization re-
action. The resulting diazonium salt then forms a dye
by reaction with 1-naphthylethylene-diamine dihydro-
chloride (NEDA), which can be determined colorim-
etrically, at 540 nm. Calibration is by liquid nitrite stan-
dards, prepared from sodium nitrite. The method is de-
scribed in Shooter (1993). Sulfur dioxide is collected
in with potassium hydroxide coating solution, which
reacts with sulfur dioxide to form sulfite. On analysis,
dilute hydrogen peroxide solution is added to the tube,
ensuring that the sulfite is fully oxidised to sulfate,
which can then be determined by ion chromatography.
The method is described by Hargreaves et al. (1991).
Hydrogen sulfide is collected on a silver nitrate coating
solution which reacts with hydrogen sulfide to form
silver sulfide. This is extracted from the samplers using
sodium cyanide solution. Analysis is by fluorescence
spectrophotometry, relying on the ability of the sulfide
ion to quench the fluorescence of a solution of the flu-
orescent agent, fluorescein mercuric acetate (FMA).
Thus, as the concentration of sulfide increases the
amount of fluorescence measured from a standard con-
centration of FMA, decreases. Calibration is carried out
using liquid sodium sulfide standards. The method is
described by Shooter et al. (1995).
The Indoor Environment of a Modern Museum Building
Fig. 11 Summer specific humidity profiles in the Living Area
Sulfur Dioxide
This pollutant always occurred at low concentrations
externally, as might be expected in the semi-rural en-
vironment of the Sainsbury Centre, which is far away
from any industrial sources. There was no significant
difference between winter and summer. Inside the
building gaseous sulfur dioxide was below the detec-
tion limit (0.2 ppb).
Nitrogen Dioxide
In winter the nitrogen dioxide pattern was the same as
has been found in many naturally ventilated buildings:
the internal concentration is slightly lower than the ex-
ternal. Inside the gallery the nitrogen dioxide was ap-
proximately 80% of the external value, at a level of
about 10 ppb. Concentrations were homogeneous
throughout the building. Interestingly, this ‘normal’
pattern of nitrogen dioxide behaviour reversed in the
summer data. At this time, the interior concentrations
are actually higher than the external ones. We believe
there to be no significant internal nitrogen dioxide
sources, although gas cooking is used in the kitchen
and air from the kitchen vents directly to the building
exterior. Additional measurements conducted in the
months that followed the campaign showed nitrogen
dioxide indoor/outdoor ratios greater than one per-
sisted through summer into autumn. Elevated indoor
concentrations might be expected in a room where
ozone was high because of the way atmospheric chem-
istry links ozone and nitrogen dioxide as discussed
later in this paper.
Hydrogen Sulfide
In the winter campaign, there was no significant differ-
ence between the hydrogen sulfide concentrations in-
side and outside the Sainsbury Centre. Hydrogen sul-
fide behaves quite differently from nitrogen dioxide or
153
Brimblecome, Blades, Camuffo, Sturaro, Valentino, Gysels, Van Grieken, Busse, Kim, Ulrych and Wieser

sulfur dioxide, in that it appears to be less readily ab-
sorbed, or consumed by reaction at surfaces (apart,
perhaps, from reactive metals such as copper and sil-
ver) than the other pollutants. In the summer cam-
paign hydrogen sulfide was below the detection limit
of 50 ppt.
Suspended Particulate Matter Analysis
Sampling Strategy and Instrumentation
Indoor bulk aerosol samples were collected on Nucle-
pore filters of 0.4 mm pore size and 47 mm diameter.
These filters were fitted in Sartorius filter units, con-
nected to a vacuum pump. The samples were collected
during the night, with a sampling duration of about 15
h. Flow rates through filters are not constant, but vary
with the particle loading on the filter. Average flow
rate values are about 32 L/min. These samples were
analysed by EDXRF on a TN Spectrace 5000 instru-
ment. In this way the elemental composition of the in-
door aerosol could be determined. Parallel outdoor
samples were not collected as it was not possible to
leave a door or window open during the night.
Size-segregated aerosol samples were collected with
May and Berner cascade impactors (flow rates 20 and
29 L/min respectively). Apiezon-coated Nuclepore fil-
ters were used as collection substrates. During each
campaign, seven sets of indoor and outdoor samples
were collected. Sampling times were up to 3 h for the
impactor stages with the largest cut-off sizes. The col-
lection substrates of the impactor stages with smaller
cut-off sizes were retrieved after shorter sampling
periods (7 to 30 min) in order to avoid overloading.
In every sample, 300 to 500 individual particles were
analysed automatically by SEM-EDX on a JEOL JSM
3600 instrument, at an accelerating voltage of 20 kV
and a beam current of 1 nA. The diameter of the par-
ticles was assessed and an X-ray spectrum was col-
lected with a 20 s integration time per particle. Pro-
cessing of the SEM-EDX data was performed by Hier-
archical Cluster Analysis, producing a classification
into groups of particles with a chemically similar com-
position (Bondarenko et al., 1996). This method allows
for the identification of the types of particles present
in the museum atmosphere and their relative abun-
dances. Absolute concentrations of the identified par-
ticles cannot be obtained with this method.
Information about dry deposition was obtained from
51 Nucleopore filters attached vertically to the mu-
seum walls and horizontally inside display cases for a
period of 9 months. The dry deposition on these filters
was assessed by EDXRF on a TN Spectrace 5000.
During each of the two sampling campaigns seven
sets of indoor and outdoor size-segregated aerosol
samples, as well as three indoor bulk aerosol samples,
were collected. The different types of samples are rep-
resented in Table 2, along with the corresponding sam-
pling and analysis techniques.

Table 1 Mean pollutant concentrations at the SCVA

Location Nitrogen dioxide (ppb) Sulfur dioxide (ppb) Hydrogen sulfide (ppt)
Winter Summer Winter Summer Winter Summer
External (west) 13 11 1.5 2.3 103 ∞50
External (east) 12 10 1.3 1.8 88 ∞50
Living area (by security point) 9 13 ∞0.2 110 ∞50
Living area (centre) 9 13 112 ∞50
Special exhibitions area 9 14 ∞0.2 107 ∞50

Table 2 Sampling and analysis techniques used to determine the particulate matter composition at the SCVA

Type of samples Sampling technique Analysis technique

Indoor and outdoor size-segregated aerosol May and Berner cascade impactors (theoretical O Individual particle analysis:
samples (0.5–20 mm) cut-off sizes 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 20 mmad) automated SEM-EDX
O X-ray mappings: SEM-EDX
Indoor bulk aerosol samples Filter unit EDXRF
Indoor and outdoor dry deposition samples Filters attached vertically to the display panels O EDXRF
and horizontally inside display cases for a O SEM-EDX
period of 9 months
The abbreviations used are as follows: Scanning Electron Microscope – Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (SEM-EDX); Energy
Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF)

154
 The Indoor Environment of a Modern Museum Building

Table 3 Average elemental concentrations detected by EDXRF in size ranges were completely dominated by S-rich and
the winter and summer campaigns
low-Z element compounds (particles for which no ele-
Element Winter concentration Summer concentration ments with Z±11 could be detected in the X-ray spec-
(mg/m3) (mg/m3)
trum). These particles could have a purely organic
Al 0.03∫0.01 composition or they might consist of low-Z inorganic
Si 0.08∫0.02 0.03∫0.02
P 0.03∫0.01 0.008∫0.015 species, such as NH4NO3. The S-rich particles are most
S 1.2∫0.4 0.6∫0.4 likely composed of (NH4)2SO4 or NH4HSO4, or biologi-
Cl 0.05∫0.05 0.05∫0.02
K 0.04∫0.01 0.02∫0.01 cal particles serving as nucleation sites for SO2 (Xhoffer
Ca 0.05∫0.01 0.03∫0.01 et al., 1991). In the larger size fractions (±2 mm), alumi-
Ti 0.003∫0.001 0.001∫0.001 nosilicates (mainly soil dust but also high temperature
Fe 0.06∫0.02 0.052∫0.008
Zn 0.008∫0.003 0.007∫0.008 combustion fly ash) also became important, especially
during the second part of the sampling campaign (De-
cember 10 and 11, 1996). The composition of the out-
door samples was very similar to that of the indoor
Bulk Particulate Material samples. This is most pronounced for the smallest par-
During both campaigns, bulk aerosol samples were ticles, which were also characterised by S-rich and low-
collected during three successive nights. The average Z particles. In the larger size ranges (±4 mm), sea salt
elemental concentrations detected by EDXRF in the particles and marine crystallisation products domi-
winter and summer samples are shown in Table 3. In nated the outdoor aerosol. These particles were also
both seasons, S was found to be the most dominant identified to a lesser extent (∞10%) in the indoor at-
element. On the average, the winter S-concentration mosphere, along with minor amounts of Fe-rich, Si-
(1.2 (0.4 mg/m3) was double the summer S-concen- rich, Si-S, Ca-rich, CaSO4 and K-S particles.
tration (0.6 (0.4 mg/m3). Minor elements were Al, Si, The HCA-results obtained for the summer samples
Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Fe and Zn with concentrations more than are summarised in Table 5. The indoor samples were
ten-fold lower than the S-concentrations. In the SCVA, characterised by aluminosilicates, sea salt and Si-S-Cl-
the particulate S-, Cl- and K-concentrations were Ca particles. The latter particle type also contained mi-
higher than the corresponding concentrations detected nor concentrations of Na, K, Al, Fe and sometimes Ti.
in no-smoking houses in Houston, but lower than the The outdoor atmosphere was characterised by sea salt
concentrations in smoking households (Kim and Stock, and aged sea salt particles in every measured size
1986). In the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (De Santis et al.,
1992) and the San Luigi Church in Rome (De Santis et
al., 1996), as well as in houses in the Rio Grande Valley
Table 4 The main particle types identified by HCA in the winter
(Mukerjee et al., 1997) and Korea (Lee et al., 1997), S- campaign
concentrations were comparable to the SCVA values.
Size range Major particle types (±10% relative abundance)
The Al-, Si- and Ti-concentrations in the SCVA were
much lower than in the Houston, Taipei (Li et al., 1993) Indoor Outdoor
and Rio Grande Valley residences. These elements oc- 0.5–1 mm S-rich (48%) S-rich (45%)
cur mostly in the larger size fraction, which is more Organic – low Z (48%) Organic – low Z (31%)
subject to gravitational settling. The absence of human 1–2 mm S-rich (54%) S-rich (33%)
activity during the night, when the SCVA samples Organic – low Z (27%) Aluminosilicates (26%)
Fe-rich (16%)
were collected, prevents the resuspension of deposited
particles, so the concentration of the larger particles 2–4 mm S-rich (35%) S-rich (24%)
Aluminosilicates (24%) Organic – low Z (20%)
will be reduced. The Fe-concentrations were compar- Aluminosilicates (15%)
able to the literature values.
4–8 mm S-rich (23%) Aluminosilicates (17%)
Organic – low Z (19%) Sea salt (14%)
Single Particle Analysis Aluminosilicates (16%) Aged sea salt (14%)
CaSO4 (14%)
Quite different results were obtained during the two S-rich (13%)
sampling campaigns. The major particle types iden-
8–20 mm Aluminosilicates (29%) Organic – low Z (21%)
tified by HCA in the indoor and outdoor aerosol Organic – low Z (14%) Fe-rich (20%)
samples collected in December 1996, are shown in
±20 mm Very low particle loading: Sea salt (30%)
Table 4. The relative abundances of the particle types results not representative Aluminosilicates (17%)
were averaged over the seven sampling periods of the Marine particles (13%)
winter campaign. It is clear that the smallest indoor Aged sea salt (11%)

155
Brimblecome, Blades, Camuffo, Sturaro, Valentino, Gysels, Van Grieken, Busse, Kim, Ulrych and Wieser

Table 5 The main particle types identified by HCA in the summer cates the existence of an indoor source. Combustion
campaign
products from the restaurant or the smoking area
Size range Major particle types (±10% relative abundance) might be responsible for the smaller indoor organic
Indoor Outdoor particles, while the larger ones could originate from
0.5–1 mm Fe-rich (25%) Sea salt (28%)
carpet or plant fragments (Owen et al., 1992). The mi-
Aluminosilicates (17%) Aged sea salt (12%) nor particles types encountered in the indoor winter
Sea salt (11%) Fe-rich (11%) samples all find their origin in the outdoor atmos-
S-rich (10%)
phere. The Fe- and Si-rich particles originate from soil
1–2 mm Sea salt (27%) Sea salt (38%) dust, or, for the smaller size range, combustion prod-
Si-S-Cl-Ca (12%) Aged sea salt (14%)
Aluminosilicates (11%) ucts (Van Malderen et al., 1993). S-coatings can be
formed on quartz particles (Anderson et al., 1996) re-
2–4 mm Si-S-Cl-Ca (27%) Sea salt (45%)
Aluminosilicates (16%) Aged sea salt (24%) sulting in Si-S particles, a process more likely to occur
Sea salt (14%) in misty weather conditions (Xhoffer et al., 1991). This
Ca-rich (10%)
explains the occurrence of this particle type during the
4–8 mm Si-S-Cl-Ca (30%) Sea salt (39%) winter sampling campaign, which was characterised
Aluminosilicates (18%) Aged sea salt (18%)
Sea salt (15%) by foggy weather. CaSO4 and Ca-rich particles can
Ca-rich (11%) both have a marine origin (Hoornaert et al., 1996).
8–20 mm Aluminosilicates (36%) Sea salt (59%) The average indoor and outdoor abundances of sea
Si-S-Cl-Ca (22%) Marine particles (17%) salt and aluminosilicates (0.5–20 mm) in the summer
Si-rich (12%)
samples are compared in Figure 13. The sea salt par-
±20 mm Si-rich (23%) Si-rich (34%) ticles do, of course, have an outdoor origin. The indoor
Aluminosilicates (17%) Aluminosilicates (13%)
Si-S-Cl-Ca (13%) P-S-K (12%)
abundance is lower but follows the outdoor trend. The

range, during the first three days of the sampling cam-

paign (August 3, 4 and 5, 1997). On the last day (Aug-
ust 6, 1997), the outdoor particle composition changed,
and became relatively variable as a function of particle
size. Sea salt and aged sea salt particles became less
important. Instead, aluminosilicates were detected in
every size range, along with Fe-rich particles in the
0.5–2 mm range and K-S and S-rich particles in the
smallest size range (0.5–1 mm). The largest particles (Ø4
mm) also contained significant amounts of P-K-rich
compounds (with some S and Cl).
The outdoor atmosphere appears to be an important Fig. 12 Relative abundances of low-Z elements in particles meas-
ured in the winter
source of indoor particles during the summer as well
as during the winter, especially for those in the small-
est size ranges, as can be expected because of their
higher mobility and lower deposition velocities (That-
cher and Layton, 1997). Figure 12 represents the indoor
and outdoor abundances of low-Z element and S-rich
particles averaged over all size ranges (0.5–20 mm) of
the seven winter samples. The indoor and outdoor
abundances of low-Z and S-rich particles follow a simi-
lar trend. These particles probably have an outdoor ori-
gin. The pure organic particles can be formed by com-
bustion processes, while NH4NO3, (NH4)2SO4 and
NH4HSO4 arise from oxidation of NOx and SO2, re-
spectively (Deacon et al., 1997). In the larger size
ranges the relative indoor abundance of organic par- Fig. 13 Relative abundances of sea-salt and aluminosilicates in
ticles was generally higher than outdoors. This indi- particles measured in the summer

156

aluminosilicates have a higher relative indoor abun-
dance, although this is a particle type of typical out-
door origin. Soil dust particles can be brought in by
visitors, trapped by the carpet and resuspended as
people walk on it. The Si-S-Cl-Ca particles encountered
in the summer indoor samples must have an indoor
source, as they were not identified in the outdoor
samples. To have a better view on their origin, X-ray
elemental mappings of 15 such particles were col-
lected. They consist primarily of coagulates of alumi-
nosilicates and Ca-rich particles or Ca-rich aluminosil-
icates. Small Fe-rich and Ti-rich particles and some-
times also CaSO4 and sea salt particles can be adsorbed
at the surface. However, in most cases, S and NaCl
seem to be present as a coating.
The different composition of the outdoor aerosol on
August 6th is only reflected in the smallest size range
(0.5–1 mm) of the indoor samples. Both the indoor and
outdoor samples contain numerous K-S particles,
which probably have a biological origin. The P-K-rich
particles identified in the larger size fraction of the out-
door samples might also be biological, but their pres-
ence can also be attributed to fertiliser products (Van
Borm et al., 1989). They were not encountered in the
corresponding indoor size ranges. It is unclear what
factors could be responsible for this phenomenon.
Particle Types Considered Harmful for the
Exhibited Works of Art
The following compounds can be considered threaten-
ing to the preservation of works of art. Organic ma-
terial, especially soot, can cause significant visual
degradation by soiling the surface (Baer and Banks,
1985) and it can constitute a medium for SO2 adsorp-
tion (Larson, 1957). CaSO4 can enhance these effects by
adsorption of soot (Leysen et al., 1987). (NH4)2SO4 and
S-rich material are threatening to the preservation of
paintings, because (NH4)2SO4 can induce bloom on
varnish (Brimblecombe, 1990) and oxidation of S-rich
particles to H2SO4 can cause discolouring of the paint
(Larson, 1957; De Santis et al., 1992). This process can
be catalysed by Fe-rich particles (Thomson, 1965). The
contribution of the potentially harmful particle types
(organic, S-rich, CaSO4, Fe-rich) to the indoor aerosol
in the 0.5–1 mm and 1–2 mm size ranges is shown in
Figure 14a–b, for the winter and summer campaign re-
spectively. For these size ranges, the deposition flux
can be considered a maximum (Camuffo et al., 1998).
It is clear that especially in the winter, the majority of
the identified particle types can be considered as po-
tentially threatening to the conservation of the works
of art. However, it should be noted that these are rela-
tive abundances. Absolute concentrations of these par-
The Indoor Environment of a Modern Museum Building
Fig. 14 Abundances of sulfur- and iron-rich and low-Z particles,
in the 0.5 and 1.0 mm size ranges; (a) winter (top); and (b) summer
(bottom) sampling campaigns
ticle types cannot be obtained from the SEM-EDX re-
sults.
Dry Deposition
On all the filters positioned inside the museum to
measure dry deposition, S was found to be the main
detectable element, while Cl, K, Ca and Fe were iden-
tified as minor elements by EDXRF. These results are
consistent with those of the aerosol analyses. The major
elements identified in three typical indoor as well as
the outdoor samples are shown in Figure 15a. Concen-
trations were averaged over the three filters attached
next to each other at every site. Outdoor dry depo-
sition was ten-fold higher than indoor. The elements
detected in the outdoor samples probably result from
impacted soil dust and sea salt particles. The results
for filters attached to the display panels near the floor
and near the panel top were comparable, as well as the
deposition measured on the Mezzanine. The results for
the three display cases are shown in Figure 15b. The
dry deposition, especially of S-containing particles was
up to 100 times lower than out of the cases.
Some representative filters were also analysed by
manual SEM-EDX analysis. On every filter, over 50
spectra of individual particles were collected. Organic
particles, aluminosilicates, Ca-rich, Fe-rich and K-Cl-
containing particles could be identified in every
sample. Some S-rich particles – mostly with a fibrous
or spongy appearance – were also detected, but not to
the same extent as by EDXRF. The sample positioned
157
Brimblecome, Blades, Camuffo, Sturaro, Valentino, Gysels, Van Grieken, Busse, Kim, Ulrych and Wieser
Fig. 15 Major element composition of particles collected on the
dry deposition filters: (a) Living Area, (b) display cases
near the floor contained most fibres and aluminosil-
icates, originating from resuspension of soil dust and
carpet material. Significantly fewer aluminosilicates,
but more organic, K-Cl and Si-metal (Fe, Cr, Ni) par-
ticles were detected on the filter positioned on the
Mezzanine. The filters from the display cases con-
tained mostly aluminosilicates, organic and Si-rich par-
ticles. It should be mentioned that these filters were
placed in a horizontal position, leading to a higher de-
position, due to gravitational settling of large particles
than on the filters positioned vertically against the dis-
play panels. On the other hand, the absence of air
movements and inertial impaction also causes less de-
position of large particles.
Microbiology
Airborne bacteria were collected utilising a Biotest Hy-
con Air Sampler RCS Plus (Biotest Ag, Dreieich, Ger-
many). A defined volume of air was pumped through
the sampler and the bacteria it contains sedimented to
a solid growth medium consisting of agar stripes.
These stripes were incubated at room temperature for
158
2–3 days, which was sufficient time for single bacteria
to grow into colonies. Single colonies were visible to
the naked eye, and were counted to determine the orig-
inal number of bacteria collected. On two separate
days, 100- and 500-litre air samples were taken inside
and outside the museum. Bacteria were collected on
casein minimal medium (CAS MM; Altenburger et al.,
1996), total count (TC) and fungus agar (Table 6). These
two media, which were directed to growth of bacteria,
were supplemented with cyclohexamide to reduce
fungal growth. The sampling strips were incubated at
room temperature, unless indicated otherwise. Fatty
acids were extracted and their methyl esters quantified
using gas chromatography (Osterhout et al., 1991). The
data were processed using Euclidean distance calcu-
lations and clustered according to Ward’s algorithm.
Table 6 shows the bacterial counts resulting from col-
ony forming units (cfu) on the agar strips. The mi-
crobial load obtained on caseine mineral medium agar
was higher than that obtained from commercial total
count agar (TC), an observation that was also made
during the evaluation of the Venice sampling (Camuffo
et al., forthcoming). The bacterial count outside the
SCVA during the summer was generally higher than
in winter (over 300 cfu from 500 L compared to 16/32
cfu in the winter count). During summer, the fungal
load outside the museum was determined to be signifi-
cantly higher than inside the museum, with over 300/
139 colonies on the 500 L sampling strip, compared to
9/11 colonies obtained inside (Table 6). This obser-
vation can be explained by the air filter system in the
museum which is able to trap fungal spores and my-
celia from the indoor air supply. Since the counts of
bacteria indoor and outdoor were in the same range it
can be assumed that the bacteria can pass the filter sys-
tem unhindered due to their smaller size. No signifi-
cant changes in the counts of fungi where obtained
during indoor winter and summer sampling.
The number of bacteria collected outside the mu-
seum in winter was somewhat lower than the number
obtained indoors. In comparison to the number of cfu
obtained from 100 L of air, the number of cfu from 500
L was lower than the sampling volume can account for.
This methodological feature can easily be explained,
though. A higher density of cfu on the 500 L strips
may lead to an overlap of colonies, resulting in single
colonies that are composed of two or more different
bacterial strains and an underestimation of the bac-
terial counts.
For both CAS MM and TC medium, more cfu were
obtained from sampling runs made inside the museum
than outside, after incubation at 37æC. This indicates
that a significant number of these isolates may have
 The Indoor Environment of a Modern Museum Building

Table 6 Bacteria and fungi collected during the summer and winter campaign in Norwich expressed in colony forming units (CFU)
per m3 air sampled

Medium Sampling location Air volume CFU/m3 CFU/m3 CFU/m3 CFU/m3

sampled winter (8.12.96) winter (10.12.96) summer (3.8.97) summer (5.8.97)
CAS MM1 Inside 100 L 830 190 720 500
500 L 160 306 ±600 258
500 L3 ND ND 716 ND
Outside 100 L 30 250 1120 530
500 L 32 64 ±600 ±600
500 L3 ND ND 42 ND
TC2 Inside 100 L 240 120 790 200
500 L 114 184 464 84
500 L3 110 78 220 ND
Outside 100 L ND ND 660 110
500 L ND ND 356 198
500 L3 ND ND 100 ND
Fungus4 Inside 100 L 20 0 60 20
500 L 7 26 18 22
14
Outside 100 L ND ND 510 140
500 L ND ND ±600 278
1
Caseine mineral agar
2
Total count agar
3
Incubation temperature 37æC
4
Commercial Fungus medium

Table 7 Grouping of bacterial isolates into major lines of descent according to their fatty acid profiles and distribution of some
phenotypic characteristics during the two seasons

Bacterial groups Season Counts Pigmentation1 Degradation of

Casein Tween 80
Gram-negatives
Proteobacteria Summer 17 8 3 12
Winter 4 2 1 2
Flavobacteria and relatives Summer 3 3 2 2
Winter 1 1 1 0
Gram-positives
Actinobacteria/Bacillus Summer 38 26 25 17
Winter 18 11 4 3
Staphylococcus Summer 4 0 2 4
Winter 1 0 1 1
1
Only those isolates are mentioned which had a yellow, orange or red pigmentation indicating resistance of organisms to sunlight
exposure

derived from visitors to the museum, because they
grow well at human body temperature.
Isolates from both campaigns could be divided into
several main clusters on the basis of their fatty acid
composition (results not shown). Fatty acid analysis of
the airborne isolates and comparison with reference or-
ganisms demonstrated that the majority of strains be-
long to the Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria (Table 7).
Clusters harbouring members of the class Actinobacter-
ia were identified by the predominance of branched
fatty acids and/or the presence of tuberculostearic
acid. Assignment to the class Proteobacteria was ob-
tained by the presence of hydroxy fatty acids and the
predominance of unbranched fatty acids. Due to the
similarity in the fatty acid profiles, Bacillus strains
could not be distinguished from the Actinobacteria.
However, microscopical investigations of the cell mor-
phology and spore-forming ability indicated that only
one Bacillus isolate was collected during the summer
campaign whereas three Bacillus strains were identified
from the winter sampling. This observation is surpris-
ing since bacilli are considered to be highly resistant to
excication stress to which airborne bacteria are gener-
ally subjected (Al-Dagal and Fung, 1990). The counts
of Staphylococcus isolates (Table 7) might be misleading
since the conditions for cultivation of staphylococci

159
Brimblecome, Blades, Camuffo, Sturaro, Valentino, Gysels, Van Grieken, Busse, Kim, Ulrych and Wieser
(nutrient-poor growth medium and incubation at room
temperature) were not suitable. Staphylococci are com-
mensal colonisers of the human skin and can be con-
sidered as being introduced to the air by visitors to the
museum. Only a minority of isolates were assigned to
the Flavobacteria and their relatives. This observation
is in agreement with the finding that Gram-negative
bacteria (Al-Dagal and Fung, 1990) such as Flavobacter-
ia survive for a shorter time in the air than Gram-posi-
tive bacteria, such as Actinobacteria and Bacillus which
are protected from excication and collection stress due
to their thick cell wall.
During the summer campaign the portion of air-
borne Proteobacteria from the total count was signifi-
cantly higher than in winter. This observation can not
be explained since the airborne bacteria collected out-
door have not been characterised and thus we do not
know whether the reasons for this disproportion is re-
lated to the indoor or outdoor environment. However,
it might be related to the higher relative humidity
which were measured during the summer and which
helps bacteria to survive in the air (Stetzenbach, 1992).
Approximately 50% of the Proteobacteria and 70% of the
Actinobacteria were shown to be pigmented. Yellow, or-
ange or red pigmentation is known to protect bacteria
from sunlight exposure (Stetzenbach, 1992). Thus,
these isolates can be considered as typical airborne bac-
teria which are protected from the sunlight by the pro-
duction of carotenoid pigments. A high proportion of
strains were shown to degrade caseine protein and/or
tween 80 oil (Table 7). This suggests that these strains
may be damaging to organic materials containing pro-
teins or oils.
More detailed characterisation, including molecular
biological, chemotaxonomic and biochemical analyses
(Busse et al., 1996), were made on airborne bacterial
strains isolated from a 100-L strip each from the winter
campaign and summer campaign. Based on these data,
isolates from the winter campaign were identified as
members of the genera Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Brachyb-
acterium, Corynebacterium/Caseobacter, Kocuria, Brevibac-
terium, Curtobacterium, Cellulomonas, Terrabacter, Flavob-
acterium, Nocardioides, Sphingomonas, Agromyces, Va-
riovorax, Acinetobacter and Aeromicrobium. The isolates
from the summer campaign were found to be related
to the genera Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Kocuria, Ra-
thayibacter, Terrabacter, Bacillus, Nocardioides, and Flavob-
acterium or they were shown to represent taxa which
have not been described so far. The majority of species
of these genera are described as inhabitants of soil and
plant material. Soil inhabitants might be transferred to-
gether with soil particles by visitors from outside into
the museum or resuspended from the carpet. It might
160
be also possible that these bacteria become suspended
to the air from the soil in which the trees in the gallery
are growing. The soil inhabitant Agromyces (Zgurskaya
et al., 1992) and the plant coloniser Rathayibacter (Zgur-
skaya et al., 1993) are known to utilise cellobiose which
is a degradation product of cellulose and/or starch
both deriving from plants.
Numerous representatives of the genus Flexibacter
hydrolyse starch and carboxymethyl cellulose (Bernar-
det and Grimont, 1989). Therefore, our Flexibacter-re-
lated airborne isolate might be able to degrade plant
material. The representatives of the plant-colonising
genus Nocardioides and the soil-inhabiting genus Terrab-
acter could have derived from the trees growing in the
gallery or the soil in which the trees are growing,
rather than being carried in from outside, since they
occur in both summer and winter. Probably, these iso-
lates have their ecological niche within the museum,
which could also be a distinct area on an exhibit. All
these isolates are potentially dangerous for the exhibits
due to their physiological properties, and when their
growth is favoured by environmental conditions such
as high humidity and temperature. The remaining
taxa, such as Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Brevibacteri-
um, Sphingomonas and Acinetobacter, are well known as
inhabitants of the human skin, and can be considered
to be typical airborne bacteria. Thus, it is most likely
that the source of these bacteria is not within the mu-
seum itself and do not indicate any potential for dam-
age to the arts of works.
Discussion
Here we attempt to evaluate the impact of construction
materials and the open plan interior on the environ-
ment and conservation issues.
A combination of features – the large glass area, the
non-porous surfaces of walls and ceiling, and the low
thermal mass of the building fabric – have combined
to produce a climate subject to rapid, excessive fluctu-
ations in relative humidity and temperature in the
summer months. In the winter campaign, when there
was virtually no direct sunlight, the daily temperature
variation was only 1.5æC; this contrasts with the 9æC
variation observed in the summer.
In the summer campaign, the gallery interior was
notably warmer than the outside, because the gallery
behaves like a greenhouse. The south-facing glass end-
wall was fitted with a Venetian blind, but because this
was on the inside of the glass, the light energy ab-
sorbed by the blind was transformed into heat, warm-
ing the gallery. The sun’s rays also warmed other parts
of the building, which lacking thermal mass heated

quickly giving a diurnal temperature excursion of 9æC
in both the Special Exhibition and the Living Area –
almost the same diurnal variation as observed outside.
At night the glass ceiling panels cooled rapidly, so
that condensation formed on them, although because
they are horizontal, droplets did not coalesce, and fall
as indoor rain.
As a consequence of the temperature variations,
large fluctuations in relative humidity (between 30 and
70%) occurred while the specific humidity remained
constant. This fluctuation was almost as large as that
which occurred externally. There is no evidence of hu-
midity buffering, perhaps because of the non-porous
materials from which the gallery is constructed.
The plan and vertical profile climatic measurements
showed the air in the building to be reasonably well
mixed. Spot measurements of RH and SH showed little
spatial variation throughout the gallery. The vertical
temperature distribution showed modest gradients of,
at the most, 1.5æC over the 4 m total height of the pro-
file. The gradients were associated with a cold floor-
based air layer in winter and warmer air close to the
ceiling in summer; they are probably irrelevant for con-
servation in the SCVA. The mixing may in a large part
arise from the turbulence generated by the side-wall
fans. This effect may be beneficial from the point of
view of circulating the air for human comfort, but dis-
perses gases and may redistribute particles through the
gallery and potentially alter their deposition velocity.
The ventilation could be improved by reorienting the
fans, which at present randomly directed, so that in the
summer, for instance, they direct warmer air down-
wards, and in the winter, cooler air, upwards.
Nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sul-
fide all followed typical patterns seen in more tra-
ditionally constructed museums (Leissner et al., 1997),
consistent with them having, apart from nitrogen diox-
ide, only external sources. The nitrogen dioxide was
slightly lower inside than outside, for most of the year
(an important exception to this will be discussed be-
low). Sulfur dioxide fell from a low external concen-
tration to a negligible once inside. Hydrogen sulfide,
only detected in the winter campaign was at approxi-
mately the same concentration inside the gallery as
outside. The behaviour of these gases reflects their dif-
fering reactivities: sulfur dioxide is more readily con-
sumed by reaction at surfaces inside the museum than
is nitrogen dioxide, while hydrogen sulfide is much
less reactive to most surfaces than either of these gases.
It is hard to attribute any characteristics of these pol-
lution measurements to factors in the SCVA’s design,
apart from summer concentrations of nitrogen dioxide.
The increase in internal nitrogen dioxide concen-
The Indoor Environment of a Modern Museum Building
trations above the external values, during the summer
months may be explained by the gallery’s open plan
layout, the air chemistry of nitrogen dioxide, and the
SCVA having high internal ozone concentrations (Dav-
ies et al., 1984). The amount of nitrogen dioxide in the
daytime atmosphere may be expressed in terms of a
pseudo-equilibrium reaction
NOπO3 Ò NO2 π O2
The forward reaction is favoured by high ozone con-
centrations, as occur in summer, whereas the reverse
reaction is driven by sunlight, which is also at its
highest in summer. However, inside the gallery the
light intensities are kept low, by the use of shutters and
blinds, and the glass windows will filter out some of
the shorter (UV) wavelengths. This will tend to de-
crease the rate of the reverse reaction. From previous
work at the Sainsbury Centre (Davies et al., 1984) it is
known that the building tends to have relatively high
ozone concentrations that approach those outdoors (in-
door/outdoor ratio about 0.7). So, indoors the rate of
the forward reaction is only slightly decreased, and
overall reaction equilibrium is shifted to the right. This
could then lead to a situation where the internal nitro-
gen dioxide concentration exceeds the external, al-
though there is no primary internal source.
This observation does not seem to have been made
for other buildings, and we believe it to be a product
of the unusual design of the Sainsbury Centre. As sum-
mer turns into autumn and winter, there is less light
to cause the breakdown of nitrogen dioxide externally,
ozone concentration is low and climate conditions are
not so effective at dispersing nitrogen dioxide. This
leads to a higher nitrogen dioxide concentration in the
external environment. Therefore it might be expected
that the ratio will change from higher indoor back to
higher outdoor. Monthly nitrogen dioxide measure-
Fig. 16 Average monthly indoor and outdoor nitrogen dioxide
concentrations. Each is the average of three tube exposures at an
indoor site in the north corner of the Living Area and an outdoor
site at the south-west end of the building
161
Brimblecome, Blades, Camuffo, Sturaro, Valentino, Gysels, Van Grieken, Busse, Kim, Ulrych and Wieser
ments were continued from July onwards, and are
shown in Figure 16. It can be seen that the high interior
concentrations persist until the October-November
measurements, when the ratio once again drops below
unity.
The effects of the SCVA design are clearly reflected
in the results of the particulate matter analysis. Most
notably, the single particle analysis shows there to be
few particles derived from the interior construction
materials, Thus, compared with a conventional mu-
seum building, the SCVA yields few plaster particles.
This was reflected in the sulfur concentration (assumed
to be present as sulphate), which at its highest in win-
ter, was 1.2 mg/m3 at the SCVA, compared with 2.9 mg/
m3 at the more traditionally constructed Correr Mu-
seum in Venice, although it is possible that some may
represent the absence of an industrial contribution
from the vicinity of SCVA. In the modern interior, par-
ticles tend to be derived from the external atmosphere,
whereas at the Correr there was a large contribution
from interior plaster particles.
Organic and S-rich particles were mainly identified
in the interior during the winter, while in summer, the
indoor aerosol consists predominantly of sea salt, alu-
minosilicates (soil dust) and large heterogeneous Si-S-
Cl-Ca particles, resulting from coagulation. Unfortu-
nately, the absolute indoor/outdoor ratio cannot be de-
termined as the single particle analysis only reveals
relative concentrations.
The comparatively high indoor abundances of ele-
ments with low atomic number (typically organic aero-
sols) suggests indoor sources, possibly cooking in the
restaurant and cafeteria area, which are not clearly sep-
arated from the Living Area; the trees and resuspen-
sion from the carpet. Plants however, can also act as a
sink for particulate matter (Lohr and Pearson-Mims,
1996). Large particles, especially soil dust, can be
trapped by the carpet and later resuspended by human
activity, so it too can be both a source and a sink. Depo-
sition gauges at floor level (circa 10 cm) showed a
greater flux of large particles to surfaces than those at
the height of typical museum displays (±1 m).
The deposition gauges showed that indoor sulfur
dry deposition was 10% of the external, and in the dis-
play cases, deposition was only 1% of that to the gal-
lery walls. As most objects in the gallery are in cases,
or at a height greater than 1 m, it would seem that they
are very well protected from particle deposition. In the
winter potentially damaging particles (organic, S-rich,
Fe-rich and CaSO4) are at their highest outdoors. Al-
though their relative indoor abundances were also
highest in the winter, the absolute concentrations of the
S- and Fe-rich particles (1.2 mg/m3 S; 0.06 mg/m3 Fe)
162
were low, in comparison with other indoor environ-
ments. Unfortunately, absolute concentrations of or-
ganic particles cannot be obtained from the EDXRF re-
sults.
Fungal concentrations appear to be lower in the gal-
lery than outdoors, so the problems of fungal growth
are diminished.
The results from the collection of airborne bacteria
in the SCVA clearly demonstrate that the counts of bac-
teria are much higher in summer than in winter. Dur-
ing the summer, the counts of bacteria collected indoor
were in the same range as those collected from out-
door. This is most likely related to the exchange of the
indoor air with that from outdoor. In contrast, in the
winter, the indoor counts of bacteria collected were sig-
nificantly higher than those outdoor, where growth is
severely limited by low temperatures. Thus, the source
of the majority of bacteria collected during the winter
sampling campaign may be the indoor environment of
the museum, where most likely bacterial growth is tak-
ing place in the warm gallery interior. This assumption
is supported by the fact that during wintertime there
is less direct exchange of air between the museum and
outdoors. Therefore, it can be assumed that the most
probable location for bacterial growth, as indicated by
the presence of plant-colonising taxa and soil bacteria,
is perhaps the growing trees in the coffee area. These
bacteria can potentially damage museum objects, as
they are capable of degrading plant material by action
of cellulase and starch hydrolysing enzymes. They
could damage cellulose-rich materials such as canvas.
Under normal conditions bacteria would be unable to
grow on the dry surface of paintings, although one
could postulate extreme environmental conditions
where they could grow and cause biodecay on the
works of arts.
Conclusions
This study considers how the design of SCVA (and by
implication other modern buildings of similar design)
fulfils the requirements of preventive conservation. A
number of drawbacks have been highlighted. Perhaps
the most serious of these is the inability to provide a
stable climate in the summer months. This conclusion
coincides with the experience of the conservation staff
of the museum, who have long experience of the
building.
The large air volume of the gallery and its attendant
high ozone concentration, promoted a shift in the ni-
trogen oxide photochemical equilibrium. It meant that
interior nitrogen dioxide concentrations exceeded
those outside in the summer. At sites more polluted

than Norwich, higher short-term nitrogen dioxide
could be generated with this building design. Other
pollutants behaved as they would in more traditional
buildings (indeed as nitrogen dioxide did in the win-
ter), so rather surprisingly the open-plan design did
not appear more susceptible to exterior air pollutants
than a traditional galleried museum.
The particle data showed that the internal particu-
late matter composition largely followed the external
composition. The non-friable walls do not contribute
significantly to the inorganic particulate load, although
there may be internal sources of organic particles. The
microbiological data showed, in the summer, that the
main source of bacteria in the gallery was the external
environment, although in the winter internal sources,
probably the growing trees were evident. There was
some evidence that the carpet might act as a reservoir
for particles. However, the gallery particle concen-
trations were still low and most objects are in display
cases and at a height of at least 1 m from the floor, and
thus protected from resuspended particles. There was
no evidence of particle or bacterial damage in the gal-
lery, so these factors are probably of low conservation
concern.
Acknowledgement
We would like to acknowledge DG XII of the European
Commission for supporting this work under the AER
programme: contract number ‘‘ENV4-CT95-0088’’.
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