Editorial. Remarkable historic timber roofs. Knowledge and conservation practice. Part 1 - Construction history and survey of historic timber roofs

This special issue has the ambitious goal of helping to outline the current international panorama of research on historic timber roof structures, especially those with DOI: 10.30682/tema08SIm great span or peculiar technical relevance. The collection of papers is divided into two volumes: the first is focused on the history of timber roof construction, and the second is on the investigation, analysis, and intervention for roof preservation. This introductory contribution is written to comment on construction history. The studies are developed by researchers from different countries and disciplines. Some declare in their career to work in the field of Construction History; others belong to other sectors such as Historic Building Conservation, Building Survey, or Historic Building Structures. As it is well known, in the Italian academic context, the distinction between sectors in the field of civil engineering and architecture (ICAR) is relevant, and it favors the isolation of research and discourages the integration of different working methods. As mentioned on the website of the Construction History Society, “Construction history is not blind to the importance of conservation and repair work, but it is focused on establishing and studying the history of building construction and not on how buildings should be repaired”. In any case, understanding construction history is vital for all those involved in the maintenance and repair of historic structures. Therefore, the first aim of this collection is to fill the gap among different methodologies and approaches.