The 2nd International Conference on Historic Earthquake-Resistant Timber Frames in the Mediterranean Area H.Ea.R.T 2015 took place at LNEC, in Lisbon, from 2 to 4 December 2015.

H.Ea.R.T.2015 was a very fruitful conference. There were 50 participants from 10 countries of 4 continents, 40 presentations and a lot of discussion. The Final Program and Book of Abstracts may be downloaded here.
Springer accepted to publish the Full Papers of H.Ea.R.T.2015. More information will be posted when the publication is available.

Discussion during the Conference highlighted the need to include in the work of CEN/TC250/WG2 (Revision of Structural Eurocodes) clauses concerning the safety assessment of existing timber structures and of timber-masonry walls, applicable to heritage buildings. The conference also highlighted the need for an improvement of the cooperation between engineers and architects and a promotion of actions aimed at involving other Mediterranean countries (Lebanon, Morocco etc.).

A future project is the establishment of a network aimed at discussing principles regarding the strengthening and conservation of timber framed structures, including both technological and theoretical principles.
Five main typologies stand out from the conference contributions: gaiola (timber frames with masonry infill); borbone system (masonry reinforced with timber frames); lefkas (masonry and timber frames); lacing masonry (byzantine examples masonry reinforced with timbers); timber frames with timbers or lath infill (bagdadi). These constructive systems have many behaviour differences both under seismic actions and gravitational loads.

More information may be found on the following website made after H.Ea.R.T.2013:
http://historictimberframesinseismiczones.blogspot.it/

The 3rd H.Ea.R.T. will be organized by The University of Athens and the University of Cyprus, foreseeably during the Spring of 2018.