Remotely monitoring buildings and facilities to preserve priceless artifacts

The Roald Amundsen House

The life and story of pioneering Polar explorer Roald Amundsen is a considerable part of Norway’s history. His house, “Uranienborg ,” still stands as he left it in 1928 when he departed on a fateful rescue mission to the Arctic. Located by the Oslo fjord at Svartskog, 20 minutes south of Oslo, the building contains many items of historical and cultural significance, including maps, charts, notes from his missions, letters, and artwork.

Preserving the building and its contents poses a challenge, especially given the property is unoccupied for much of the year, including the winter months. How does a small team look after a house that’s stood untouched for nearly 100 years?

This blog post will explore the challenges of conserving this living piece of history and how Airthings for Business devices, like the Space Nano , can help remotely monitor and help preserve unoccupied ?but important spaces.

The Challenge: A need for remote building and facilities monitoringnbsp;

The team at Follo Museum took over the care of Amundsen’s house in 2003. Preserving the home and its contents so they remain as they were left by Amundsen is one of the team’s primary objectives.

Uranienborg is only open to the public during the summer months and is unoccupied for the rest of the year, aside from specially arranged tours. There are no heat or power sources in the house for security and safety reasons, so maintaining precise conditions, such as optimum ventilation, are critical for preventing problems like dampness or mold growth.

Aside from being a home, Uranienborg also acted as Amundsen’s expedition-planning HQ, from which he launched some of his most significant expeditions, including the conquest of the South Pole in 1911, sailing through the Northeast Passage between 1918- 1925 and the first flight over the North Pole in 1926. Amundsen also stored much of his exploration equipment in the house’s outbuildings.

The team at Follo Museum, led by Truls Erik Johnsen , Director at Follo Museum and the Roald Amundsen home, is based in Dr?bak, a 30-minute drive away from Oslo, Norway’s capital. The house is checked once a week outside of the summer months, meaning the ability to monitor the building’s interior remotely is critical for helping to protect the building’s structure and keeping its contents safe.?

The Solution: Facilities and building management with IoT remote monitoring

Truls realized monitoring and tracking data over time was extremely useful in determining whether action was needed to maintain optimum conditions for the building and Amundsen’s possessions. He explains:

“The house is full of treasures reflecting Amundsen’s life and pioneering expeditions. There is also a huge complexity regarding the materials here; they include leather, paper, silk, and other fabrics. We can’t monitor all these things individually so monitoring the air quality is a proxy to monitoring these contents.” Truls Erik Johnsen, Director at Follo Museum

After installing Airthings for Business devices in 2022, Truls and his team have benefited from IoT remote monitoring over the last year to support their work in maintaining the building. From their office in Dr?bak, the team can track indoor air quality (IAQ), continuously measuring humidity, temperature, and mold risk via the Airthings for Business Dashboard .?

“With the Dashboard, we can see all our data in one place. This functionality allows us to spot trends over time and identify potential problems quickly. It also means that we don’t need to spend time gathering the data from various sources and then spending time compiling it. We can see everything down to the minute, which is very powerful.”?

Building monitoring to track conditions across the entire building

The ability to monitor conditions across the house’s three levels, especially as the house is unoccupied for most of the year, became critical in the summer of 2023 when heavy rainfall caused the house’s basement to flood. After temporarily installing driers, Truls and his team could track humidity levels across the rest of the house and determine whether further issues needed addressing due to the water-filled basement.?

Devices like the Space Nano are ideal for monitoring buildings like the Amundsen house. The long battery life and resilient, powerful nature of the IP64-rated Space Nano means that it can be relied on to measure conditions within the property, regardless of temperature or humidity. Space Nano’s compact size and wireless capability are also ideal for museums; the device can discreetly monitor spaces across the building without visible wires or an internet connection.

Truls comments:

“The house doesn’t have any additional insulation, so placing Airthings devices exactly where we need to monitor particular conditions is very important. The fact that the devices are wireless also means we can discreetly monitor parts of the building that we never could before.”?

Why is remote building monitoring so crucial for a museum?

Using IoT remote sensors, like Airthings for Business devices, to monitor the climate and conditions of the unoccupied building is crucial for keeping Amundsen’s belongings safe for future generations. Remotely monitoring the building also provides extra peace of mind, helping the team save valuable time and resources they would otherwise spend traveling to check the property every few days.?

Aside from helping to monitor the day-to-day conditions of Amundsen’s house remotely, data from Airthings for Business devices has also played another equally important role.?

Truls explains:

“Certified, well-documented data is vital for us when applying for funding. A subjective, visual assessment of the building is not enough. We need hard data collected over time to demonstrate the conditions. Data from the Airthings for Business devices gathered over the last year recently helped secure an additional 1 million NOK from the Norwegian state to help preserve the house for the coming year. We also received confirmation that we’ll receive similar funding allocations in the future state budgets.”

The house is now closed for the colder winter months but will reopen again in May 2024. Amundsen’s home has stood just as he left it for nearly 100 years. Airthings for Business is happy to play a small part in helping to keep the house and Amundsen’s belongings safe for the next 100.?

Watch Space Nano in action and get a glimpse into Amunden’s home in our Roald Amundsen x Airthings video .

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Learn more about Space Nano and how it can help protect your unoccupied buildings or spaces at: https://www.airthings.com/business/space-nano