Correction of Pattern of Subsidence and Structural Rehabilitation of the Old San Agustín Temple in Mexico City

Abstract

This paper deals with the major rehabilitation of an important historic building, which had suffered heavy damage due to the great subsidence it had experienced since its origin to the present day. The first phase of the rehabilitation consisted in several campaigns of selective stiffening of the most deformable layers of the subsoil in order to decrease and, above all, to make more uniform, the subsidence of both the main temple and its adjacent chapel. Subsequently, the structure and its foundations were retrofitted to correct the damages and restore the integrity of the original building, as well as to make it less sensitive to future subsidence. To do this, the two bodies of the building were separated by creating a construction joint between them, because the sinking patterns of the two parts were incompatible. In the paper, emphasis is placed on the interpretation of the results of monitoring the behavior of the two buildings throughout the different phases of the intervention, as well as after its completion, especially concerning the correction of their sinking patterns.