The Materials Conservation Laboratory (MCL) of the Department of Architecture, Middle East Technical University, was established in 1967, as an educational and research laboratory in the newly established “Department of Restoration”, a graduate program for the architects for the preservation of the architectural heritage. The laboratory has served as a teaching and research unit in charge of materials studies for the conservation of cultural heritage. It is the most important center in Turkey for the development of scientific conservation studies and improvement of conservation practice. MCL aims at diagnostic analyses of historic structures and materials for the active decay factors and sources, development of conservation treatments, selection and preparation of compatible repair materials, and the establishment of maintenance and monitoring programs for historic structures. MCL has more than thirty years of experience on site and laboratory investigations of historic structures in Turkey. It has been the task of the laboratory to study technological properties of historic building materials and their problems for the purpose of their conservation.

In autumn 2003, the “Graduate Program in Restoration” started to accept science and engineering students to Ph D. program. Starting from 2007-2008 Fall Semester, The Graduate Program in Restoration accepts graduates of four year bachelor’s degree programs in all disciplines. At present, four PhD theses research and five master’s theses research are going on in MCL.

Materials Conservation Laboratory of METU is a teaching, research and project unit for the conservation of architectural heritage focusing on the diagnosis of deterioration, definition of buildings' systems such as rainwater drainage; technological, compatibility, durability characteristics of historic building materials; repair materials; non-destructive techniques in diagnosis, monitoring and maintenance studies of historic structures; setting up databank on historic materials conservation.

Historic building materials; stone conservation; deterioration; diagnosis; technological characteristics; mortar; mudbrick; brick; plaster, tile; compatibility; durability; non-destructive testing; consolidation.

Teaching activities include theoretical and laboratory courses for the Graduate Programs in Restoration and Archaeometry.

Research activities involve:

- Diagnostic Analyses of historic materials problems in building and materials scale,

- Developments in Non-Destructive Analyses of materials and functional systems of historic structure by QIRT (Quantitative IR Thermography) and UPV (Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity) studies: distribution, depth and degree of weathering in materials, examination of rainwater drainage system, heat insulation and microclimatic characteristics of structure,

- Analyses of technological characteristics of historic building materials,

- Development of repair materials for historic structures, i.e., mortars, plasters,

- Development of new methods for stone conservation,

- Efforts to form a Data Bank for Materials Research of historic structures,

- Development of monitoring and periodical maintenance programs for historic structures,

- Building up multidisciplinary studies on important issues of architectural heritage conservation.

Advisory activities: Materials Conservation Laboratory takes part in the planning of some conservation activities conducted by Ministry of Culture: General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, Anıt Kabir Museum, General Directorate of Pious Foundations, and private conservation firms.

Cooperative activities with governmental institutions: MCL works in collaboration with Ministry of Culture, General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums to develop some interdisciplinary conservation projects, such as “Temple of August Conservation Project”. A goal of the MCL is to increase scientific conservation activities in Turkey and act as a nucleus for the development of other regional laboratories.

Cooperative activities with NGOs: MCL works in collaboration with KORDER to improve conservation practice in Turkey. KORDER (Conservation and Restoration Specialists Association) was established in 1998, KOREFD (Association of Conservation Contractors).

International relationships: MCL tries to follow international developments in the field of materials conservation by attending international symposiums and workshops, organizing scientific meetings, publishing papers and performing cooperative research and training with many European countries as well as United States, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Iran, Pakistan, Mongolia.

undergraduate course:

Arch 457 Introduction to Deterioration and Conservation (3-2)4
Introduction to the characteristics, causes of deterioration and conservation techniques of historic building materials (preparatory course for MSc. in Restoration)

graduate courses:

Rest 509 Workshop in Conservation (3-6)6
Second part of Workshop in Conservation I. Study of historical, architectural, structural and material characteristics of individual historic building(s) together with its physical context in order to achieve a comprehensive understanding of its values, problems, potentials as a part of an interdisciplinary conservation process. Documentation, assessment, preparation of conservation proposals focusing on the students' own expertise and their presentation in a visual and written format.

Rest 555 The Diagnosis and Treatment of Material Decay in Historic structures (3-0)3
The properties of historic building materials, the problems of deterioration, the faults likely to develop in the fabric of buildings, remedial techniques of conservation and restoration that can be employed.

Rest 558 Laboratory Experiments in Conservation Science (1-4)3
The use of laboratory facilities in the analysis and treatment, showing how a project of laboratory research is carried out and guiding a student in a conservation research project of his/her own.

Rest 685 Conservation of Materials 1 (3-0)3
Newly developed techniques related to specific problems of material deterioration and remedies for them.

Rest 686 Conservation of Materials 2 (3-0)3
Advances in conservation of some specific historic materials by the evaluation and discussion of recent research papers on several topics.

Rest 702 Laboratory in Repairs and Conservation of Historic Materials (1-4)3
This course introduces the use of laboratory facilities, in situ tests and measurements which will lead to an understanding of properties and behaviour of traditional building materials as well as the diagnosis of active decay factors in the context of a conservation research project.

Arme 540 Conservation and Restoration of Archaeological Objects (2-2)3
Decay of archaeological material in soil and in exposed environment. Principles and some techniques of conservation. Possible interference problems in archaeometry due to cınservation.

Arme 541 Archaeological Materials and Their Properties (3-0)3
Basic nature of archaeological materials, their properties and behaviour. Modification of properties through changes in microstructure.

Thesis Supervision
Supervision of M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses in chemistry, restoration and archaeometry graduate programs concerning historic buildings' physical and materials problems, historic building materials' properties, technology and conservation.