Italian Renaissance-style architecture distinguishes the campus grounds as one of the University’s outstanding aesthetic features. But many campus buildings show signs of age from more than 80 years of wear.University attendants are constantly challenged with maintenance issues including breaking floors and white lines across campus’s many tan stucco walls caused by settling structures.All buildings move over time, and the damage from this movement depends on the quality of the architecture, soil and the funds available to maintain the structures.Completed in 1978, Patrick F. Taylor Hall, formerly CEBA, provides one of the most poignant examples of cosmetic deterioration on campus.Paul Favaloro, Office of Facility Services director of facility resources, said Patrick F. Taylor Hall was built without structural expansion joints. Favaloro said the walls and brick floors of Patrick F. Taylor Hall were laid in a solid slab without rubber joints to control movement, causing the floor to bubble and crack over time.As Facility Services repairs those bubbles, Favaloro said rubber joints are added along with new brick pavers. He said repairs are made as needed, and the introduction of expansion joints helps resolve future problems.Thomas Sofranko, associate dean of the school of architecture, said the expansion is caused in part by the penetration of water into the structure, causing the steel inside to rust and expand.”Everything has got to give a little bit,” Sofranko said. “Like an old instructor of mine said, ‘If you don’t put the joints there, mother nature will put them there for you.'”Sofranko said maintaining these kinds of problems can become a daily battle, often inhibited by lacking resources which have consistently lengthened the University’s deferred maintenance list.As hundreds of tons of brick and concrete press on the soil during a period of years, uneven structural settlement can also cause cosmetic damage.Khalid Alshibli, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, said Baton Rouge’s proximity to the Mississippi River has made its soil soft and wet.Alshibli said before the levees were built, flooding probably brought in river silt and soft soil layers over many years.”Usually, when you build on soft soil, settlement depends on water being squeezed out over time,” Alshibli said. “Every time water is squeezed out, the building settles more.”Alshibli said soft soil is susceptible to moisture changes, and the delayed settlement can cause cracks and even foundation damage.Sofranko said the most common structural problems he finds in Baton Rouge appear when people do not properly compact the soft soil.”Literally, it comes down to pounding the soil down, compressing it and compacting it,” Sofranko said.The cracking caused by long-term building settlements can allow greater water penetration, in turn creating more expansion and cracking, Sofranko said. He said caulking and routine active maintenance are important to prevent damage.Almost all the building facades on campus sport splitting hairline fractures from expansion and building settlement, most noticeable in the long white veins around the Quad.In the past, Favaloro said the cracks were treated with a clear caulk which turned white when exposed to ultra violet light. Favaloro said Facility Services now uses a better material not susceptible to UV light and uses a coloring agent and sand mixtures to blend with campus stucco.Favaloro said he did not have an exact dollar value for dealing with this sort of damage, but it could cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars over years of repair. The repairs are also labor-intensive because of the detail and attention to architectural designs needed and can cost hundreds of man hours in a year.—-Contact Adam Duvernay at [email protected]