This summer Aeon was invited by the Christman Company and the Gilbane Company to assist them during renovations to the U.S. Capitol Dome. Hidden beneath the cast iron ‘skirt’ at the base of the dome is the original Aquia Creek sandstone dome base designed by Charles Bullfinch. Aeon was tasked with performing a stone by stone condition assessment of the original ornamental stonework following removal of paint coatings and prior to stone restoration. Aeon conservators climbed the myriad levels of scaffolding erected inside to photograph and record all of the conditions observed on the stone blocks. Using hand-held iPads and a mobile version of AutoCAD WS, Aeon recorded these conditions in realtime going straight to CAD format in the field.
