Dr Cristina Gonzalez-Longo
Senior Lecturer
Architecture
Personal statement
Dr Cristina González-Longo RIBA SCA RIAS FHEA FRSA is a Chartered Architect in UK and Spain and RIBA Specialist Conservation Architect (SCA). She is the Founder and Director of the MSc in Architectural Design for the Conservation of Built Heritage at the Department of Architecture of the University of Strathclyde, where she has also created and is leading the Architectural Design and Conservation Research Unit (ADCRU). Her research group deals with the challenges of conserving built heritage while allowing changes to adapt historic buildings for contemporary uses, as well as with the design of new buildings to conserve the environment, which requires an interdisciplinary approach. After graduating at the School of Architecture of the Technical University of Madrid (ETSAM), Cristina spent three years in Rome with a scholarship from the Italian Government to study architectural conservation at the prestigious Specialisation School of the Sapienza University of Rome. On completion of the course, she won a government competition to conserve a twelve-century church in Spain, where she set her practice in 1996. Since, she had a central role in taking decisions concerning historic buildings of outstanding national and international importance and wide experience in leading the design, management and procurement of award-winning architectural projects. She was the project architect and resident architect of Queensberry House, a Category A Listed building, part of the new Scottish Parliament complex in Edinburgh (RIBA Stirling Prize 2005). She also designed Bowbridge Primary School in Newark, UK (RICS Sustainability Award 2009), with an innovative lamella glulam structure. She has lectured widely and extensible published, including her PhD thesis on preservation and transformation, published by Routledge (2020). She is, for the second term, the elected President of the ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) International Scientific Committee on Education and Training (CIF).
Prize And Awards
- Co-Convener of the Council of the Scottish Catholic Historic Society (SCHA)
- Recipient
- 2025
- President of ICOMOS-CIF
- Recipient
- 13/10/2023
- President of ICOMOS International Training Committee (CIF)
- Recipient
- 2020
- Notre Dame Design Competition
- Recipient
- 2019
- Elected Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce)
- Recipient
- 2014
Qualifications
Registered Architect, UK, Architects Registration Board, ARB
RIBA Specialist Conservation Architect (SCA), RIBA Conservation Register
Chartered Architect, Royal Institute of British Architects, RIBA
Chartered Architect, Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, RIAS
Chartered Architect, Spain. Incorporation of Architects in Asturias (Spain), COAA
PRINCE2 Foundation, Project Management
Diploma in Advanced Academic Studies, University of Strathclyde
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, FHEA
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, FRSA
Publications
- European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and Cultural Heritage
- Alexandrou Eleni, Berggren Kersti, Bourgès Ann, Broström Tor, Brito Nelson da Silva, Bruguerolle Antoine, Donnelly Jacqui, Erikkson Petra, Foster Jez, González-Longo Cristina, Gould Anthony, Hughes David, Huttunen Marku, Haas Franziska, Karamyan Anna, McDermott Deirdre, Mirouze Chloé, Paulus Ave, Pissarides Chrysanthos, Radivojević Ana, Shaffrey Gráinne, Silvestru Claudiu, Stoškus Liutauras, Villalba Montaner Clara, Alatalu Riin, Iaquinta Maria Teresa, Kishalı Emre, Ritson James, Tomšič Miha, Vernimme Nathalie
- (2026)
- Conserving or not conserving architectural heritage : European thinking and local differences
- Gonzalez-Longo Cristina
- Architecture Vol 5 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.3390/architecture5040105
- The epistemology of architectural conservation
- Gonzalez-Longo Cristina
- The International Network for Urban-rural Heritage Conservation in Higher Education Institutions (UHC-HEI) (2025)
- Capturing, analysing and interpreting the complexities of built heritage in historic cities : cultural approaches and BIM methodologies for appropriate conservation
- Bin Mohd Alayudin Ammar Zuhdi, González-Longo Cristina
- MAJ - Malaysia Architectural Journal Vol 7, pp. 122-140 (2025)
- Brandi's Teoria del Restauro on architecture : prelude & fugue
- González-Longo Cristina
- Cesare Brandi e le Frontiere del Restauro Teoria e Prassi (2025) (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.48255/9788891333674
- The Venice Charter and the European Quality Principles for Cultural Heritage Interventions on Heritage Science : some reflections from ICOMOS CIF
- Zendri Elisabetta, González-Longo Cristina
- Restauro Archeologico Vol 32, pp. 430-435 (2024)
Research Interests
- Complex architectural conservation projects
- New design in historic cities, buildings, monuments and archaeological
areas
- Reuse of historic buildings and monuments, including retrofitting
- Environmental design and reduction of energy consumption
- Conservation theory
- Architectural history and the transformation of buildings
- Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Scottish architecture
- Methods, strategies and instruments used by architects over the centuries in the transformation of a place.
- Conservation, Sustainable design and construction.
- Historic Construction technologies and systems
- Historic buildings, urban infrastructure and context
- Historic cities, buildings, monuments and local identity
- The Scottish Parliament building and the development of architecture and urban design in Scotland
- Architecture and archaeology
Professional Activities
- 22nd ICOMOS General Assembly and Scientific Symposium 2026
- Chair
- 17/10/2026
- ICOMOS-CIF 2026 Symposium: LEARNING FROM GRANADA: Architectural and Urban Conservation
- Chair
- 11/3/2026
- Cultural and Material Considerations in the Conservation of Architectural Heritage
- Invited speaker
- 13/1/2026
- University Politecnica Valencia
- Visiting researcher
- 2026
- CIPAMUR- Congreso Internacional Patrimonio, Cuidados y Personas en un mundo resiliente: las redes patrimoniales como estrategia de sostenibilidad (Event)
- Advisory Board Member
- 2026
- Architecture (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 2026
Projects
- Architectural Heritage in Europe, from Glasgow to Istanbul: Culture, Innovation, Creativity and Climate (AHE:CICC) (EU Pump priming)
- Gonzalez-Longo, Cristina (Principal Investigator)
- 21-Jan-2025 - 16-Jan-2025
- An integrated typology-based approach to guide the future development of European historic buildings towards a clean energy transition (FuturHist)
- Sharpe, Tim (Principal Investigator) Gonzalez-Longo, Cristina (Co-investigator) McElroy, Lori (Co-investigator) Moreno-Rangel, Alejandro (Co-investigator) Farooq, Muhammad Zaeem (Researcher)
- 01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2027
- The Conservation of the Monteath Mausoleum at the Glasgow Necropolis
- Gonzalez-Longo, Cristina (Principal Investigator)
- 20-Jan-2021
- Erasmus + Strategic Partnerships (SP) (KA202): “RE-VET European Training Curriculum for Restoration Workers”
- Gonzalez-Longo, Cristina (Principal Investigator)
- 31-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2023
- “Cultural Heritage Actions to Refine Training, Education and Roles (CHARTER)”
- Gonzalez-Longo, Cristina (Co-investigator)
- 15-Jan-2020 - 14-Jan-2024
- Design Solutions for High-Rise Social Housing in Kuala Lumpur with Reference to Thermal Comfort and Indoor Air Quality
- Gonzalez-Longo, Cristina (Academic) Sahabuddin, Mohd Firrdhaus Mohd (Post Grad Student)
- 01-Jan-2016 - 30-Jan-2019
Contact
Dr
Cristina
Gonzalez-Longo
Senior Lecturer
Architecture
Email: c.gonzalez-longo@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3008