Personal statement
Dr Cristina González-Longo RIBA SCA RIAS FHEA FRSA 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 to contemporary uses, incruding the need for retrofitting for energy purposes. ADCRU also deals with the design of new and existing buildings to conserve the environment and adpt to the impact of climate change, 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 University of “La Sapienza”. She is also a practising architect with over twenty years’ experience as a Chartered architect both in UK and Spain, is RIBA Specialist Conservation Architect (SCA) and is member of the RIBA Conservation Register Assessment Panel. She has had a central role in taking decisions concerning historic buildings of outstanding national importance and wide experience in leading the design, management and procurement of award winning architectural projects (both conservation and new build). She was the project architect and resident architect of Queensberry House, a Grade A Listed building, part of the new Scottish Parliament complex and designed Bowbridge Primary School in Newark (RICS Sustainability Award 2009). She is the President of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) International Training Committee (CIF).
Prizes and awards
- 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
More prizes and awards
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
Research interests
- Complex architectural conservation projects
- New design in historic cities, buildings, monuments and archaeological
areas
- Reuse of historic buildings and monuments
- Environmental design and reduction of energy consumption
- Conservation theory
- Architectural history and the transformation of buildings
- Tendencies and restoration in 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
- Royal Institute of British Architects RIBA (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 2023
- Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 2023
- Domus Award (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 2023
- ICOMOS CIF 2022 Symposium
- Participant
- 26/9/2022
- AHRC RICHeS workshop
- Participant
- 26/8/2022
- Espacios Increibles 2022
- Speaker
- 25/5/2022
More professional activities
Projects
- The Conservation of the Monteath Mausoleum at the Glasgow Necropolis
- Gonzalez-Longo, Cristina (Principal Investigator)
- 20-Jan-2021
- Sustainable impact by design: a pilot study of effective STEM dissemination for hard-to-reach audiences
- Gonzalez-Longo, Cristina (Co-investigator) Essex, Jane (Principal Investigator) Hendry, Martyn (Co-investigator) Cunningham, Margaret Rose (Co-investigator) Giovelli, Noemi (Post Grad Student) Ivaturi, Aruna (Co-investigator) Li, Rui (Co-investigator) Maddock, Christie (Co-investigator) Somorin, Tosin (Co-investigator) Yue, Hong (Co-investigator) Egea Alvarez, Agusti (Co-investigator)
- STEM Equals + RKES funded project
- 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2023
- 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
- Host of Erasmus Trainee
- Gonzalez-Longo, Cristina (Principal Investigator)
- 02-Jan-2016 - 30-Jan-2016
More projects