Francesca Lanz

Francesca Lanz is an Assistant Professor of Interior Architecture at Northumbria University's Department of Architecture and Built Environment. She co-leads the People and Places Research Group and serves as Department Ethics Co-Lead. With over 15 years of experience, she specializes in adaptive reuse of contentious heritage sites and museum design.

Education and Qualifications:

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• Italian Scientific Qualification as Associate Professor of Interior Architecture
• Ph.D. in Interior Architecture and Exhibition Design, Politecnico di Milano
• M.Sc. in Architecture, Politecnico di Milano

Her interdisciplinary research examines neglected heritages, focusing on adaptive reuse of prisons, asylums, and migration-related sites. She investigates how built environments mediate memory and cultural narratives, bridging architecture, museology, and heritage studies.

Publications analyze adaptive reuse methodologies, museum representation of difficult heritage, and memory politics in transformed spaces. Recent books include 'Mind Museums' (2024), exploring former asylum conversions. Articles critically examine heritage interpretation through architectural, ethical, and spatial lenses.

Awards and Grants:

• Marie Sklodowska Curie Individual Fellowship
• British Academy Pump Priming Small Grant

She leads the ARCH research group and supervises doctoral candidates. Previous advisory roles include scientific consultancy for prison reuse projects and UNESCO heritage initiatives.