Dr Francesca Lanz

Assistant Professor

School: Architecture and Built Environment

Dr. Lanz is an international researcher with an interdisciplinary profile at the intersection of architecture, museography, exhibition design, and memory, museum, and heritage studies. Her research combines these diverse disciplinary approaches, theories, and practices to explore the role of the built environment and museums in contemporary societies, with a particular interest in neglected heritages and memories. This is evident in her work on cities, museums, migration, and the adaptive reuse of sites of difficult history, including prisons and asylums.

On these topics, she has a wide track record of publications, impact, and collaborative working, underpinned by sustained research funding success spanning Marie Skłodowska-Curie and EU-funded collaborative projects to British Academy/Leverhulme grants. She recently published the research monograph Mind Museums: Former Asylums and the Heritage of Mental Health (Routledge, 2024). She is currently the PI for a British Academy/Leverhulme Research Grant investigating the societal impact of mind museums through visitor studies at selected institutions and a programme of knowledge exchange events, and leads the ARCH [Adaptive Reuse and Cultural Heritage] research group within the international Scientific Research Network READ.ADAPT.REUSE. — Reading and Transforming the As Found (2024–2029), involving 15 European universities coordinated by Hasselt University (BE) and funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). She is a member of the EU-funded COST Action EuroHealthHist CA22159 – National, International and Transnational Histories of Healthcare, 1850–2000 (2024–2027). She has also undertaken research-led consultancies for ICOM-CAMOC and for the adaptive reuse and musealisation of heritage sites.

Francesca Lanz is an Assistant Professor of Interior Architecture at the Department of Architecture and Built Environment, where she is co-lead for the Research Group People and Places. She previously held lectureship and research positions at Politecnico di Milano (2005–2020) and the University of Lincoln (2021–2022), and was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at Newcastle University (2019–2021). She has also held visiting fellowships at the University of Amsterdam (2018) and Newcastle University (2022–2023). She holds an MSc in Architecture and a PhD in Interior Architecture and Exhibition Design, both awarded magna cum laude by Politecnico di Milano, and obtained the Italian National Scientific Qualification as Associate Professor of Architecture with a subject specialisation in Interior Architecture in 2018.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

With a background in architecture, primarily focused on interior architecture, Dr Lanz's expertise extends across museography, exhibition design, and memory, museum, and heritage studies. Combining these diverse disciplinary approaches, theories, and practices, she has delivered pioneering research in architecture and heritage studies, with a particular focus on adaptive reuse, neglected heritages, and contemporary museums.

This has resulted in numerous publications and resaerch collaborations. She has over a decade of experience in developing and leading funded research projects in the field of architecture and heritage. Among these, she contributed as Co-Investigator and Dissemination Leader for the collaborative research projects MeLa (EU-FP7, 2011–2015) on museums and migration, and TRACES (EU-H2020, 2016–2019) on contentious heritage and creative co-productions; she was Co-Principal Investigator for en/counter/points (HERA, 2019–2022) on public spaces in a time of migrations, and Principal Investigator for ReMIND (MSCA-IF, 2019–2022), an interdisciplinary study on the adaptive reuse of former asylums into mind museums. More recently, she was PI for RETRACE (British Academy Pump Priming, 2025), investigating the eco-cultural transformative potential of dissonant heritage, and is currently PI for a British Academy/Leverhulme Grant investigating the societal impact of mind museums through visitor studies at selected institutions and a programme of knowledge exchange events.

Alongside funded research programmes, Dr Lanz has been involved in several design-based research projects and has been appointed for scientific consultancies developing research-informed solutions to real-world problems, engaging with external stakeholders and contributing to knowledge exchange. These include a consultancy for the adaptive reuse and musealisation of the former prison at Fornelli for the Parco Nazionale dell'Asinara (2018–2019); a scientific consultancy on the "City Museums Global Mapping and Definition" special project by CAMOC, the International Council of Museums committee for city museums (2020–2023); the participation as a designer in a pilot study supported by Milan Municipality and UNICEF for the refurbishment of a primary school in Milan (2017–2018); and a design contribution to the project for the musealisation and adaptive reuse of the Marchiondi Institute in Milan, funded by Fondazione Cariplo (2009–2010).

Dr Lanz regularly reviews for international academic journals including Museum and Society, The Journal of Architecture, and International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. She is a Subject Editor for the International Journal of Heritage, Memory and Conflict and a Section Editor for The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Cultural Heritage and Conflict. She is a member of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Talent Peer Review College, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Peer Review College, and an expert for EU project evaluation panels.

Dr Lanz is a member of the Board of Experts for the Architectural Urban Interior Design (AUID) PhD Programme at Politecnico di Milano. At Northumbria, she is currently principal supervisor for one PhD and second supervisor for one PhD, as well as subject expert and PGR mentor for the Pro:NE project to widen access and participation for racially minoritised ethnic students and staff in postgraduate research. She has supervised three PhDs to completion:

Dissonant Memories in the Post-Soviet Space: Comparative Analysis of Newly Established Museums of Political Histories in the Post-Soviet Countries (1991–2016), Dr Maria Mikaelyan, Politecnico di Milano (Co-Supervisors: Prof. Luca Basso Peressut and Dr Francesca Lanz, 2015–2020).
Designing Preservation: Testing an Architectural Approach to UNESCO Tools for Heritage-Context Valorization, Dr Sara Ghirardini, Politecnico di Milano (Principal Supervisor: Prof. Pier Federico Caliari; Second Supervisor: Dr Francesca Lanz, 2019–2024).
Peripheral Neglected Spaces as Places of Empowerment, Francesca Gotti, Politecnico di Milano (Principal Supervisor: Dr Francesca Lanz; Second Supervisor: Dr Francesco Careri, 2020–2024).

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Mind Museums: Former Asylums and the Heritage of Mental Health, Lanz, F. 5 Mar 2024
Adaptive reuse: a critical review, Lanz, F., Pendlebury, J. Sep 2022, In: Journal of Architecture
The building as a palimpsest: heritage, memory and adaptive reuse beyond intervention, Lanz, F. 15 Feb 2024, In: Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development
Exhibitions and Design: A Perspective on the Project of Museum Display, Lanz, F., Leveratto, J. 24 Apr 2023, Visiting the Art Museum, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan
Adaptive reuse, Plevoets, B., Lanz, F. 1 Dec 2023, Elgar Encyclopedia in Urban and Regional Planning and Design, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Oral presentation: Keynote speech, with Prof John Pendlebury (Newcastle University) 2026
Invited talk: Guest Master Lecture: Thinking Through Adaptive Reuse: Theoretical, Critical, and Operative Frameworks 2026
Invited talk: Keynote speech, with Prof. Caitlin DeSilvey (University of Exeter) 2026
Oral presentation: City Museums: The museum in the city and the city in the museum 2025
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: Biennale Sessions: 19th International ArchitectureExhibition Biennale di Venezia: UAH! Unconventional Affordable Housing! 2025
Oral presentation: Interior Sight 2025
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Valuable and Healing: Heritage Collections for and with Healthcare. Sponsored through COST, organised with PULSE, hosted by FARO funding. 2025
Invited talk: Palimpsests: Heritage, Memory, and Adaptive Reuse at Uncomfortable Heritage Sites 2025
Invited talk: Reuso-adaptativo e estrategias de desenho / Theory and concepts of resue and design strategies 2025
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Practice: Interior Educators International Conference 2024 2024

PGR Supervision

Vincenza Tafaro Adaptive Reuse of Difficult Heritage Sites: The Case of Former 19th-Century English Prisons and Community Participation in the Design Process. Start Date: 01/10/2023