Meet our faculty, Dr. Mario Santana Quintero
Dr. Mario Santana Quintero is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He holds an architectural degree, a master鈥檚 degree in Conservation of Historic Towns and Buildings and a PhD in Engineering (Architecture). His research focuses on the development of digital workflows for the conservation of Historic Places. He is the Director of the NSERC Create program Heritage Engineering and a faculty member.
His research branches over the development of workflows for:
- Terrestrial and low-cost aerial surveying, including 3D scanning, thermal photography and photogrammetry;
- Building information modelling (BIM);
- Coupling life-cycle assessment with BIM;
- Real-time simulation.
- Information Systems
- Energy retrofit of Heritage places
- Seismic rehabilitation of Heritage places
- Risk assessment and Climate Adaptation of Heritage places
- Digital Storytelling for the presentation of Heritage places
Furthermore, he has been working on an ethical framework for the digital recording of historic places.
Some of his recent projects include:
- Documentation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
- (Myanmar) led by the Getty Conservation Institute with the cooperation of the Department of Archaeology and National Museum through the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture of Myanmar
- (Cyprus) led by the Getty Conservation Institute with the cooperation of the Cypriot Department of Antiquities
- Conserving the Past for the Future: supporting sustainable rehabilitation of Existing/Historic Buildings
- Imagining Canada麓s Digital twin
- Development of Policies, Guidelines and Standards for Documenting Abu Dhabi’s Historic Environment (Historic Environment Documentation Initiative HEDI), Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT), Abu Dhabi Emirate (UAE)
- Preparation of CAD Architectural Drawings and three-dimensional models of the Tomb of Nefertari (QV 66) led by the Getty Conservation Institute
Besides his academic work in Canada, he is a guest professor at the (University of Leuven), a Getty Conservation Institute scholar in 2019, a previous president of the and is currently the Secretary-General of the . In recent years, he was awarded a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Liege (Belgium) and is a member of the .
Dr. Santana Quintero has collaborated in several international projects in the field of heritage documentation for The Getty Conservation Institute, UNESCO, Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, ICCROM, World Monuments Fund, UNDP, Arab World Heritage Regional Center, Welfare Association, and the Department of Culture and Tourism of Abu Dhabi.
For potential research students, Dr. Santana Quintero is looking for individuals interested in improving the conservation of historic buildings, developing strategies for documentation, adaptive reuse, structural rehabilitation and energy retrofit, as well as, looking at climate adaptation of the built environment.
Outside his professional work, Dr. Santana Quintero enjoys cycling. He cycles all year long, riding fat bikes in winter and road bikes in the summer to raise funds for humanitarian causes.