Specializing Master in Design for Architecture
POLI.design
Key Information
Campus location
Milan, Italy
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
1 year
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
EUR 12,000
Application deadline
11 Sep 2024*
Earliest start date
Nov 2024
* for EU/ Non-EU who graduated in Italy / EU citizens with qualifications gained abroad| Non-EU citizens who graduated abroad by August 11th, 2024
Introduction
Future designers, architects, and engineers will face the great challenges of the ever-changing design and building sector at local and global levels, in terms of competition, development, and modernization.
They shall be able to develop new ideas in the field of real estate, by designing solutions that embed advanced building components and display innovative layout designs. In particular, the field of interest concerns temporary buildings and events, reconversion of buildings, and building components design.
In this perspective, the Specializing Master in Design for Architecture aims to:
- Combine multidisciplinary competencies to create advanced curricula;
- Involve companies and professionals to make the educational experience as practical as possible;
- Refer to Italian cultural and economic assets to enrich design competencies;
- Teach how to develop highly innovative concepts based on design briefs given by real companies;
- Offer a multicultural environment to enhance the understanding of global issues.
Title Released
At the end of the course, upon passing the final exam, the “Design for Architecture” degree will be awarded.
The Specializing Master has been set up to bring together expertise from two sectors of excellence in Italy: design and the production of building components. It enables students to combine product aesthetics and functionality with production efficiency in industrial and installation terms by offering them the opportunity to acquire skills specific to Industrial Design based on Italian design/production quality and applicable to the international market, which is fundamental to dealing with the evolution of the sector. The Course of study consists of up-front lessons, talks by experts from the various professional sectors, design studios in team or individual work, guided visits to partner companies, and participation in events and fairs proper to the sector. The program will end with a final design studio and an internship in a design or Architecture practice or company in the building sector.
Program Outcome
The program is designed to train professionals with design skills applied to the design of industrial products that can interact or be integrated with the built environment, or components of macrosystems increasingly industrialized, such as buildings.
The aim of the program is to combine the knowledge coming from two sectors of excellence in Italy: design and production of components for building industry, areas that already are recognized internationally at the best level, but that can find further development opportunities, both in Italy and abroad.
The aspect that our country has a high-quality tradition in manufacturing finished elements for construction is particularly interesting, for example in the field of construction materials (bricks, aggregates, etc.) and coatings (items of pottery, mosaics, etc.), as well as there, are excellent companies in the production of structures and systems. Therefore, the program offers Industrial Design skills based on Italian design/production quality that can be applied to the international market. The professionals trained in this program will be able to manage the design complexity of the industrial product for the built environment, in relation to its inclusion in the building, in companies of different productive sectors that include the production of a wide range of construction components, light and heavy prefabrication, construction products for building envelope, installation systems and functional equipment of the built environment. Students can work in companies, or design and engineering firms that ask for their interaction with the business world. The education provided by this Master includes the carrying out of lectures, seminars, exercises, and workshops.
Career Opportunities
Students will become expert designers, with theoretical knowledge combined with significant experiences applied to the construction industry, and product managers, with a strong multidisciplinary attitude, involved in the development of new products and their inclusion in the built environment.
Gallery
Curriculum
Didactic Plan
The program includes three formative areas dealing with different aspects of Industrial Design:
- Design Culture: history and evolution of design, with special reference to aesthetic developments and to the ever-closer relationship that has been developing over the years between product and build-up space.
- Design Technology: study of the different technology, materials, and tools needed in conceiving and realizing products that combine in a built-up environment.
- Design Strategy: study of new construction processes, design innovation management, and the introduction of design in the corporate strategies of companies in the sector.
A fourth area will be added to these: Design Studio, which will include practical work in design on various design themes such as:
- designing finished built-in products, in other words as integrative building components;
- designing electronic consumer products and space-saving products that are highly integrable with building manufacturing;
- designing serial construction products, e.g. for temporary structures and modular building solutions.
Such tasks may be individual or in teams and may envisage the participation of leading companies in the sector of reference. The assessment achieved will constitute the basis for final marking.
Didactic Modules
The course deals with the following teaching modules:
- History of Design and Architecture: general overview of the historical evolution of industrial design, which highlighted the relationship between man-object-space. The interpretation is, in fact, the investigation of the relationship between the design of built space and the design of the products contained, integrated, or in any way related therein. In this regard will be the theme of language and craft production, proto-industrial and industrial;
- Product Design Language
- Design and Contemporaneity: acquisition of the framework of knowledge that is necessary to confront the language of Contemporaneity even during the designing stage. Design is the discipline of Contemporaneity: the critical understanding of the variables relating to the design of new industrial products – even those included in the universe of products for architecture -, implies a commitment to evolve the cultural and interpretive skills, which make intelligible that specific meaning of the discipline;
- Design and Innovation: acquisition of knowledge concerning the concept of innovation in the field of design through lectures, exercises, and guided tours. The theme of innovation is explored and expanded from two different perspectives: the design and management, with specialized educational contributions;
- Design Strategy: acquisition of the skill to implement the process of design integration with the organization and strategy of firms: the process of new product development and the role of design in that process; the innovation process of the contribution of design to the development of an innovative product;
- Materials Technology: the main families of materials that are applied in industrial production will be analyzed for their properties, the potential gained during the transformation processes, the levels of compatibility with other materials, the possibilities of connection and assembly, and the strength and durability of building elements. It will provide the information necessary to understand the relationships between industrial products with the materials that constitute them. Also, the tools for the selection of materials, such as the Cambridge Engineering Selector Design version Consideration, will be shown and provided;
- Manufacturing Processes for Design for Architecture: gaining the ability to understand and manage the technical, technological, and economic considerations related to production processes and logistics flows of industrial products;
- Technology of the built environment: acquisition of knowledge on the repertoire of technical elements necessary to identify and design products compatible and integrated into buildings. Acquisition of the ability to design building components for interiors (interior partitions, metal, plants, decorative elements) and exterior(external vertical closures and their finishes: curtain walls, skylights, natural and artificial stone materials) starting from their function in the building up to the constraint of implementation and cost;
- Seminars: meeting with teachers and professionals coming from the business world. The seminars will be focused on the relationship between Design and Architecture and the evolving role of design in the innovation of buildings;
- Design Studio: design activities like workshops will be divided into three design studios. The theme of the design studios will be defined by companies that produce industrial products for the built environment. Also, the studios will tackle themes of increasing complexity so to gradually develop increasing design skills.
Internship
A training period will be attended at design or architecture professional practices or companies in the building sector.
Admissions
Rankings
- 1st in Italy
- 4th in Europe
- 8th in the World
Politecnico di Milano - QS Ranking 2023 in Art&Design category
Program Tuition Fee
Scholarships and Funding
POLI.design offers the community of Politecnico di Milano a 50% discount to be applied to the participation fee for a I and II level Specializing Master or Higher Education Course / Post Graduate Program / Continuing Education Course which POLI.design manages and provides. The discount is for internal staff (i.e., structured teachers and technical and administrative staff) with active contracts at Politecnico di Milano and members of their households.
How it works:
To benefit from the discount you will need to:
- send the selection application to the chosen course with the relevant required documents;
- successfully pass the selections;
- send a copy of the applicant’s family status.