Missions and Goals
The Laurea Magistrale (equivalent to Master of Science) programme in Architecture offers its students training in the profession of architecture based on a ‘polytechnic culture’, in which humanistic and artistic skills are inseparably and continually combined with scientific and technological skills within a technical university that is a leader in Europe and the world, capable of both enhancing its Milanese tradition and welcoming a growing plurality of cultural experiences, with the aim of designing the future with foresight.
The educational environment is characterised by a remarkable international openness guaranteed by the presence of students and professors from all over the world.
The educational objective is to train an educated professional architect, who is able to deal, in an innovative and responsible way, with the complexity of the transformation process of contemporary living spaces through:
- the ability to understand the specific context in which to act;
- the ability to redevelop and enhance existing buildings and spaces;
- the ability to design in anthropic and natural contexts characterised by unprecedented potentialities and vulnerabilities in rapid and constant transformation;
- the capacity for attentive care of spatial quality, starting from an understanding of the irreducible complexity of human identity, from its spatiotemporal needs to its existential aspirations.
Educational methods are based on the centrality of the design experience within multidisciplinary workshops, in which different skills (design, scientific, technical, cultural and critical) work together to address the most urgent global challenges:
- sustainability, which is also cultural, social, economic and environmental;
- technological innovation, both analogue and digital, which transforms an architect’s profession through significant changes in the way in which the design, creation and management of buildings and anthropic and natural contexts are interrelated in an increasingly complex and delicate manner;
- the development of individual and social responsibilities, especially in a global reality characterised not only by unprecedented complexities and uncertainties, but also by emerging technologies that require cultural, critical and ethical awareness.
Subjects
Teaching is based on the project, approached through:
- four multidisciplinary workshops, the first and the last of which are focused on the topics of the chosen track;
- both single-subject and integrated courses, which provide the project with additional scientific, technical, cultural, and critical knowledge and skills.
The study path is completed by elective courses, an intensive design workshop, IT skills, and an internship.
Tracks (PSPA)
Architecture and urban design
The Architecture and urban design track addresses architectural and urban design in its cross-scale and multidisciplinary dimension, through critical dialogue between the tools of Italian and Milanese theoretical and design tradition and the most innovative international approaches.
The track is focused on the design of architectural organisms addressed in the complex relationship between buildings, open spaces and infrastructures, through functional, formal, expressive and constructive perspectives based on the design, critical and operational thinking of architecture, on the principles of sustainable development and on the exercise of civil responsibility.
In particular, the themes addressed are: the new dynamics involved in the settlement and development of cities, new housing needs, the provision of basic services and facilities, the recovery of historical heritage and urban regeneration, in realities ranging from European and Western contexts to emerging countries and the southern hemisphere.
Architecture and interior space
The Architecture and interior space track addresses the design of architectural buildings, places and spaces on a scale of proximity and detail, through the analysis and redesign of both the relationships between human gestures and shapes within a space, the complex interactions between inhabited space, the environment and well-being understood in their most extensive and inclusive variations.
The track addresses the project through the interscalar and multidisciplinary dimension that characterises the relationship between interior and exterior, from private to public spaces, from the design of interiors to their relationship with the context, from furnishings to the design of specific environmental components. Design disciplines are in constant dialogue with contributions provided by the history of the architecture, human and social sciences, art, urban and landscape studies and research on comfort and wellbeing.
In particular, the themes addressed are the following: designing the new, the reuse and transformation of the existing, interior design and the necessary equipment, designing temporary and museum installations, scenography and furnishings.
Architecture, heritage and built environment
The Architecture, heritage and built environment track addresses design in existing contexts through dialogue with history in order to understand the architectural and formal logic of buildings and urban fabrics, with the aim of guaranteeing their continuity, conservation and transformation while respecting the character of places and the needs of the contemporary world.
The track tackles the project starting from the awareness that the identity of the built heritage, its continuity over time and the ability to intervene within it are essential resources for a sustainable future, with the aim of offering skills to be able to work at an architectural and urban scale in territorial ‘palimpsests’ and in contexts of natural and anthropic risk.
In particular, design themes are addressed with a multidisciplinary openness that combines theoretical, analytical and methodological knowledge, with a specific focus on structural implications, in order to develop an awareness of the coherence between aspects of the composition, conservation and construction of architecture.
Architecture and environment
The Architecture and environment track addresses the design of spaces with a focus on the sustainable use of resources and the relationship between anthropic and natural contexts. The multidisciplinary and systematic approach develops the project in constant relation to the critical issues emerging from climate change, the need for ecological transition and the affirmation of circular economy logics.
The track is focused on the principles of sustainability, eco-compatibility and environmental integration in the projected action, with the aim of offering theoretical and practical competences at the different scales of intervention both in the design phase and the phase involving the analysis, evaluation and management of impacts.
In particular, the themes addressed are: the study of the sustainability of urban and territorial dynamics, the techniques and technologies oriented to the reduction of the ecological footprint of interventions and the reuse of existing heritage buildings.
Career opportunities
Graduates from the Architecture programme can carry out all activities pertaining to the profession of European architect and cover roles of responsibility in public and private institutions and bodies operating the city and land transformation fields.
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