phd architecture italy

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PhD in Architecture and Design Cultures

• Admission Board
• Training and research

Application deadline: Jun 20, 2023 at 11:59 PM (Expired)

PhD Call for Applications, with scholarships funded by NRRP and other funds

• Call for applications
• PhD Programme Table

Enrolment: From Aug 04, 2023 to Aug 22, 2023

Doctoral programme start date: Nov 01, 2023

Architecture

• Architectural composition
• Theory of architectural design
• Autonomy of architecture
• Space, form and structure in architecture

Planning and Urban Design

• Sustainability in planning and in urban design
• Relations between planning and environment/landscape protection and promotion
• Urban and rural regeneration: techniques, tools and experimentations
• Theories of planning and urban design

Construction Technologies and Building Performances

• Sustainable building design
• Energy efficient building
• Architectural building renovation
• Project construction management
• Innovation Technologies
• Indoor quality and building performances
• Outdoor quality, climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies

Advanced Design

• Design driven product and service innovation
• Advanced design cultures: beyond processes and thinking
• Design thinking social innovation
• Industry 4.0
• Cultural and Creative Industries
• Social Innovation
• Visions of the futures in material forms: a dynamic relationship between past, present, and future

Cultural Heritage

• Protection, Restoration and Preservation
• Technologies for conservation
• Digital Heritage
• Design for Cultural Heritage in the digital era
• Humanities and Technology for Cultural Heritage
• Cultural Heritage and sustainability

Architectural Humanities

• History of architecture
• History of design
• Aesthetics of design and architecture
• Aesthetics of everyday life
• Philosophy and architecture
• Architecture and arts
• Architecture and literature, film, tv
• Urban and visual culture

Appointed by RD n. 709/2023 Prot n. 149534 on Jun 02, 2023

The PhD programme in Architecture and Design Culture combines the specificity of the architectural research as architectural composition, urban planning, history, aesthetics, design, restoration, technology and industrial design, combining basic research and applied research in an interdisciplinary perspective. The research will be developed according to subject areas that, given the nature of the doctorate, it is aimed primarily at graduates in architecture and construction engineering-architecture and graduates who need to develop specific studies in the field of Architecture according to the different disciplinary joints which characterize it, despite coming from other graduating classes. The PhD programme in Architecture and Design Culture is characterized by the following research areas: Architectural composition; Urban Design; Construction Technologies; Advanced Design; Restoration and Preservation; Humanities and Technology for Cultural Heritage; History of architecture; Aesthetics of design and architecture.

The training of doctoral students will carry out teaching and research, articulated in the three years according to operational phases that include not only research staff and regular meetings with the PhD members aimed at assessing the progress of individual work, but the participation in workshops, courses, seminars and conferences in cycles. The training program of the PhD in Architecture provides that such activities are aimed at: - Offer to all students through participation in seminars and research in the field of UniBo or external institutions, an overall comprehensive training on the topics of doctoral degree; - To promote the deepening of the research topics individual both finalizing the production of the thesis and the elaboration of contributions for publication. For each student the PhD council will identify complementary training activities most appropriate to the theme of the doctoral thesis. The student will also be encouraged to carry out internships or research periods at national bodies, international organizations, European institutions and foreign universities. PhD students are also encouraged to carry out educational activities and seminars, with regard to issues relating to their doctoral thesis, within the University of Bologna, the actions taken by international research networks, or of invitations to conferences offered by other universities and / or research centers in Europe.

The training activities are divided into basic and specialized activities. Basic tasks: How to deal with the study and treatment of sources; How to write a scientific text (stylistic conventions and editorial); How to write a scientific paper in English (technical language and rhetorical techniques); English language courses; European projects; How to do fund raising (knowledge of the regulatory framework, technical and administrative work involved in seeking funds for scientific research and practice to writing technical reports to contribute to specific calls); Monitoring and research strategy; The rights and duties of the authors; The challenges of digital publishing; The digital publishing and legal nature of copyright Characterizing activities Internal or external to the university courses: Participation at conferences and meetings Laboratories or practical activities aimed in developing the research The acquisition of credits will be agreed annually by the members of the Ph.D course in Architecture. The leaders of research groups, indicated by the College each new cycle of PhD, will provide a list of activities in which the individual doctoral students can carry out training activities. Each group can be directly linked to some research laboratories of the Department of Architecture that will complete the framework of the training of PhD in Architecture. The student, as an integral part of their training program, will be able of tutoring students at the Bachelor and Master Degree as well. 

More then 25% of the teaching board is composed by foreign professors. Ongoing co-tutoring:

• n. 1 co-tutelle - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Parigi
• n. 1 co-tutelle - Université Paris Est - Marne la Vallée
• n. 1 - University of Copenhagen
• n. 1 - UCL- Louvain
• n. 1 co-tutelle - RWTH Aachen University
• n. 1 co-tutelle - Universitat Politecnica de Valencia

To meet the needs of internationalization, the Ph.D. in Architecture will benefit of agreements already in place with the University of Bologna and of numerous international relations cultivated by the professors of the Department, by encouraging students to take courses that provide educational and cultural partnership with international doctorates. It will also seek to promote, with the cooperation of foreign students, international research through more wide-ranging outdoor activities in relation with other universities. Since it is desirable that students undertake research pathways that allow the exchange and co-supervision with foreign institutions, in the training program are planned joint activities among multiple doctorates, this collaboration will contribute to raising the conventions and agreements with universities in Europe and beyond. It will be possible, if necessary, provide for the issuing of a degree double, multiple or joint. Thanks to the founding of the dip. of excellence there will be an increase in international relations.The goal is to create specific agreements with other universities / research institutes / laboratories abroad to activate programs in co-supervision of theses.

The PhD program is an expression of the different disciplines and skills available within the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna and its mission is to develop a critical and theoretical context of the different disciplines of architecture. The goal is to publicize such research through the publication of articles, essays, through participation in national and international conferences in order to enter the new PhD in the relevant scientific community.

[email protected]

Annalisa trentin.

Dipartimento di Architettura - DA

Viale del Risorgimento 2 Bologna (BO)

[email protected]

Dissertation

• Research fields
• Publications
• Invia ad un amico

The PhD in Architecture and Design Cultures gathers the fields of Architecture, Planning and Urban Design, Construction Technologies and Building Performances, Advanced Design, Cultural Heritage, Architectural Humanities.

The research activity is developed according the thematic fields addressed to students graduated in Architecture, Civil Engineering, Industrial Design and other degrees with specificities in Architecture and Design Cultures.

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Architecture And Construction

The scientific objective of the PhD in Architecture and Construction is the progress of architectural studies in relation to the different areas of construction. The research conducted in the Doctorate in Architecture and Construction is divided into three different curricula, Architectural and Urban Composition (A), Estimate and Evaluation (B), Urban Morphology (C), whose educational objective concerns the provision of innovative skills and advanced tools useful for research in the relevant scientific field. The three curricula and the reference teachers work interactively with each other, operating within common and shared seminars in which the individual disciplines contribute to the best achievement of the objectives. Teaching in the doctorate is organized in a distinct way in the three years of the course. In the first year, PhD students will have to attend two seminars: one theoretical and one design. At the end of the first year, the delivery and presentation of papers relating to all the activities carried out is expected. The second and third years are characterized by reports on the progress of the research that the PhD students present to the entire teaching staff: three/four every year, in March, July, September and December. The autumn one is also useful for determining the transition of doctoral students to the following year. Finally, the production of individual and group publications is promoted, to encourage the construction, by each doctoral student, of an adequate scientific curriculum. The PhD in Architecture and Construction offers three distinct training curricula, respectively hinged on the disciplinary scientific sectors ICAR/14 (Architectural and Urban Composition and Urban Morphology) and ICAR/22 (Estimate). PhD students will have to indicate, when applying for admission, which curriculum they intend to opt for. The CURRICULUM A in Architectural and Urban Composition will mainly address research topics related to the tools of contemporary design by investigating the different declinations of the relationship between architecture and construction: the construction of architectural and urban form; the construction of the building; the construction of the city and the built environment. CURRICULUM B in Appraisal and Evaluation will pursue training objectives related to the problem of evaluating interventions considered in its role as a fundamental component of the project. Taking into account the widespread international interest in studies on urban form conducted with innovative methods and also considering the tradition of studies developed within the Faculty of Rome, the CURRICULUM C in Urban Morphology dedicated to the study of urban phenomena has been activated.

Giorno: 24/7/2023 Ora: 09:30 Aula: aula 8 Indirizzo: piazza Borghese, 9

Giorno: 1/9/2023 Ora: 10:00 Aula: aula biblioteca - terzo piano Indirizzo: piazza Borghese, 9

a) COMPOSIZIONE ARCHITETTONICA E URBANA b) ESTIMO c) URBAN MORPHOLOGY

Dina Nencini ( [email protected] )

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Phd in ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION

• ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION

Presentation

The Research Doctorate in Architecture and City Construction has as its scientific objective the progress of studies in the different fields of architecture and city construction as well as the training of scholars who are able to operate in the different levels of scientific research, from theoretical elaboration up to the operational application of the knowledge achieved. It is characterized and specified within the school of Architectural Sciences of which it is part, as it collects and brings together different disciplines providing third-level training divided into different disciplinary areas.

The relationship between architecture and construction posed since the foundation of the DRACo Research Doctorate in 2005 has been seen as a complex problem closely linked to the permanent and most urgent issues posed by Italian and international architectural culture. The careful observation of the national and international situation and the different experiences gained during the previous cycles have outlined the main areas of study, identifiable in the relationship between architecture and city construction. In an era in which globalization has reduced the possibilities of differences and limited the variations of local identities, it is necessary to continue to question the reasons for building in an active and critical comparison with the changing reality. The scope of the research is defined through the permanent features of Italian architectural and urban culture and the relationships that this has always had with other traditions of international studies, in a continuous process of renewal and updating. The general objective of the research conducted in the Doctorate in Architecture and Construction of the City is therefore to maintain as a reference the "line of resistance" of the architectural culture of our country, within our specific History, whose areas of application can diversify as a consequence of the most urgent issues that arise from local realities and/or international. In this operational context, the architectural project, a synthetic expression of the different knowledge that contributes to defining the Doctorate in Architecture and City Construction, takes on a decisive importance both in terms of tools and techniques and in terms of the advancement of knowledge. scientific. The PhD in Architecture and City Construction is divided into four different curricula: Architectural and Urban Composition (A), Estimation and Evaluation (B), Urban Morphology (C), Built Environment (D), whose educational objective is the provision of innovative skills and advanced tools useful for research in the scientific disciplinary field of reference. The four curricula and the reference teachers operate interactively with each other, within common and shared seminars in which the individual disciplines contribute to the best achievement of the objectives.

The research addresses issues relating to the city, contexts and architecture, reformulating in an innovative way the theoretical-operational paradigms of built reality, building types and urban form understood as the visible aspect of a continuously transforming structure. The in-depth analysis of the topics selected and addressed will be carried out in reference to a general problematic framework in which environmental emergencies, recent urban mutations, scientific and technical innovations linked to the most pressing demands for sustainability in the context of climate change converge, but also the role of the media with the related processes of spectacularisation which have a significant influence on the orientations of architectural and urban transformations.

In this sense, the scientific community is stable in the different knowledge that identifies it, but it is also open and dialogic, questioning itself on the potential of its own specific knowledge. The research is therefore divided into theoretical and applied, in which theoretical experimentation is accompanied by either case studies or elaborations in which virtuous reciprocity between model and application in real contexts is assumed.

Teaching in the doctorate is organized in a distinct manner over the three years of the course.

In the first year, doctoral students follow two seminars: one theoretical and one project-based, two cycles of lessons held by the professors of the college on topics established from year to year, and finally, ex cathedra lessons by professors from other national and international research centers. Doctoral students participate in conferences, external seminars and calls for papers, requesting verification of the program from the teaching body. At the end of the first year, the delivery and presentation of papers relating to all the activities carried out is expected. The second and third years are characterized by reports on the progress of the research that the doctoral students present to the entire teaching body: every year there are two/three, in February, in July, in December. The July report is also aimed at establishing judgment regarding the admission of doctoral students to the following year. Their involvement in research activities, workshops, seminars and lectures continues. Activities in other research centers in Italy or abroad with proven need in relation to one's research interests are solicited and promoted. Finally, the production of individual and group publications is promoted, to encourage the construction, by each doctoral student, of an adequate scientific curriculum.

Doctoral students must indicate, when applying for admission, which curriculum they intend to opt for. The transition from one curriculum to another during the doctorate is not permitted except in exceptional cases and must be motivated and approved, following scientific reasons, by the teaching board.

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Research Doctorate (Ph.D.)

The Research Doctorate (Ph.D.) constitutes the highest level of education in the university system. Its goal is to prepare researchers who have the skills and aptitude to pursue activities of high quality research in industries, in research centers, in public administrations and in academic institutions. Politecnico di Milano offers Doctoral Programmes in all fields of Architecture, Engineering and Industrial Design. Access to the Doctoral Programmes is selective, based on the verification of the research capacities and potentials by curriculum examination. The Research Doctorate (Ph.D.) degree is awarded at the completion of the Programme, which lasts at least three years.

For further information visit the PhD website .

Active Phd Programmes

• Aerospace Engineering
• Architectural, Urban and Interior Design
• Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering
• Bioengineering
• Data Analytics and Decision Sciences
• Electrical Engineering
• Energy and Nuclear Science and Technology
• Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering
• Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
• Information Technology
• Management Engineering
• Materials Engineering
• Mathematical Models and Methods in Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Preservation of the Architectural Heritage
• Science, Technology, and Policy for Sustainable Change
• Structural Seismic and Geotechnical Engineering
• Urban Planning, Design, and Policy

See also: Rocca Project

• ONGOING RESEARCH
• COMPLETED RESEARCH
• AUID BOOK SERIES
• PUBLICATIONS

The Architectural Urban Interior Design – AUID – Ph.D. Program promotes studies on architecture mostly on these aspects: design, theory, history, technology. The methodological frame is the design-driven research. We consider design the cultural environment where to produce theoretical and technical knowledge.

[email protected]

Department of Architecture and Urban Studies

Politecnico di Milano

Campus Leonardo via Bonardi 3 20133, Milan, Italy

2013-2024 / AUID Short Story (by Alessandro Rocca)

The AUID Doctoral program sprang up in 2013 from the resettlement of other programs in resource optimization. Looking back at the beginning of the doctoral studies at Politecnico di Milano, we see that the first programs were activated with the VIII national cycle in 1992-93. The first, in architectural studies, were Progettazione Architettonica e Urbana (Architectural and Urban Design), from XIV to XXVIIII cycle, initially headed by Ernesto D’Alfonso; the same lifespan had Arredamento e Architettura degli Interni (Furnishing and Architecture of Interiors), for XIV and XV cycles, head Cesare Stevan, later renamed Architettura degli Interni e Allestimento (Interiors and Exhibit Design). In the XVI are added the programs of Composizione Architettonica, head Daniele Vitale, and Architettura, Urbanistica, Conservazione dei Luoghi dell’abitare e del Paesaggio (Architecture, Urban Planning, Preservation of Housing and Landscape), head Matilde Baffa.

Except for Conservazione dei Beni Architettonici (Preservation of Architectural Heritage) head Luigia Binda, which started in XIV cycle and is still alive, under the guidance of Maria Cristina Giambruno, all the others terminated with the XXVIII cycle in 2012.

Other related programs were Tecnologia dell’architettura e dell’ambiente (Technology of Architecture and Environment), head Guido Nardi and Innovazione Tecnica e Progettazione nell’architettura, Valerio Di Battista; both were actives in cycles XIV and XV.

The Polimi frame of the programs is revised in 2013, XXIX cycle, when are born the new Progettazione architettonica, urbana e degli interni / Architectural Urban Interior Design, AUID, and Architettura Ingegneria delle Costruzioni e Ambiente Costruito / Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, ABC. These programs and the Preservation program represent the Polimi Doctoral School’s architectural branch, which gathers twenty programs, including Urban Planning and Policy Design, Design, and all the main Engineering fields.

The AUID program has an increasingly international profile, a character that has been present since its foundation. The program, born in 2013 and named “Urban and Interior Architectural Design” (PAUI), started under the guidance of Luca Basso Peressut, who covered the role of coordinator for two three-year mandates until 2018. From 2019, the headship Alessandro Rocca will be in charge, with a second mandate till the end of 2024.

The PAUI doctorate starts with the 29th cycle, according to the calendar of the national system. The research topics indicated in the call are divided into four primary lines: housing, buildings, public spaces, museography, landscape, and infrastructure. A comprehensive spectrum is based on the combination of theory and design. The program admits fifteen doctoral students, five foreign citizenships: Iranian (two), Lebanese, Saudi, and Algerian, supported by scholarships from the Italian government. An important presence that, as a first consequence, leads to the extensive adoption of the English language for seminars, meetings, and exams. This first foreign contingent was well qualified, as all five candidates obtained the title. And it should be noted that, unfortunately, among these, only one Ph.D. has maintained a relationship with the Dastu department and with the Polimi School of Architecture.

In the next cycle, on the 30th, among the eight doctoral students, we find only one foreigner, a candidate of Iranian nationality who has undertaken a double doctoral program with TU Munich and will obtain the title in 2021. The dropouts were of two units.

In the 31st cycle, there are five candidates, all with Italian citizenship, of which two have dropped out, one was excluded from the doctorate, and two obtained their degree in 2020. The first double doctorate, managed by Ilaria Valente, is registered in this cycle, carried out with the Shanghai Jiaotong University.

The 32nd cycle sees a larger class, with nine candidates, including five of non-Italian nationality. Among these, four fellows from the China Scholarship Council (CSC), one of which was subsequently excluded, and a Romanian candidate who obtained the title, with honors, in 2020.

The 33rd cycle sees nine admitted candidates, three Ph.D. students with CSC scholarships, an Iranian Ph.D. student, and an Italian candidate enrolled in a double doctorate in agreement with the University of Rennes.

The 34th cycle counts six doctoral students, five Italians, and one Iranian national, and an interdisciplinary scholarship supports it. A double doctorate is activated with the University of Paris-Saclay, a scholarship from the departmental program “Territorial fragility,” and a doctoral co-tutored student enrolled in the Ecole National d’Architecture et Urbanism de Tunisie (Enaut).

The 35th cycle, the first under the headship of Alessandro Rocca, sees the enrollment of twenty doctoral students, to which, for a few months, a visiting researcher affiliated with Dokuz Eylul University in Izmir is added. Among the doctoral candidates, there are three scholarships funded by the Dastu Department of Excellence “Territorial Fragility,” two CSC scholarships, a double doctorate in agreement with Université de Paris (promoted by Imma Forino), and three Executive contracts with Latin American universities managed by Andrea Gritti, in partnership with the University of Loja (Ecuador) and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. There is also an industrial partnership with the company Branding srl. Three Ph.D. students are supported by ITN Marie Curie European projects, two by the Soloclim, led by Valentina Dessì, and one by Tack, led by Gennaro Postiglione.

The 36th cycle has sixteen Ph.D. students, including ten non-Italians: seven CSC fellows, one Colombian, one Ghanaian, and one Pakistani. As the program becomes more and more international, the supervisors and the board are called upon to deal with distant thematic and geographical areas. The CSC partners prefer research that is synchronized with the planning objectives of the Chinese government. This determination produces a selection among the candidates which favors attention to rural areas, vernacular architecture, and the recovery and regeneration processes of related buildings and settlements to peasant culture and economy. Among the university scholarships, there are also two interdisciplinary proposals: “Urban regeneration through nature-based solutions for an environmental resiliency to the climate change,” proposed by Ilaria Valente and Monica Lavagna, and “Smart city: new tools for the sustainable development of the future city. Advanced technologies, environmental sustainability, and participatory processes”, by Pierluigi Salvadeo and Dario Zaninelli, in cooperation with the Doctoral Program of Electrical Engineering.

The 37th cycle, which begins the activities in November 2022, welcomes in a first phase seven candidates in addition to four other doctoral students selected through two additional calls generated by the particular funding of the National Resilience and Rebirth Plan. In the summer of 2021, the Italian government will offer universities substantial funding for research projects related to the “Green” and “Innovation” themes. AUID obtains the three grants to which is entitled in the division of the university and offers three additional calls dedicated to “Green” themes: “Engines of sustainable development: architectures for highway service areas,” proposed by Andrea Gritti; “Metropolitan farms: design-oriented research for sustainable agri-food systems,” by Filippo Orsini; “Formal/informal. green communitarian developments in the global south”, by Camillo Magni; the third call, also of a governmental nature, refers to “Territorial Cohesion” and the research project proposed by Emilia Corradi is awarded the amount for an additional doctoral scholarship.

The 38th cycle sees a large composition of different resources again, considering the National Resilience and Rebirth Plan, with six scholarships, three co-founded, the Chinese Council Scholarship, with nine potential candidates, and an interdisciplinary scholarship promoted by Sara Protasoni, in partnership with the Doctoral Program of Electrical Engineering.

The research fields:

The framework of the research carried out is broad and composite; it records the historical changes of recent years and the coexistence of very diversified cultures and origins.

The first works concluded in 2017 are “Museum is / and territory. The widespread museum as a device for the cultural infrastructure of places. The case of the Libyan coast road ”, by Alessandro Raffa, supervisor Luca Basso Peressut; “Undergrowth urbanism. Spontaneous practices in the contemporary city. Towards a methodology of analysis and intervention in the informal city ”, by Valentina Mion, supervisors Laura Montedoro, Jose María Ezquiaga; “Metaphors of performative-oriented architectures. Exhibitions, installations, interventions ”, by Ayman Kassem, supervisor Pierluigi Salvadeo; “Intra-structures. Urban densification scenarios for mobility in transition. The case of the A20 ring road of the city of Rotterdam ”, by Gianluca Ferriero, supervisors Luca Molinari and Dirk van den Heuvel; “From the Medina to the Metropol. New integrative approach for the sustainable revitalization of the historical center in the metropolitan cities”, by Hamza Benacer, rapporteur Antonella Contin; “The evolution of museum exhibition in Arabia. A qualitative study of the exhibition design and identity in Saudi Arabia”, by Abeer Alsobahi, supervisors Gian Luca Basso Peressut and Oli Ali Hassem. In this first round, there is a strong interest in non-Italian situations, such as Rotterdam, Brazil, and Arabia, and the museographic line led by the Head, Basso Peressut, is denoted.

In 2018 the thesis “Advancing toward water-sensitive cities in Iran. Public spaces as sustainable water management measures in Lahijan, Caspian climate zone, Iran ”, by Masoumehsadat Mirsafay Moqadda, supervisor Alessandro Rogora, inaugurated a line of research on a technological basis and aimed at environmental sustainability issues; “Sprawlification: a new method to analyze periurban space”; by Arian Heidari Afshari, supervisors Ilaria Valente and Richard Ingersoll, explores informal urbanism in developing countries, “Ruins of contemporaneity: concepts, strategies and design methodologies for the transformation of abandoned places,” by Dario Giordanelli, supervisors Guya Bertelli and Carlos Garcia Vazquez, analyzes “new paradigms, linked to new materials and conditions, are the center of the architecture project in the current transition phase”; Re-inhabit modern utopias. History and design for the renovation of post-war large public housing estates “, by Michele Gerli, supervisor Pierfranco Galliani, investigates post-World War II European housing. Public space is dealt with by “La Terza Città. The Right to the City: urban regeneration strategies through autonomous and creative practices of space production”, by Simona Galateo, supervisor Luca Molinari.

“Museums of narration, between words and projects. Communicative models for today’s exhibiting spaces “, by Marcella Camponogara, supervisors Gian Luca Basso Peressut and Federico Bucci, the museographic research continues. “Metropolitan frameworks of civic robustness. Mapping and designing for East African urbanism”, by Alessandro Frigerio, supervisor Antonella Contin; “Spaces for primary education in cooperation projects. Schools in developing countries: the case of Mozambique”, by Luca Faverio, supervisor Michele Ugolini, Dwellings and Settlements in Pemba. A Typo-Morphological Field Study in a Changing Urban Environment”, by Corinna Del Bianco, supervisors Michele Ugolini and Michael Turner, focus on the results of fieldwork in Mozambique. The thesis “Devoid of Any Style. Problems and Perspectives of Architecture in the Age of Post-Consumption “, by Francesca Zanotto, supervisor Alessandro Rocca, addresses the evolution of architectural thought about sustainability issues; in “The Architecture of Motorway Infrastructures Between Maintenance and Preservation. The A22 and the Territory of Mantova “, by Claudia Zanda and supervisor Andrea Gritti, deals with the design of the motorway infrastructure; “Landscapes and Forms of ‘Modification’: the Contamination as a New Paradigm of the Contemporaneity,” by Martina Sogni, investigates the relationship between architectural design and the landscape dimension; “Architecture and Creative Transformation. Creative Urban Practices in London”, by Giuliana Bonifati, supervisor Carlos Maria Vazquez, explores the changes in public space in a creative district of London.

In 2019 no thesis was presented; in 2020, two Chinese theses were graduated and carried out in cooperation with the professors at Shanghai Jiao Tong University: “Rural Revitalization in Chinese New Era. Design Challenges in a Village of Fujian Province “, double Polimi-SJTU doctorate, by Gerardo Semperbon, supervisors Ilaria Valente, Luca M. F. Fabris, Ma Wenjun, Huang Jianyun, and” The Shapes of Water: A Discourse around Heritage and Design for a Landscape Reactivation in the Fujian Province,” by Francesca Berni, supervisors Ilaria Valente, Marco Bovati, Ma Wenjun. Museological studies continue in “Dissonant Memories in the Post-Soviet Space: Comparative Analysis of Newly Established Museums of Political Histories in the Post-Soviet Countries (1991-2016), by Maria Mikaelyan, supervisors Luca Basso Peressut and Francesca Lanz. “Compositional Studies on Luigi Caccia Dominioni,” by Veronica Ferrari, supervisor Luigi Spinelli, is one of the few theses directly related to Milanese architectural culture; the theses “Opening a Lexicon of the New Social Spaces” by Madalina Roxana Ghibusi, supervisor Pierluigi Salvadeo, and “Publicness in Transition,” by Jingwen Shan, supervisors Laura Montedoro and Marco Bovati, return to deal with public space.

In April 2021, Vazira Parisi obtained their doctorate, with a joint degree with the Technical University of Munich and a thesis entitled “Rethinking the Architecture of the Renewable-energy Power Plants: Potential Stations to Transform the Social Flows”, supervisors Guya Bertelli (Polimi) and Sören Schöbel (TU München); Federica Marchetti, with the thesis “The Lean City. Design, Experience, New Media for Millennials and Generation Z”, supervisor Pierluigi Salvadeo; Gianfranco Orsenigo, with the thesis “Design the Possible. Experiencing Devices for the Modification of Marginal Contexts”, supervisor Andrea Di Franco; Tan Shilong, with the thesis “Virtual Experience in Augmented Exhibition”, supervisor Luigi Cocchiarella.

In 2022 Maryam Khatibi, with the research “Adequate Urban Housing: Case Studies of Novel Settlements of Housing Cooperatives in Zurich, Switzerland. Intermediate Spaces: Enablers of Social Connection”, supervisor Alessandro Rogora, obtained honors; in the same session, two candidates supported by the Chinese Scholarship Council also receive the title: Luyi Liu presents a thesis focused on the comparison between Chinese and European cultures in the field of representation of space and landscape: “The Accessible Frame. Research on ancient Chinese Landscape architecture”, supervisor Luigi Cocchiarella. “The architecture of contemporary art museum in Shanghai: from the inside to the outside” is the research carried out by Xin Xu, under the supervision of Pierluigi Salvadeo, who explores the architecture of the new exhibition spaces with a specific focus on the rapid recent mutations of the Chinese scenery.

In the second session of 2022, Greta Allegretti graduates with the thesis “Architecture and UNESCO buffer zones. The architectural project as a tool for the archaeological sites in fragile territories. From safeguard planning to developing design models for the enhancement of heritage “, supervisor Pier Federico Caliari; Chiara Pradel with the thesis “Monumental Ground. Infrastructures, Construction Sites, Landscape”, supervisor Alessandro Rocca.

In 2023, graduates were eight, with two double doctorates: Carola D’Ambros with the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Paris Versailles studied the Milanese architecture of interiors between 1948 and 1972, supervisors Imma Forino and Annalisa Viati Navone; Alessandro Benetti did research, with the Ecole d’Architecture de Rennes 2, on the coastal post-war developments in France and Italy, supervisors Marco Biraghi and Hélène Jannière. Bogdan Peric studied the Moscow soviet courtyards under the guidance of Alessandro Rocca, Camillo Magni, and Yuri Grigorian; Alberto Petracchin produced a study on the Ark archetype, supervised by Sara Marini (IUAV) and Alessandro Rocca; Wenying Song, supervised by Ilaria Valente, studied the urban form of the city of Quanzhou; Qian Zhang made research on urban microclimate, driven by Alessandro Rogora; Beatrice Balducci studied the safe spaces for extraordinary events, with the supervision of Alessandro Rocca.

In 2024, many candidates are going to defend their thesis. Enrico Miglietta, a double doctor from Polimi and Ku Leuven supervised by Gennaro Postiglione, Annalisa de Curtis, Johan Van Den Berghe, and Thierry Lagrange, presented his research in an uncommon venue at the University of Valencia, Spain. Many other candidates will defend in the next month of this year.

In the wake of the economic opportunities offered, starting from 2021, by the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), the Doctorate expanded and diversified its training offer by activating numerous partnerships with private companies and public bodies. Twenty doctoral students supported by scholarships from different sources are admitted to the XXXVII cycle: PNRR, CSC, the foreign ministry, municipal, government, and foreign universities scholarships; in the XXXVIII cycle, the presence of PNRR grants extends to six units, and overall, the number of doctoral students, those admitted and those currently being accepted, is again around twenty.

The doctorate, therefore, has been changing profoundly in recent years. After a long time, the program was substantially supported thanks to grants financed by the Italian government and provided by the Politecnico di Milano today, the proportions among the grants available have entirely changed, with a very high presence (about 75% of the total) of Ph.D. students financed by third parties, Italian and foreign, academic, public, and industrial. Suppose it is challenging to predict the lines of development in the long term. In that case, it is, however, evident that in the short and medium term, the Doctorate assumes a much greater dimension, in numerical words, and a more composite nature where the non-academic component acquires a new role and where the international network, both for resources and candidates, becomes a vital component even if not the majority.

The changes in the political framework, both internal and foreign, have had immediate, very significant, and positive repercussions on the composition, resources, and scientific physiognomy of the doctorate. From now on, in an overall framework dominated by uncertainty, the qualities, experiences, and skills we have acquired will support us in facing the challenges posed by evolving scenarios in the best possible way. If, indeed, the variables are too many to have a specific look at the future, however, the possibility of finding credit, partnerships, alliances, and cooperation with a diversity of subjects belonging to the most diverse parts of the social body located in different areas, from Milan, which remains the heart of our action, to South America, China, and the Near East. The last cycle saw an impressive growth of the candidates’ number. There were 8 in cycles XXXIII and XXXIV, 20 in cycle XXXV, 16 in the XXXVI, 17 in the XXXVII, 32 in the XXXVIII, and 28 in the XXXIX.

In the future, the AUID doctoral program seems oriented to continue its international, multidisciplinary track, pursuing two main aims. The first one is strengthening the reflection in the specific field of architectural design, comprised of the two scalar borders, the interiors and the urban, growing and questioning the mutual relationship between theory and practice. In this sense, the scenario of design-driven research helps open multiple horizons strictly related to architectural design. The second is facing the contemporary ecological end energetic challenges that, coming from other fields, directly impact architecture, looking for a new balance between the exogenous forces and the most profound nature of architectural history, theory, and practice.

(to be continued)

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Ph.D. programme in Architectural and Landscape Heritage

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Programme overview

This PhD programme aims at responding to the need, shared by both scientific society and socioeconomic reality – especially in the actual cultural, productive and administrative situation characterising the territory – to train figures of researchers and highly-skilled professionals, in possession of the required critical-historical knowledge of cultural heritage and in general of man-made environment; it also provides students with methodologies and practice of integrated intervention – to be applied both at disciplinary level and in other contexts in synergic combination with other skills - which represent the corner stones on which any operational approach focusing on compatibility and sustainability is based on.

Architectural and landscape heritage represents a wide area of research on which this programme is focused, recognising that research disciplinary methodologies are also the basis of any form of heritage conservation.

This programme focuses on heritage, with a view to promoting both knowledge, management and conservation of building environment, and qualification and innovation/transformation processes, compatible with existing environment in order to qualify it, keeping in mind the role assumed by communications.

Key information

Type of programme:, department:, coordinator:.

ROMEO EMANUELE

Vice coordinator:

DAMERI ANNALISA

SPANO' ANTONIA TERESA

Admissions:

Titolo contacts, titolo student office, titolo representative of phd candidates.

The School of Architecture encourages study abroad.  Programs in China, Italy, Morocco, Spain and Switzerland as well as a fall program in London are perennial offerings; in addition, a variety of international embedded travel opportunities are available based on faculty initiatives through courses and design studios in the fall and spring semesters. To study abroad, students must be in good academic standing.  Furthermore, to earn degree credits, students must have a cumulative UVA GPA of no less than 2.50 at the time of application or at the end of the term prior to the commencement of study abroad program or course. These standards apply to UVA study programs and to study abroad programs under the auspices of other institutions or organizations.

The programs administered by the School of Architecture are competitive; priority is given to applicants who have demonstrated academic excellence as reflected in a higher GPA. Applicants to semester and exchange programs are required to have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.50.

For additional information on a School of Architecture education abroad programs, contact the Associate Dean of Academics.

Summer Program in Vicenza, Italy

The program is open to all students in the School of Architecture. Students receive six credits through the International Studies Office.  Extensive field trips to explore the art, architecture, and urbanism of the Veneto region are an essential part of the program. A faculty member of the School of Architecture leads the program. Knowledge of Italian language and cultural customs and traditions is recommended, but not required.

Summer Program in China

The UVA program in China introduces students to Chinese art, architecture, urbanism, and culture. The program includes study trips to sites in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou. The program is open to all students in the School of Architecture. Students receive six credits through the International Studies Office. A faculty member of the School of Architecture, as well as local experts, lead the program.

One of the greatest global challenges of the twenty-first century is Chinese urbanization. Cities change; Chinese cities, through their scale and speed of developments, are at a historically unique moment of distinctive change. This change is producing global consequences. UVA Architecture China Program takes on the challenge to research into the emerging conditions of Chinese cities as they forge unprecedented realities in two of China’s most dynamic city-regions, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta. The program will guide students in the methods of urban research, and visit locations of historical significance, sites of important buildings, and offices of influential architects. Students will work together with professors and students from South China University in Guangzhou on urban research to gain knowledge and insight, and attend talks by leading experts and practitioners in China in architectural design, urban planning, landscape architecture, and history. The research results will be reviewed in Guangzhou in June, and exhibited in Charlottesville in the winter.

Summer Program in Morocco

This program is purposefully designed to fully engage students in contemporary sustainable development efforts taken in Morocco. Participants will engage with different actors involved in Morocco’s sustainable development initiatives including NGO employees, policy makers, researchers, field specialists, entrepreneurs, and students. Topics include urban development projects (new towns and affordable housing developments), renewable energy plants, the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project, the 2016 sustainable tourism charter, cultural preservation efforts, social entrepreneurialism, and other projects that demonstrate Morocco’s commitment to sustainable development. Site visits and meetings with local professionals will be supported by readings, assignments, and discussions lead by co-instructors (UVA faculty), local subject matter experts, and instructors at a local cooperating institution.

Summer Program in Switzerland

The Sustainable Europe program is open to undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Architecture. Students receive six credits through the International Studies Office. This course analyzes trends, planning, and policies in sustainable urban development, water resource management, and sustainable transport in Europe. It is divided into interrelated modules and includes travel to several locations to examine various case studies.  A faculty member from the School of Architecture leads the program.

Fall Program in London, England

This program is open to graduate students in the history of architecture for study at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Students enroll in a full-time course load at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Transfer of credit to U.Va. for use toward degree requirements is arranged prior to participation.

The Department of Architectural History offers second-year Masters of Architectural History students the opportunity to study at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London during the fall semester. Students enroll in the fall term of the Courtauld’s M.A. program in architectural history, which runs from early October until mid-December. In the past, the program has considered issues such as architectural theory, urbanism, drawings, and the concept of the architect. Several site visits are also included in the program.

Fall Program Barcelona, Spain

The School of Architecture offers a full semester program in Barcelona. The Barcelona semester abroad program is a fall option for Graduate students in any program in the school, subject to advisor and director approval. The program includes courses in studio design, urban and architectural history and 20th Century design practices. Courses are taught by UVA faculty in collaboration with faculty in local universities.  

Extended Embedded Travel Program Venice, Italy

The Venice Program offers a unique collaborative experience:  the study of a centuries-old relationship between dwelling, the land, and in this case, the water.  Being immersed in the daily rituals of a foreign culture and in material, spatial constructs takes an unparalleled hold on the imagination.  In a one-semester, fifteen-credit curriculum, the students retrace the urbanization of Venice and the Veneto, attend lectures and visit exemplars of the development of Venetian art and architecture, conduct independent research and participate in a design studio. The Venice program’s focus on strategies for resilience in dynamic settings is grounded in an understanding of landscape processes, the multiple histories embodied in the cities, buildings, and art, and the cultural structures that enable communal life. The complexities of building and rebuilding a city in a preposterous landscape emerge again as contemporary challenges operate at nested scales of daily life, material constructs, and landscape systems.  The School of Architecture has a longstanding connection to Venice and the Veneto, initiated by the late Professor Mario di Valmarana over 40 years ago. As a commitment to Mario’s legacy, the school has continued the program through the generosity of alumni who have funded numerous student scholarships and the Mario di Valmarana Professorship.  The semester-length program in Venice builds upon this deep tradition to offer the students of the School of Architecture the opportunity for immersion in the rich art, architecture, and landscape of the unfathomable cultural life of Venice.

The program is open to fourth-year undergraduates and final year graduate students of all of the disciplines of the School of Architecture. Following three weeks of structuring a research focus and initiating urban analysis in Charlottesville, the students embark on a six-week residence in Venice from mid-September to the end of October. Upon their return, students apply lessons from Venice in an immersive design studio or independent study.

PhD Programmes

Academic year 2023/2024.

• Architecture
• Engineering
• Aerospace Engineering Engineering Campus: Bovisa Language: English
• Architectural Urban Interior Design Architecture Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering Architecture Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Bioengineering Engineering Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Data Analytics and Decision Sciences Engineering Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Design Design Campus: Bovisa Language: English
• Electrical Engineering Engineering Campus: Bovisa Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Energy and Nuclear Science and Technology Engineering Campus: Bovisa Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering Engineering Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Engineering Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Information Technology Engineering Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Management Engineering Engineering Campus: Bovisa Language: English
• Materials Engineering Engineering Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Mathematical Models and Methods in Engineering Engineering Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Mechanical Engineering Engineering Campus: Bovisa Language: English
• Physics Engineering Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Preservation of the Architectural Heritage Architecture Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Science, Technology, and Policy for Sustainable Change Engineering Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Structural Seismic and Geotechnical Engineering Engineering Campus: Leonardo Language: English
• Urban Planning, Design, and Policy Architecture Campus: Leonardo Language: English