Presentation

The Department of Architecture (DA) is characterised by a young leadership team, with a teaching staff with an average age of forty, and is part of an academic institution, the Alma Mater, that boasts a long tradition and acclaimed standing on the national, European and world stage. 

The Department’s administrative headquarters are in Cesena but in terms of teaching as well as research, it operates across three locations forming the University’s multi-campus organisation: Cesena and Bologna.

Since its new constitution (in application of Law 240/2010), the Department has redefined its educational offering to take into account continuing changes, as well as the complexity of design and construction processes. 

In Cesena, the Single Cycle Master’s Degree in Architecture trains professional figures with specific skills in architectural and urban design, town and landscape planning, technological, structural and environmental design, architectural restoration, conservation and enhancement of architectural heritage, and interior design. The Master's degree course in Architecture is designed to train new professional figures capable of dealing with the complexity of building production and the transformations of contemporary cities at both the local and territorial level. 

In Bologna, the First Cycle Degree in Architecture-Engineering trains professional figures capable of integrating architectural and technological solutions of a multidisciplinary nature, both in the field of new construction and in that of building renovation and urban regeneration. Students will acquire sound mathematical-physical, historical and representational knowledge, and the course includes design laboratories to encourage integrated training, open to constructive dialogue with specialists from the various technological and scientific sectors involved in the construction or redevelopment of buildings and settlements. 

Completing the cycle are two international Master's degree courses in Architecture and Creative Practices for the City and Landscape and in Building Engineering-Architecture, taught at the Bologna campus. 

The Master's Degree in Architecture and Creative Practices for the City and Landscape trains innovative professional figures capable of tackling the most demanding challenges facing European cities: from climate change to cultural integration, from increasing urbanisation to the preservation of city identity, from circular development to the knowledge economy. The programme is entirely based on an innovative multidisciplinary approach that is evident in workshops with a strong application- and market-oriented focus. A Dual Degree agreement with the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and other international thesis and internship agreements allow students to spend part of their course time studying abroad. 

The Master's Degree in Building Engineering-Architecture trains multidisciplinary professional figures capable of planning and managing all aspects of complex buildings in the fields of building renovation, new construction and urban regeneration, in particular through the use of innovative planning and integration strategies in the urban context. The programme focuses on these issues through a conscious approach to the use of materials, technologies and energy sources.  

In addition to these courses, since the 2013-2014 academic year the Department has been offering a First-Cycle Degree in Industrial Design, and since the 2016-2017 academic year, a Master's Degree in Advanced Design. 

The First-Cycle Degree in Industrial Design is oriented towards basic training of a general nature, but above all towards the mechanical engineering sector, taking into account a manufacturing sector which in Bologna, is recognised as being of national and international importance. In the start-up phase, the degree course was supported by major companies operating in the packaging sector, envisaging teaching with close links to the Italian manufacturing industry. 

The Master's Degree in Advanced Design aims to train designers with expertise in design innovation for the creation of new products and services. It is a project that stems from pioneering research in the field of industrial design, particularly with reference to the scientific achievements of the last decade in the areas of strategies and methods for innovation in industry, and the production of goods, services and advanced product-service systems. 

The Master's Degree is a multidisciplinary course aimed, on the one hand, at training professional figures for the design of innovative products with an approach that integrates the strategic vision of a given company and its production capacities and skills (strategic design, management and knowledge of materials processes and technologies for production), and, on the other hand, at training professional figures capable of designing innovative services consistent with a city's strategic vision of development, infrastructures, governance models and citizens' needs (service design, open innovation, new information technology and interaction systems). 

This dual vision is reflected through two curricula: 'Advanced product and process design', and 'Advanced service design for the built environment' respectively. 

The Department of Architecture also offers a PhD in Architecture and Design Cultures, with annually scheduled scholarships. 

The PhD covers the fields of architectural composition, urban planning, history, aesthetics, design, restoration, technology and industrial design, combining basic and applied research for an interdisciplinary, international and cross-sectoral perspective. Research work is developed based on thematic areas that are mainly aimed at graduates of architecture, building engineering and industrial design, as well as graduates in other humanistic and technical-scientific degree subjects who wish to develop specific studies in the field of architecture and design cultures