Dean: prof. Arturo Dell’Acqua Bellavitis
Vice-Dean: prof. Marisa Galbiati
Acting Vice-Dean: prof. Margherita Pillan

Milan has a long tradition of professional design practice, which grew out of the material culture of craftsmanship and industry in Lombardy at the beginning of the last century and boomed after the war and in the fifties with an original, authoritative voice.

Industrial Design oversees the designing and enhancement of industrial products, integrating design disciplines (rooted in art and architecture) with technological (engineering and information technology based) and management (economics linked) disciplines.

For over fifty years industrial design has been part of Universities and Scientific/Technological Institutions throughout the world: first in the industrialized European countries, in North America and in Japan; later in emerging and recently developed countries such as India, China, Brazil, Argentina, Korea and Taiwan.

In 1993 Milan, with its Politecnico, became the elective birthplace of the Degree Course in Industrial Design, the first of its kind in Italy. The Politecnico is a place of avant-garde training, a meeting point of different cultures. It links architectural and artistic studies, with their creativity and focus on form, to technical, scientific and engineering studies. In addition, this university is noteworthy for its longstanding dialogue with the great entrepreneurial management tradition of small and medium enterprises which enrich the territory of Lombardy and of Italy in general.

The history of the Degree Course in Industrial Design – Design Faculty since June 2000 and now the Design School – is characterized by its constant desire to experiment innovative, experimental development lines that respond to the real market needs of contemporary society.

The Design School in the Politecnico di Milano is today the largest international university for the training of product, communication, interior and fashion designers, both by number of students and of teaching staff.

It is active in two campuses, Milan and Como, one in New Delhi (Gurgaon, India), all both newly built. The following figures give some idea of its extent: approx. 5000 students, over 400 teaching staff and a further 400 or so research and teaching assistants working in various capacities; over 900 graduates working as professional designers or employed by production firms and service companies.

Degree programs are organized at two levels: 3 year first level degree (Bachelor or B.Sc) and a further 2 year second level degree “Laurea Magistrale” (Master or M.Sc).

There are currently 4 first level degree programs (3 years):

Industrial product design (Milan and Como and New Delhi – Gurgaon, India) – Specializations in Product and Furnishing
Communication design (Milan and New Delhi – Gurgaon, India)
Fashion Design (Milan and New Delhi – Gurgaon, India)
Interior design (Milan and New Delhi – Gurgaon, India)

There are currently 7 Laurea Magistrale programs (2 years):

Product design for Innovation (Milan and New Delhi – Gurgaon, India)
Communication design (Milan)
Fashion System design (Milan and New Delhi – Gurgaon, India)
Interior design (Milan and New Delhi – Gurgaon, India)
Design and Engineering (Milan) – Specializations in Virtual, Manufacturing and Material design
Product Service Systems Design Italian member of the MEDes Network (Master of European Design) (Milan)
Naval and Nautical Design (La Spezia, Genoa, Milan)

In addition to these two levels of degree program the university also offers a wide range of first level university Master diplomas, admission after the three year Bachelor degree, and second level Master diplomas, admission after the M.Sc. Finally, M.Sc graduates may be admitted to a research doctorate (PhD) in the INDACO department, a top qualification in the field of design research.

GIUNTA della SCUOLA DEL DESIGN
Presidenza
Arturo Dell’Acqua Bellavitis, Marisa Galbiati
Coordinatori CCS
Alba Cappellieri, Alberto Cigada, Paolo Ciuccarelli, Luisa Collina, Luciano Crespi, Pizzocaro Silvia
Dipartimenti raccordati
Gabriele Pasqui, Stefano Della Torre, Maurizio Masi, Marta Rink, Silvia Piardi, Gianantonio Magnani, Gianpaolo Cugola, Cristina Masella, Gianpaolo Rosati, Stefano Mariani, Piercesare Secchi, Franca Caliò, Ferruccio Resta
Coordinatore del dottorato di design
Francesco Trabucco
Rappresentanti degli Studenti
Samuel Da Cruz samuel.dacruz@mail.polimi.it
Damiano Meggiolaro damiano.maggiolaro@mail.polimi.it

SCHOOL OF FASHON & DESIGN, New Delhi (Gurgaon, India) DEAN, Sanjay Gupta