In the 90’s the first italian degree in Industrial design was estabilshed in Milan at “Politecnico di Milano” thanks to a deep culture in handicraft and industry spread all over the region of Lombardy. This culture played a fundamental role both in the design practices - profession and in teaching. Since its foundation, the didactic methods has been quite different compared to the traditional ones, offering a didactic path developed on an inductive approach to the project.
The “Laboratori di progetto” (Design studio) are focused on a project under the tutoring of a teaching staff composed by professors of the School of Design, free lance professionals from different companies and practices. Different competencies and approaches give a complete overview to the design students. “Design studio” are located in a intermediate discipline area between “knowing something” and “knowing how to do something”. Subjects inside the Design studio are partly theoretical and partly practical. Within the “Design studio” students acquire the design tools and the practices of design.
Within this framework, the School of Design started since the beginning of its activities to implement didactic and research projects involving several international schools of design. Nowadays, these cooperations are under institutional programs (LLP/Erasmus etc.) and non-institutional ones thanks to spontaneous agreements depending on shared interests, approaches, fields of applications.
Institutional programs include the followings didactic offer:
- Master in Fashion Design in collaboration with FIT Fashion Insititute of Technology, New York, USA
- MEDes degree: in cooperation with Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, The University of Art and Design (UIAH), Helsinki, Finland, Konstfack University College of Arts, Stockholm, Sweden, Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Kunste, Stuttgart, Germany, ENSCI Les Ateliers, Paris, France, Köln International School of Design - KiSD, Köln, Germany. It allows to BA-MA students to spend 2 years out of 5 (3+2) in 2 foreign countries
- I.P. (Intensive Programme) under LLP/Erasmus with Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen Kortrijk, Belgium about Design&Engineering
Non institutional programs include the folllowing didactic offer:
- GIDE (Group for International Design Education) with Mechelen University College, Belgium, Leeds College of Art and Design, Great Britain, Academy of Art and Design St Joost, Avans Hogeschool Breda,The Netherlands, Supsi, Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzeria Italiana, Switzerland, University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Germany. It involves Interior and Product Design courses on a shared theme developed in one semester
- Annual Workshop: with Ecole Boulle, Paris, France, involving Interior Design
- ”Trait d’Union” Workshop with Ecole Nationale Des Beaux Arts De Lyon And Ecole Regionale Des Beaux Arts De St Etienne, France, involving Urban Design (exhibition etc.)