Master’s Degree in Architectural Design and History

The master's degree in Architectural Design and History integrates architectural design, technical disciplines and humanistic foundations. The curriculum explores advanced architectural design, restoration and surveying, sustainability and environmental management, management of the built heritage and urban planning in historic contexts, with optional courses for technical or humanistic specialisation. The programme is located in Mantua, a historic city, and uses the urban context as a setting for study and experimentation, with attention to the relationship between contemporary design and existing structures. The Mantua campus, in a city recognised by UNESCO for its heritage, offers an open-air laboratory in which to study the relationship between history, architecture and urban transformation, and allows students to engage with buildings, public spaces and landscapes that represent significant cases of conservation and design.

The programme lasts two years, is held in person in Mantua and is offered in English and Italian. Teaching includes design labs, single-subject courses and integrated seminars, and in the second year a final multidisciplinary workshop. Distinctive elements include the affiliation to the UNESCO Chair "Architectural Preservation and Planning in Heritage Cities", a network of 950 universities in the world and the annual MantovArchitettura festival. For admission, Italian graduates of the AUIC School are admitted directly if they obtained their degree within four years and meet the N/V parameter; other candidates are assessed on merit and must demonstrate a knowledge of English. The page does not state credits, hours or class size. The integration of design, restoration, surveying and history makes it possible to train architects able to intervene on the built environment with critical awareness, and the activities linked to the MantovArchitettura festival and to the international network of the UNESCO Chair open opportunities for dialogue with scholars and professionals from other countries.

The aim is to train architects with solid design preparation and in-depth knowledge of history and heritage. Graduates can enter private practice, public administration, research institutions, consulting and international organisations, as well as roles linked to heritage conservation and urban regeneration. The programme is aimed at bachelor's graduates in architecture who wish to specialise in design in historic contexts and in heritage recovery, a field in which demand for integrated technical and cultural skills is particularly high in Italy and abroad. The final multidisciplinary workshop in the second year is a moment of synthesis, in which students work on a complex theme with different skills, and is a useful experience in preparing for the thesis and for working in groups that include architects, engineers, historians, restorers and territorial administrators.