The educational programme finds its core in architectural design at different scales, from the object to the building, the city, the territory: it is structured like a process, and uses in its own procedures, constitutes a tool for knowledge and experiential activities-science, which deals with the physical reality in view of a modification of useful and necessary for life and living and the needs of human life associated. The corpus of the discipline, with its own rules and principles, constitutes the basis and direction of project activities, on the basis of its specific status, in which the experience of architecture over time forms the basis of every theory and every subsequent experience .
As a result, and specifically, the degree of Master of Science in Architecture will be able to govern the processes of the project and recognize the extent of its interference, as well as thorough knowledge of the history of architecture, tools and forms of representation, theoretical and scientific aspects, methodological and operational aspects of mathematics and other basic sciences, and be able to use this knowledge to interpret and describe in detail the architecture even complex problems, including those that require interdisciplinary expertise, and finally he must have knowledge in field of organization and construction of enterprise culture, in the light of their own professional ethics.
Graduates of the 2nd cycle Degree in architecture must be able to design, at different scales, using the typical tools of architecture, including the ones related to design sciences, and shall have the skills to verify the feasibility of the project, the building, operations, the operations of transformation and modification of the physical natural and artificial environment, with full awareness of the aesthetic, distribution, functional, structural, technical-constructional, infrastructural, managerial, economic and environmental aspects as well as with a critical attention to cultural changes and to the needs expressed by contemporary society. In addition to preparing the projects of architecture, graduates of this course manage their implementation, coordinating as necessary for those purposes other specialists and professionals in the fields of architecture, building engineering, urban planning, restoration , and of architectural conservation. In this regard the universities organize outdoor activities such as apprenticeships and internships.
Educational activities are divided into two cycles.
The first cycle, lasting three years, provides humanistic, scientific and technological core education Students, at the end of the 1st cycle, should demonstrate the acquisition of the basic principles of architectural logic, of its constitution, of the history of the fundamental components of the architectural space, as well as of the basic architectural representation techniques and the propaedeutical disciplines to the technical control of projects; they should be able to arrive to a first synthesis of the project in its aesthetic, technical and functional traits.
The 2nd cycle, lasting two years, aims at the completion of studies, and to the final examination, in view of specific professional investigations.
After completion of the 2nd cycle and through examinations, students should be able to demonstrate they can produce operational project syntheses in the fields of architectural and town planning design, of architectural construction and of monument restoration; they should also be able to produce thematic and disciplinary in-depth studies in view of the degree dissertation.
A part of the educational programme aims at the learning and knowledge of theories, methods and disciplines; another part, namely a theoretical-practical one, aims at the learning and practice of know how in the field of professional specific instrumental activities. For these theoretical-practical activities, studios are instituted: these are educational facilities aiming at project knowledge, comprehension and practice. Attendance to studio activities is mandatory, and controlled by the professors in charge.
To ensure an adequate educational assistance, as per EC recommendation (art.1, par.2), a personalised teacher-learner relationship should be granted during studio activities, such as to enable teacher to verify single student's projects; for this reason, no more than 50 students are admitted for each studio.
Workshops include: Architectural Design Studio, Laboratory of Architectural Construction, Urban Planning Workshop, Laboratory of restoration of monuments, and other laboratories specifically indicated in the Educational Programme in the disciplines of design, interior architecture in its various aspects, and in other activities involving the design at different scales. Laboratories might be divided in modules integrate many disciplines. The integration may relate to one subject area, or different subject areas.
Some parts of the educational activity might be carried out within qualified structures in scientific research institutes, as well as in the research and development branches of public or private companies and agencies in the field of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Town Planning, through ad hoc agreements which might entail also the use of experts belonging to these structures and institutes for special educational activities (intensive courses, seminars, stages).
