Department of architecture
Department of architecture
Via Quartieri, 8
44121 Ferrara
IT
N 44° 50' 0.18'', E 44° 50' 0.18''
http://architettura.unife.it/it
Head of Architecture
Bachelor of Science
International PhD
Over 1000 people – professors, technical-administrative and service personnel, students – who cross each other’s paths, meet, work or study together on the campus of the Department of Architecture, form, ever
since the Ferrara School of Architecture was established, a university community strongly cemented by common goals, identity and a sense of belonging.Such a community finds in the educational programmes of the Degree Course in Architecture and Industrial Product Design – as well as other distinctive activities of the University, such as research, development of cultural projects, career guidance – the fundamental elements of sharing, collaboration, identification and action.
The faculty is made of around 140 professors, of which 40 are lecturers for an indefinite period and fixed-term
researchers, while the rest are involved in teaching as Lecturers on contract, a formula that employs, in addition to research Doctors and Fellows, a significant number of carefully selected outside professionals.
The Ferrara School of Architecture has focused on hiring professors by drawing freely and strategically from the world of culture, institutions and occupations. A strongly motivated faculty, constantly present in teaching and active in research, the profession and cultural projects.
In terms of numbers, the students (around 800 attending the Degree Course in Architecture and 150 the Degree Course in Industrial Product Design), undoubtedly represent the most significant human component
in terms of presence, liveliness and vitality: the very future of society and Italian Universities.
The new Department of Architecture at the University of Ferrara currently promotes and coordinates both research programmes and educational activities, the latter managed until a few years ago by the Faculty of
Architecture, active since Academic Year 1991-1992.
While its history goes back little more than twenty years, the Ferrara School of Architecture offers a wealth of events, outstanding choices and a reputation gained nationally and internationally.
The school focused on the direct and collaborative relationship between students and faculty, engaging in recruiting young researchers and lecturers, even from the professional world, then placing many in
a stable academic career. There has also been an equally constant effort to select a set of qualified students from all over Italy by reformulating, year after year, the entry methods and the number of those enrolled as a function of the changes generated by various university reforms, and the expansion of areas dedicated to teaching with the recovery of the large campus surrounding the monumental core of the Tassoni Estense Palace.
The Ferrara School of Architecture, in order to ensure a good connection between the university and the
professional world, has over the years launched internships and professional training opportunities, facilitating the entry of graduates into the labour market.
Aware of the evolution that modern society has incurred, the Ferrara School of Architecture has encouraged students to take on work experiences abroad. The relationships and international student exchanges with Universities from around the European Union, with which we enjoy the Erasmus and Atlante Programmes, are many; there are also frequent, intense collaborative initiatives with Universities from South America, North America, Africa and New Zealand. For years, the Ferrara School of Architecture has enjoyed first place in the CENSIS classification of Italian universities, which qualitatively assesses Italian Universities, and has repeatedly ranked first among Architecture Schools.
In 2013-2014 the Ferrara School of Architecture was selected by DOMUS as one of the best 100 European Schools of Architecture and Design.
Dean
Prof. Roberto Di Giulio
roberto.digiulio@unife.it
Vice-Dean
Prof. Marcello Balzani
marcello.balzani@unife.it
External Relations and Communication
Manager
Prof. Alfonso Acocella
alfonso.acocella@unife.it
Administrative secretariat
Manager
Dr. Maria Elena Chendi
che@unife.it
DEPARTMENT OFFICE
Via della Ghiara, 36
44121 Ferrara
Tel. +39 0532 293600
646 staff members (646 full-time and approx. 0 visiting lecturers and critics).
Information on student accommodation can be supplied by the International Mobility and Foreign students Office. Alternatively you can book a room in the Student’s Hostel http://www.ostelloferrara.it/eng/Home-Page.xhtml and look for accommodation once you have arrived in Ferrara.
For further information, visit: http://www.informagiovani.fe.it/
EU-citizens residing abroad requesting recognition of their academic qualification must refer to the Italian Embassy-Consulate offices in the country where the school/university that issued the diploma is based if different from the student's country of residence. Italian consular authorities will forward our university all the translated, approved documents and the declaration of value. In order to get educational qualifications recognised, students should attach:
High school diploma, Academic degree obtained, Transcript of University records, Detailed programme of each subject/exam taken.
EU students resident anywhere and non-EU citizens with a valid “Permesso di soggiorno” can apply for enrolment with the above-mentioned documents directly to the faculty secretary’s office, after having had these documents translated and approved and having attached the declaration of value (obtained from the Italian Embassy-Consulate offices in the country where the diploma was issued).
Admission Test is held in September.
Please contact university for further information.
From July to August. Please contact university for exact deadline.
First cycle – Year 1-2
Basic Education
Second cycle – Year 3-4
Technical, scientific and professional education
Third Cycle – Year 5
Laying the groundwork for the dissertation
Architecture
Degree Course Coordinator: Prof. Riccardo Dalla Negra
riccardo.dallanegra@unife.it
Students’ Advisor: Dr. Sara Fortini
manager.lm.architettura@unife.it
DA course contact person: Serenetta Brina
serenetta.brina@unife.it
Degree course information
www.unife.it/architettura/lm.architettura
Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science [Industrial Design], 6 terms, Bachelor, 180,
First cycle – Year 1-2
Basic, technical and creative education
Third Cycle – Year 3
Laying the groundwork for the dissertation
Degree Course Coordinator
Prof. Alfonso Acocella
alfonso.acocella@unife.it
Students’ Advisor
Dr. Sara Fortini
manager.design@unife.it
DA course contact person
Serenetta Brina
serenetta.brina@unife.it
Degree course information
www.unife.it/interfacolta/design
International PhD, International PhD in Urban Planning (idaup), PhD,
Coordinator
Prof. Roberto Di Giulio
roberto.digiulio@unife.it
Vice-Coordinator
Prof. Vezir Muharremaj
vezir_muharremay@universitetipolis.
edu.al
DA PhD Programme
Supervisor
Prof. Theo Zaffagnini
theo.zaffagnini@unife.it
POLIS University PhD Programme
Supervisor
Prof. Loris Rossi
loris_rossi@universitetipolis.edu.al
International PhD Programme –
29th associated cycle between:
University of Ferrara –
Department of Architecture
(Home Institution)
Polis University – Tirana (ALB)
University of Malta –
Faculty for the Built Environment
Associate Member 2014
PhD OFFICE
Department of Architecture
Via della Ghiara, 36
44121 Ferrara
Tel. +39 0532 293600
www.architettura.unife.it
MASTERS DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURE
Single-cycle Masters Degree (5 years) – Class LM-4 / Construction Engineering and Architecture
This Course aims to train the professional architect in accordance with current European directives, and
leads to the conferring of the title of Masters Degree once the entire cycle has been completed.
The educational aims of the Course are those included in Class LM-4 with special reference to the field of architectural and urban design at different scales of application and architectural restoration.
The Degree Course in Architecture is the “engine” that allowed the Ferrara School of Architecture to stand out
and become established nationally and internationally, with ties with over 60 European and non-European
universities. The legal duration of the Masters Degree in Architecture is five years; limited places available. To enrol, you must pass an admission test. The test is a multiple choice test, designed nationally, and it is organised around the following topics: general knowledge and logic, history, drawing and rendering, physics and mathematics. The degree course has set up a double degree project with the University of Curitiba, Brazil.
DEGREE COURSE IN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCT DESIGN
Degree (3 years) – Class L-4 / Industrial design
This Course aims to train professionals capable of interpreting the explicit and implicit needs of society and to translate them into tangible, meaningful, useful and functional objects that can be produced industrially and are environmentally sustainable. Teaching is designed to provide students with the design methods and tools to operate in the market with up-to-date skills. At various stages of the Degree Course there are activities for understanding the nature of objects, the characteristics of materials and production processes, the role of design, modelling and creation of three-dimensional prototypes, communication design leading from the concept stage all the way to the finished product and its promotion in the market. The Degree Course in Industrial Product Design has limited places available. To enrol, you must pass the admission test. The test is a multiple choice test, designed locally, and it is organised around the following topics: general knowledge and logic, history, drawing and rendering, physics and mathematics, production processes. The degree course has set up a double degree project with the University of Curitiba, Brazil.
INTERNATIONAL phD
International PhD in Urban Planning (idaup)
The international PhD lasts three years, has English as the official language and includes two curricula: Architecture and Urban Planning. The University of Ferrara and Tirana Polis University will confer a double
doctoral degree. The aim of the PhD is to train high-profile researchers who can work on the most current topics of scientific research in contact with industry (tangible and intangible), public administrations, research
bodies, the construction market. The aim of the Architecture curriculum is to pursue mutually supportive strategies between the reasons for the project, process and production, by opening up to technologies using innovative materials, industrial design, restoration and redevelopment interventions, while respecting environmental sustainability. Curriculum:
1) Theories and methods of design and sustainable construction;
2) Inclusive and sustainable design,access for all, access to spaces, products and services;
3) Innovative materials and technologies for architecture
and structural design;
4) Innovative techniques and materials for the restoration and preservation of historic building heritage, recovery and maintenance of constructions and considerations on buildings’ life-cycles (LCA).
The Urban Planning curriculum tackles subjects of “public space” associated with the evolution of the social, economical, environmental context, with an indepth study of the role of discipline as a critical, reading,
design tool of urban and territorial transformations through the lens of sustainable development, with an
interdisciplinary and international approach. Curriculum:
1) The city of today and tomorrow, between protection of the environment and redevelopment of existing urban fabric: requirements for retrofitting and new social demands for housing quality and urban liveability;
2) The role of the historical and cultural heritage of the built environment and landscape in urban development in a post-industrial economy, with special reference to local sustainable development policies;
3) Land, landscape and redevelopment of the built environment, between infrastructural interventions, new sources of energy and climate change.
4) Government of the territory through targeted development policies such as soil management and planning tools and resource management.
RESEARCH IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
Through this brief publication, the Department of Architecture of the University of Ferrara presents all the various facilities that operate within. Professors and researchers from over ten Scientific and Disciplinary Sectors are part of the DA. The organisation of various work groups – which in many cases brings together multiple sectors – is based on a system divided in Departmental Centres, Workshops and Research units, and on a model that takes into account the multi-disciplinary composition of the operative units, the flexibility of the structures, and, above all, the capacity to adapt the distribution of available resources and forces to the needs and priorities of the sectors where the research activities are being developed.
Today, three Departmental Centres, six Research Laboratories, eight Research Units are active in the DA.
This arrangement is the result of a maturing process which has benefited from the contribution of, on the one
hand, the development and consolidation (or sometimes the radical transformation) of structures in operation
since the first years of activity of the Department of Architecture; on the other, the birth of new work groups
that have progressively broadened the sectors of scientific research and production.
From the documents regarding the areas of expertise and the activities of the Centres, Workshops and Research Units, two particularly significant aspects emerge concerning the identity itself of the Department
of Architecture: the multidisciplinary structure that characterises most of the operative units and the central
role of international relationships in the development strategies of research activities. These two factors have played a decisive role in the steady increase of the number of activities and projects in which the DA collaborates with the Departments and Research Centres in our own and other Universities, with foreign Universities and with public and private institutions from the European Community and many other countries. Another area that registered constant growth, is our collaboration and research conventions with Local Administrations, Public Bodies, and Companies; this is an extremely important factor, not just for the
resources that it produces, but above all in terms of recognition of the role of service that the University must be able to provide to the community.
Lastly, a policy of diffusion of research results and knowledge sharing includes training activities, both in the area of postgraduate studies, as well as in that 21 of professional development and refresher courses.
The Centres and Workshops of the Department of Architecture also organise seminars, workshops, summer schools, professional refresher and training courses for designers, technicians and operators in the construction industry, together with other public and private groups.
The DA is also home to the International PhD in Architecture and Urban Planning (IDAUP). The Department of Architecture is a body with financial and administrative autonomy.
The Department Dean is responsible for its management and is elected from the Ordinary Professors by the members of the Board of the Department, a collegial body for planning and managing activities.
