Master Program of Interior Design

Interior Design I - 6 CREDITS -

In this course the class will be focus on the advanced aspects of interior design and will talk about the less obvious design principles. The students will study their client, interpret his/her wishes, lifestyle and needs in order to develop a project that fully reflects him/her. Here the challenge is not dealing with the small spaces, but it is creating spaces that in 3 dimensional undefined space, is might be not explainable by the classic architectural methods like plans and section. In residential design there is a simple and direct relationship with the customer. This makes the job less complicated. Now it is time to include other issues that make our job much more interesting but also complicated. If you are an exhibition designer you must convey the message in a legible and simple way in a clear architectural language and you have to consider social factors to attract more visitors. Ergonomics here will mean, “How we interact with the ambient around us psychologically”. Two projects will be addressed in this semester: a stand for Venice' Architecture'Biennale,'Mostra'di'Architettura'di'Venezia. It will be provided plans and sections of a typical space in Arsenale. One of the main venues of the Biennale, and each group choose a concept related to the theme to then recount and embody it in an architectural space. The second project is a loft for a “strong” client. The project will have to be “tailor made”.

Furniture Design - 6 CREDITS -

This course will be composed of two parts which are theoretical part and its practical application. The theory will start with overview of furniture design history and continue with lectures on different concepts, typology, ergonomics, materials, furniture construction and furniture production technology, technical drawings and 3D visualization and presentation which are related to furniture design. Emphasis in practical part is put on construction and technology of furniture manufacturing, on principles of industrial design for small and large scale production, but also for tailor-made solutions for individual users. In the practical part the students will learn the methodology of furniture design thus how to generate conceptual ideas and work them through to a final manufacturing stage for various clients and private as well as public users.

Interior Decoration - 6 CREDITS -

This is an advanced course designed to equip students with industry standards on how to approach an advanced decorating project. This course is tightly structured so that students are able to quickly learn how decorate a space. Through a series of lectures and project exercises, the student learns a step by step process of how to observe a space, how to evaluate it, how to break it down and finally how to determine what is needed and what needs to be done to give the space it’s true value. Through the application of the different design and decorating principles, students learn how to effectively use color, how to apply textures, which fabrics to use, how to introduce lighting, they learn what kind of furniture to select, what accessories to use and finally how to select from the different types of design styles. At the end of the course, students are well equipped with the necessary tools needed to transform any space into a professionally designed space.

3D Graphic Design - 6 CREDITS -

The course will provide students with no starting knowledge enough skills to use Autodesk 3d Studio Max as a professional user, to add photorealistic rendering as tool to express their projects. Students will learn how to navigate through the interface of the software and how to use all different file manager options. Course will be subdivided then in three main areas, which are modeling, materials and rendering. Modeling techniques will include use of standard and extended primitives as well as other parametric objects. Then we will study how to use splines and how to integrate cad drawings inside this 3d software. Modeling includes also very specific tools like modifiers and Boolean operations. Last area to explore into modeling will be how to use editable poly in a designer workflow. Materials is the topic that will give the student the ability to give 3d models the look he has imagined, exploring several parameters and techniques like UVW mapping to reach a photorealistic aspect. In the rendering part of the course we will explore everything related to “take a picture” of previously created 3d models. Students will learn how to set lights in a virtual environment, to simulate both artificial and natural conditions. They will learn how to properly set cameras inside a project and all those complex parameters that will involve final creation a rendered image ready for a professional presentation. During the course, exercises will be given to the students according to their design field. After seven weeks there will be a mid-term exam to check overall level of each class. This course will also have a final project to be developed individually related to the student design field.

Sketching - 6 CREDITS -

The course will introduce students to the fundaments of drawing, by exploring different approaches and techniques. Included activities will be outdoor sketching on several locations in Florence and practicing at the museums. Each lesson will have a theoretic part with examples slides and demos, as well as a practical part with exercises. The focus will be on interior, industrial and on graphic design. The goal of this course is to provide the students the appropriated tools in order to be able to express their own ideas and concepts on paper. The teaching consists on a learning-by-doing method with increasing difficulty to cover different tasks and different levels of accomplishment. The instructor will always be at hand for further advices, coaching and guiding students through their projects. A Projector with camera is also available for Video tutorials and live-sketching demonstrations. For the evaluation of each single student a mid-term project and an end-of-the term project will be requested to presented in class with individual and group critiques. the course heavily focuses on developing fundamental skills. No previous drawing experience is demanded, classes are held in English. The main tasks are learning how “to see” better by practicing observational drawing, getting to know the importance of perspective and how to apply it to your design. Besides gaining ability in understand values, light and shadow and 3d effects, students are also requested to plan out, execute, compose and deliver a project within time-limitation.

Revit C.A.D. - 6 CREDITS -

The course will provide students with no starting knowledge enough skills to use Autodesk Revit as a professional user, to add parametric architectural modeling as tool to express their projects. Students will learn how to navigate through the interface of the software and how to use all different file manager options as well as mouse and keyboard shortcuts. This software is an example of a huge family of softwares categorized as BIM ( building information modeling). Students will start learning how to use simple tools like WALL, DOOR, WINDOW, FLOOR. Then tools and techniques will become more complex and deeper adding operators like ROOF, STAIRS, COMPONENT and many others. This software will provide the student with a bit of previous experience in cad drawing a powerful tool to speed up operations like drawing several floorplan layouts, elevations and sections. At the same time student will better understand in 3d interactions between all parts of a building making basically impossible to create “wrong” final project presentations. Even if BIM softwares are often used with ready made objects, during this class each student will learn how to highly and professionally customize all parts of his projects. As a professional way to present a project, students will also learn how to properly set and use all printing options to create drawings that will result: detailed, readable and in scale. Students will explore rendering capabilities of this software. During the course, exercises will be given to the students based on architectural examples. After seven weeks there will be a mid-term exam to check overall level of each class. This course will also have a final project to be developed individually related to a famous architecture chosen in between the student and the teacher.

Art History I - 6 CREDITS -

The advanced course on the history of interior design wants to provide the basic tools to understand the meanings of design, in order to create in the students a critical skill and a sensibility necessary to assess the role of design today. The study of design, its development, the historical and social context and its evolution thorough the centuries, is a useful way both to explore the past and to make sense of the visual communication of modern life. The advanced course will cover the history of interior design from the Modern Movement of the early 20th century, studying and analyzing the life and the artworks of its protagonists (Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Marcel Breuer, Herbert Bayer) and will reach the contemporary age, with the personalities that are “moulding" the 21st century design: Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Philip Stark, Ross Lovegrove, Thomas Heatherwick, Zaha Hadid and others. The students will be able to understand the past in order to shape the present and create the interior design of the contemporary age.

Italian Language I - 6 CREDITS -

The course is designed for absolute beginner students and is aimed at developing basic communication skills. A communicative approach will be used. The course will be in Italian. Students will improve the four skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening and speaking. At the end of the course students should be able to understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type; introduce themselves and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where they live, people they know and things they have; interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. Grammatical content such as the present tense, the definite and indefinite articles, singular/plural, the demonstrative and possessive adjectives and the prepositions are studied.

Interior Design II - 6 CREDITS -

In this advanced interior design course there will be a particular focus on exhibition and retail design wgere the project is to display a specimen through a complicated and technical process; object in a well studied and determined pathway will be presented under certain visual aspects to make the object exalt. Now it's time to show up! just a pinch of branding and “Retail Design” is born! Retail design is a discipline that not only aims to create functional physical spaces that respond to the constantly changing consumer's tastes to encourage sales, but it also aims to create new forms of relationship between the company and its customers. Since the market is constantly evolving, the demand for the role of Retail Designer is always very high. Lessons and lectures will focus on visual merchandising, retail design and F B.

Italian Language II - 6 CREDITS -

The course is designed for waystage or elementary students and is aimed at improving basic communicative skills. A communicative approach will be used. The course will be in Italian. Students will improve the four skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening and speaking. At the end of the course the student should start being able to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment); communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters; describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need. Grammatical content such as the present continuous, the “passato prossimo” tense, the future tense and the pronouns are studied.

Portfolio Projects - 6 CREDITS -

The Portfolio is a professional tool indispensable for career advancement of any designer. It is required to get clients or jobs, to attend special workshops, internships and residencies. In this course, students will acquire all necessary skills necessary to create an efficient, professional and attractive portfolio. This course combines explanations and discussion with hands-on exercises and projects both in classroom and home. The theoretical part consists of learning how process of hiring works, what companies are looking for in applicant’s resume and portfolio. Students will learn best practices of resume writing and portfolio design; multiple examples of student and professional resumes and portfolios will be discussed in class. Graphic design and print production processes will be explained and put in practice. Projects and examples will come in such an order that will permit students to gradually learn the most important aspects of Adobe InDesign.

*Program may be subject to change in any moment (updated on the 17/09/2019)

Dual Master of Interior & Graphic Design

Topics to add to the Master program of Interior Design:

Graphic Design I - 6 CREDITS -

The class will focus on basic graphic design principles and projects will be implemented through Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. Students will work on basic design studies, layout organization and proportions. Together with the practical lessons there will be a focus on basic design principles and analysis of design project that can be taken as references. Each assignment will be followed by group critiques that will help to evaluate the projects.

Advertising - 6 CREDITS -

The class will focus on the analysis of communication and advertising thru different media. The students will first understand what advertising is and is meant for, then a working method will be defined and suggested, starting from simple questions in order to sort out creative ideas and find a way to transform them into advertising concepts that works. Each assignment will be followed by group critiques that will help to evaluate the projects.

Web Design - 6 CREDITS -

Today having an online presence is mandatory for any company or professional. Being able to create portfolio websites/blogs/e-commerce websites is a very handy skill for any designer whether self-employed or part of a bigger team. Web Publishing course is designed to provide students with a basic set of tools required to create and independently hosted website of low/medium complexity with the help of world’s most popular web platform - WordPress. 2. CONTENT INTRODUCTION After a brief introduction to basic concepts and terminology of World Wide Web, student will start the hands-on class exercises. WordPress platform will be covered gradually in all of its aspects: content types and thier management, appearance customization, website navigation and internal linking etc. Students will be introduced to some of the most powerful WordPress plugins that will help to create more complex page layouts, improve website security, optimize performance, integrate Social Media, improve SEO and more. While working on independent and team projects students will be able to implement their newly acquired skills, share ideas and create ready-to-publish websites.

Photography - 6 CREDITS -

The course will provide students with no starting knowledge enough skills to use Photography from the perspective of a designer. Students will go to through a path that will include both theoretical and practical aspects of photography. After a brief historical introduction, students will start learning principles of the physic behind a photographic image. We will explore then all camera aspects that will give each image a certain look. Main topics will be EXPOSURE, APERTURE, SHUTTER SPEED, ISO LEVEL with all their values and effects on final creation of the image. During this course there will be several practice sessions in order to fix concepts explained during each lecture. After developing a deep feeling with the camera as tool to take pictures students will explore language of photography so that they will better understand how to properly use the camera when shooting a portrait, a landscape or a still life subject. During the course, exercises will be given to the students to be developed during each week. This course will also have a final project where each student, individually, will show how deep is his knowledge on all topics discussed during the semester.

*Program may be subject to change in any moment (updated on the 17/09/2019)

Dual Master of Interior & Industrial Design

Topics to add to the Master program of Interior Design:

Industrial Design I - 6 CREDITS -

This course will be composed of two parts which are theoretical part and its practical application. In the first part the students will get the knowledge of basic design concepts that will help them to pass from 2D sketched ideas to a 3D product thus making their designs functional, user friendly and aesthetically appealing using the main principles of composition such as harmony or contrast, dominance or recessiveness, repetition and transparency. In the practical part of the course the students will be asked to develop their own products and will learn the basics of market research, idea and concept generation, usage of scenarios and presentation and basic model making.

Materials and Manufacturing processes - 6 CREDITS -

The student will learn about different production methods that are used in traditional and modern factories in order to manufacture small and large scale products. The course also shows that the behavior of materials is directly linked to their usage in design, and how structures and hence functionality of and object may be altered through material choice. Moreover every third lecture the student will be asked to work with a particular material during the lecture hour and provide a work report after the completion of the project.

Graphic Design I - 6 CREDITS -

The class will focus on basic graphic design principles and projects will be implemented through Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. Students will work on basic design studies, layout organization and proportions. Together with the practical lessons there will be a focus on basic design principles and analysis of design project that can be taken as references. Each assignment will be followed by group critiques that will help to evaluate the projects.

Advertising - 6 CREDITS -

The class will focus on the analysis of communication and advertising thru different media. The students will first understand what advertising is and is meant for, then a working method will be defined and suggested, starting from simple questions in order to sort out creative ideas and find a way to transform them into advertising concepts that works. Each assignment will be followed by group critiques that will help to evaluate the projects.

Photography - 6 CREDITS -

The course will provide students with no starting knowledge enough skills to use Photography from the perspective of a designer. Students will go to through a path that will include both theoretical and practical aspects of photography. After a brief historical introduction, students will start learning principles of the physic behind a photographic image. We will explore then all camera aspects that will give each image a certain look. Main topics will be EXPOSURE, APERTURE, SHUTTER SPEED, ISO LEVEL with all their values and effects on final creation of the image. During this course there will be several practice sessions in order to fix concepts explained during each lecture. After developing a deep feeling with the camera as tool to take pictures students will explore language of photography so that they will better understand how to properly use the camera when shooting a portrait, a landscape or a still life subject. During the course, exercises will be given to the students to be developed during each week. This course will also have a final project where each student, individually, will show how deep is his knowledge on all topics discussed during the semester.

*Program may be subject to change in any moment (updated on the 17/09/2019)