- Ability to critically interpret and historicize the interior space. - Contextualize the historical background of the interior design - Read, write, and critically think about architectural and interior design - Awareness of the specificity of the historical, theoretical and design approach to the interior theme - Sensitivity towards practical / constructive aspects not separated from solid bases of design culture - Ability to develop and communicate historical research through reading and writing - Capacity for collaboration between students specialized in different design scales and different technical tools (architects, designers, engineers) - Exercise to use personal knowledge skills and social abilities to collaborate within a group for designing, executing, and producing a historical research project. At the end of the course the student will be able to link together decontextualized items (furnishings, equipment...) with those that he could find in a wider context, as a part of the user's daily experience.

A good knowledge of the history of contemporary architecture and basic knowledge of functional typology and interior layout of architecture and building representation

History of Interior Design: - History of Interior Design: an introduction - The idea of comfort in the late XVIII century - Private Interiors in the age of the industrialization: Victorian House and the Arts & Crafts - Light and Health: the interior spaces at the turn of the century - Domestic space and gender issues: USA, Finland, Italy - Interiors and Modernism: topics and milestones - The Rational House: equipment, single items, industrial products - Exhibit design: museums and retail - Decoration never Dies: from Ponti and Fornasetti to Mendini - The Radical “Domestic Landscape” - The Future house Theory of Interior Design - Toward a definition of interiority: The meaning of the void, the concept of space, the continuity of spatial experience, the spatial envelope, natural and cultural context, the sense of place and identity. - Characteristics of interior space: Physical aspects, experimental aspects, space and light. - Development of interior designer’s profession - The Abercrombie philosophy of interior design (from threshold to details). - Principles of interior design (from proportion to unity). - Functions of space: Levels of privacy, uses of space, typologies of space, ordering elements and functional organization, typology and functional rituals, potentials of space and spatial analyzing methods, adaptive reuse. - Focus on museum: Container and content, display solution, communication and interpretation through space. - Focus on retail: Layout, display, brandscaping, brand identity and space, retail in historic environments. - Practice and theory: Analysis of some paradigmatic houses. - Interiors and emotion: Atmosphere as the promoter of emotion, views of Juani Pallasmaa and Peter Zumthor, the neuroscience of interior space. - Interiors and well-being: Human needs, the concept of well-being in interiors, the wellbeing framework (contextual, functional, psychological, social, sensory, aesthetic, ergonomic and emotional requirements), the role of culture on wellbeing, sustainability according to an interior approach. - Interior design and inspiration.

The course is organized in an alternation between the disciplinary contributions that compose it, with some common steps for reviews and discussions with the aim of not separating the contributions of history from those of the project. The course will alternate between: - lessons and lectures on specific topics by teachers and international speakers; - specific exercises to be conducted in small groups; - collective discussions on some issues of common relevance. The students are expected to work in groups for the successful delivery of a research project (evaluation as a group). Depending on the circumstances, when possible, field trips are foreseen.

-Mandatory Bibliography: Penny Sparke, The modern interior, London: Reaktion Books, 2007 (e-book available) John Pile, A History of Interior Design, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2005 (all editions) Stanley Abercrombie, A philosophy of interior design; New York: Harper & Row, 1990 -Recommended bibliography Valeria Minucciani and Nilufar Saglar Onay, Well-Being Design and Frameworks for Interior Space, Hershey, Penn. USA - IGI Global, 2020 Beatrix Colomina, X-Ray Architecture, Zurich: Lars Muller, 2018 Fulvio Irace, Storie di interni, L’architettura dello spazio domestico interno, Roma: Carocci Editore, 2015 Elena Dellapiana, Fiorella Bulegato, Il Design degli architetti italiani 1920-2000, Milano, Electa, 2014 Anne Massey, Penny Sparke, Biography, Identity and the Modern Interior, Taylor and Francis, 2013 Simona Canepa, Marco Vaudetti, Architettura degli interni e progetto dell'abitazione, Torino: UTET, 2011 (all editions) Clive Edwards, Interior Design: A Critical Introduction, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010 Monique Eleb, Anne Debarre, Architectures de la vie privée. Maisons et mentalities XVIème-XIXèmp siècles, Paris: Hazan, 2006 Peter Zumthor, Atmospheres : Architectural Environments. Surrounding Objects, Basel: Birkhauser, 2006 Juhani Pallasmaa, The eyes of the skin. Architecture and senses, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2005 Renato De Fusco Storia dell'arredamento. Dal '400 al '900. Milano: Franco Angeli, 2004 Katrin Cosseta, Ragione e sentimento dell'abitare. La casa e l'architettura nel pensiero femminile tra le due guerre, 2000 Beatrix Colomina, Sexuality and space, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996 Monique Eleb, Anne Debarre, L’invention de l’habitation moderne: Paris 1880-1914, Paris: Hazan, 1995 Further reading instructions will be provided during the course and / or uploaded to the portal Summary of the topics undertaken and copy of the slides used during the lessons are available on the teaching portal.

Lecture slides; Lecture notes; Multimedia materials;

Exam: Compulsory oral exam; Group graphic design project; Group essay;

The course requires an assiduous frequency of all the parts that make up the multidisciplinary course structure. The exam, oral, will consist in a discussion of the topics presented by the teachers, the informations provided by text books and the in-depth studies carried out during the course. The Assessment will take into account 40% of the effectiveness of the group work, 60% of the knowledge of the topics presented in the lecture and contained in the bibliography.

In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.