
The Department
The Department of Design is the leading Italian centre for scientific research in the field of design. Rooted in the Italian design culture, it is oriented towards exploring new disciplinary frontiers, putting design at the service of contemporary challenges.

Focus
PARIPASSO - Per crescere insieme
The research project and participatory design workshops

News
Edible Futures – Designing veggie and fresh food services for the university
A workshop to design new sustainable food spaces and services on university campuses

News
Metadesign and Interiors. Designers’ voices and approaches
A new MOOC – Massive Open Online Course

Focus
Politecnico di Milano ranked 6th globally in Design
QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025
Focus
NetZeroCities. Accelerating cities' transition to net zero emissions by 2030
The research project, the Mutual Learning Events and the Cities Mission Conference

News
Laboratorio COmeta wins first prize Design&Territories 2025
Awards

News
See allA new MOOC – Massive Open Online Course
Metadesign and Interiors. Designers’ voices and approaches
A new MOOC on Metadesign and industrialisation practices in interior design available on the Polimi Open Knowledge (POK) portal
01/10
Design Research Symposium
Materialdesign
July 18, 2025, from 9 am to 5 pm, IMD Institute for Materialdesign and Advanced Material Studies, Palleskestraße 32, Frankfurt am Main
Professor Valentina Rognoli will participate as a speaker at the MATERIALDESIGN Design Research Symposium. During the event, PhD candidates Sofia Duarte and Malu Luecking will also present their research work within the Department.
02/10
Supporting the “Via Dolce Via Tutto l’Anno” Crowdfunding Campaign
Aperitivo with DJ Set at Coltivando
July 11, 2025, from 6 pm, Orto Coltivando, Durando Campus, Via Candiani 72
An initiative to enhance public spaces designed for the community, fostering new social relationships and strengthening the bond between citizens and their territory.
03/10
Winning Project of the Kerakoll Call for Ideas
Bioreceptive Concrete for Sustainable Cities
The project explores how to integrate ecological processes into architecture, contributing to the transition towards regenerative and sustainable building solutions.
04/10
Award
Project “MuOvO” wins the IF Design Student Award
The project, developed during the Sustainable and Circular Materials for Design course, wins the IF Design Student Award.
05/10
Exhibition
Interdipendenze. Visioni per l'abitare
2 July 2025, 1:00 pm, Ground Floor, Building B2, Durando Campus
Through the lens of speculative placemaking, the exhibited projects propose twelve design micro-worlds as narrative spaces, imagining devices, materials, and architectures to re-inhabit the city of Milan.
06/10
Exhibition
DESIGN IS COOPERATION. Environmental Object
From June 30 to July 23, Building B2 (ground floor), Durando Campus
Until July 23, it will be possible to visit the end-of-course exhibition of the Landscape and Interior Spatial Design 2 Laboratory.
07/10
Smart City Observatory
Infrastructure and services for an inclusive city
27 June 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Bocconi University, Room 35, Via Sarfatti 25
The workshop aims to provide a space for discussion on how to make infrastructure more inclusive, safe and sustainable.
08/10
Exhibition
Giancarlo Iliprandi: two exhibitions at the ADI Design Museum and the Nuages Gallery pay tribute to the Italian creative artist's 100th anniversary
Two exhibitions dedicated to one of the protagonists of Italian design in the second half of the 20th century.
09/10
A workshop to design new sustainable food spaces and services on university campuses
Edible Futures – Designing veggie and fresh food services for the university
An initiative to promote sustainable, creative, and accessible food practices while exploring new solutions for integrating fresh, local, and plant-based products into the services and spaces of Politecnico di Milano.
10/10
Focus
Design Philology
A historical and philological research project to celebrate design at Politecnico di Milano

Meet our researchers
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Giovanni Maria Conti
DIGIKNIT. The digitised MF1 historical archive
DIGIKNIT is a project to digitise the most important historical collection of Italian-made knitted garments to develop innovative digital services that can foster the creative process and give new life to manufacturing in the knitwear sector..
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Margherita Pillan
UX Design
My name is Margherita Pillan and I’m a Professor at the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano. I deal with a lot of things: Interaction Design, Interface Design, Service Design, but today I would like to talk about UX Design, which is the discipline I teach in the Master's Degree Course, it’s the discipline on which I do research and it’s the competence I bring in my collaboration with various companies.
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