Preservation of Architectural Heritage – (Ph.D.)

Contents

The PhD is intended to offer a broad range of courses which combine theory and practice to stimulate advances in multidisciplinary research, a necessity in the field of conservation and maintenance of historic buildings. The basic teaching programme is organized with seminars held by Italian and foreign lecturers who introduce the most advanced research methods and results in four major disciplinary fields: The "Culture and experiences of preservation" is approached as part of the history of culture, and it is linked to present days. In particular, the topic is studies as history of the change of ideas and preservation’s limits; it’s also the expression of different cultural and institutional aspects. The preservation is considered also as history of new criteria and types of project, up to the introduction of intervention techniques and new materials, between XIXth and XXth century. “Material history of buildings” explores the issues of recognizing buildings as a historic source, interpreting how events unfolded at building sites and how production was organized, and showing how construction techniques of the past evolved thanks to the technical know-how of architects and builders, on one hand, and the methods of archaeological stratigraphy, also in elevation, on the other. In parallel students conduct workshop analyses and learn to interpret their findings. “Historical research methodology” addresses its subject on a more general level: the history and geography of documentary sources, the history of institutions which with their activities have changed the landscape and erected and used the buildings; in this respect, going beyond the traditional 19th-century perception of history of art, the importance of history of architecture should be reconsidered. “Strengthening of historical building” of structures and materials deals with analytical and experimental methods for testing the efficiency of structures, including those at particular risk. It includes study and calibration of non-destructive investigative techniques for structural diagnosis, as well as theoretical and experimental study of appropriate non-invasive techniques, amongst them compliance with safety standards for buildings in seismic zones.

Faculty

PolitecnicodiMilano is one of the top European Universities in Engineering, Architecture, and Design. In 1963 a Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Giulio Natta, professor at the PolitecnicodiMilano.

At the PhD School of the PolitecnicodiMilano, 25 high-quality programmes in engineering, architecture, and design offer the possibility of studying and performing research in qualified laboratories and research groups.