PRESENTATION

The First School of Architecture of the Politecnico di Torino was founded in January 2000. Its centre is in the Valentino Castle, in the city park by the river Po. It has brought together the study of architecture and urban design, which had previously tended to be treated separately and taught as two discrete disciplines.
In the field of architecture the First School offers a full range of courses. The three year Bachelor's degree in Architectural Science, so-called to foster exchanges with the most important Architecture Schools in Italy, has facilities for courses, the first academic level and workshops, as well as the second level, which aims to provide students with the basic training essential for their first jobs or continuing their education, supplying the appropriate tools for a Master of Science.
The post-graduate Master's degrees, which follow the three-year Bachelor’s degree, are prepared and worked on in collaboration with the economic and social organisations and institutions which are directly concerned, and regard the most important professional sectors for a graduate from the threeyear course.
The First School offers 2 different Masters of Science in Architecture, both of which lead to the title of professional architect, recognised throughout Europe: one in Architecture and Urban and Land Design, the other in Architecture and Building. The two degrees are designed to train for two different approaches, creating architects capable of working on the type projects required in the modern-day context, on any scale. These architects are trained to handle sophisticated architectural projects, but also have the necessary management skills to run complex sites. The accent on design and management capabilities conditions the academic and vocational elements of their training, and is a particular requirement of the world of work today.
Second level specialisation programmes, sometimes run in collaboration with other Schools of the Politecnico and other universities, include: interior architecture; exhibition preparation and scenery design; the technology of sustainable architecture; optimalisation and management of nineteenth and twentieth-century architectural heritage; planning for the constructed environment and infrastructures; feasibility evaluation of plans and projects; conservation and optimalisation of industrial heritage; and techniques for environmental projects and evaluations. The School offers a full range of courses not only in architecture, but also in industrial design.
The structure of the syllabus of the Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design focuses on the various aspects of a design project, including the integration of disciplines which help assess the feasibility of the project itself, both in terms of production and market penetration.
After the Bachelor's degree a student can complete his/her studies with a specialisation programme in the field of multimedia. This specialisation programme was specifically requested by some of the companies which cooperate with the School on the Industrial Design degree course. Alternatively, students can also choose to undertake a further 2 years of study to obtain the Master of Science in Environmentally Friendly Product Design.
Stilll in the field of Industrial Design, the academic year 2002/2003 saw the establisment of an experimental Bachelor's degree in Virtual and Graphic Project Design, with a purposebuilt course syllabus to prepare professionals to deal with advertising, publishing, web communication, shows and exhibitions, visual signals, coordinated image, packaging, graphic interface and virtual reality. This can be followed up with a specific Master of Science in Virtuality.
At present, the First School of Architecture is strengthening relationships with some European universities and with national professional training centres, some academic, as part of plans to establish and run thematic networks.
The First School is involved in the European ‘Cluster' programme, which is in the process of creating a system of recognition for degree courses throughout Europe, which will also lead to the possibility for students attending Master of Science degrees to do part of their undergraduate programme in other European universities.
The First School of Architecture already has established relationships with some universities such as the Polytechnics in Lausanne and Barcelona, the Bartlett School at the UCL in London and the School of Architecture in Eindhoven. In addition to these, there are bilateral relationships with other universities in France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, America, Mexico and Japan, with the specific aim of defining a common syllabus. This network of international relationships gives support to the students of the First School - almost a hundred each year - who study throughout Europe as part of the Socrates Programmes.
The First School of Architecture has 53 professors and 38 research staff. Each year it runs over 200 courses attended by more than 3,500 students - and each year there are around 250 graduates. There is a wide range of teaching laboratories run by the Architecture Interdepartmental Teaching Services Centre and by the various Departments.
The Library is also well-stocked, it has over 100,000 titles and subscribes to 500 journals; it keeps video cassettes, cd-roms, microfiches and microfilm on architectural subjects.