Michele Rinaldi

Ph.D. candidate in Architettura. Storia E Progetto , 38^th cycle (2022-2025)
Department of Architecture and Design (DAD)

michele.rinaldi@polito.it

Profile

PhD

Research topic

Architectural models, policies, and experimentations in housing for single people within Italian domestic culture between the 1930s and 1950s

Tutors

Gaia Caramellino
Fredie Flore'

Keywords

Architecture

History of Architecture

Historiography of Architecture

Biography

Michele Rinaldi is a PhD candidate in Architectural History, pursuing a joint doctoral degree between Politecnico di Torino (Italy) and KU Leuven (Belgium). His research explores the history of housing from the perspective of non-normative residential projects, focusing specifically on housing projects and policies for single people in Italy from the early to mid-20th century. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, Michele analyses housing at multiple scales—from the urban scale to domestic interiors—and examines intersections with social history and gender studies.
Michele holds a Master's degree in Architecture from the University of Bologna and has professional experience as an architect in Berlin, where he lived and worked for several years. He has participated in specialised courses and curatorial programmes dedicated to both architecture and art exhibitions and archives at the AA School of Architecture in London and the MAXXI Museum in Rome.
Currently, Michele serves as a Teaching Assistant in Architectural History at Politecnico di Milano (Italy), contributing to both undergraduate and postgraduate education.

Publications

Latest publications View all publications in Porto@Iris

Rinaldi, Michele (2026)
OBJECT FETISHISM. A conversation with Amaryllis Jacobs on MANIERA. In: OASE, vol. 121, pp. 71-83. ISSN 0169-6238
Contributo su Rivista
Rinaldi, Michele (2025)
Abitazioni per persone sole nella Milano del primo Novecento: l'esperienza cooperativa e il caso dell'Albergo Popolare. In: STUDI E RICERCHE DI STORIA DELL'ARCHITETTURA, vol. 2, pp. 222-233. ISSN 2532-2699
Contributo su Rivista
Rinaldi, Michele (2025)
A single woman's home. In: They Asked Me to Design a House, I Asked Them to Design a Home. Beyond the Architectural House. Reflections and Exercises on Domestic Life / Palmieri I.; Pantazopoulou G., Eindhoven, Set Margins’, pp. 121-126. ISBN: 978-90-835325-7-8
Contributo in Volume
Rinaldi, Michele (2025)
Living beyond the norm: policies, cultural models, and domestic spaces for single people in Italy (1930s-1950s). In: Unconventional Affordable Housing! Projects, Practices, Policies / Grassi M. F., Novak V., Serrazanetti F., Wolfgring C., Milano, Mimesis Edizioni, pp. 149-167. ISBN: 979-12-223-2430-2
Contributo in Volume
Rinaldi, Michele (2024)
Bodies of Hostility: Single-Person Housing and Architectural Experimentations in Fascist Italy. In: BODY MATTERS. AHRA2024 international conference, Norwich (UK), 21-23 Novembre 2024, pp. 78-78. ISBN: 978-1-0369-0451-7
Contributo in Atti di Convegno (Proceeding)