Specializing Master in Contract Design

Contract Design represents a specific sector of professional applications relating to the design, management, and organization of resources helpful in realizing internal and external spaces with specific intended uses. Its objective is to improve the individual well-being of users, and the relations with other users and operators in those spaces, considering all their needs.

Contract projects are mainly diffused in the Office/Workplaces, Retail, Real Estate, Hospitality, Culture, and Marine sectors, and are broadening to include new types of internal and external spaces and ways of using them.

The main objective of the Master's is to train professional figures capable of developing and managing contract projects, transferring advanced knowledge about the design and productive process, and interpersonal communication skills to deal with designers, customers, and companies. The training course will be organized in modules that will introduce the following topics: analysis and synthesis of the ideation processes; organization and realization of the contract project; level of correspondence between customer requests and detailed project; congruence with international directives and certifications.

The Specializing Master in Contract Design aims to train professionals capable of developing and managing contract projects, guaranteeing their quality and consistency with design requirements. To achieve this objective, the Master course transfers advanced knowledge about design and manufacturing processes and the tools supporting the correct interaction between designers, clients, and companies.

The training course is organized in modules that primarily deal with the following topics: analysis and synthesis of the design processes; organization, management, and realization of the contract project; evaluation of the correspondence between client’s requirements and detailed project; coherence with international directives and certifications.

Title Released

Students, after the final examination, earn a Politecnico di Milano first-level Specializing Master in Contract design – Turn-key furnishing solutions with the related achievement of 60 CFU/ECTS.

Attendance

Attendance is compulsory for at least 75 percent of the program activities.

Didactic Plan

The Master course combines face-to-face and interactive teaching, adopting a learning-by-doing approach, with targeted design exercises, lectures, testimonials, case studies, and company visits.

It is divided into the following training modules:

1. Contract design as a business growth strategy

The module transfers knowledge, methods, and tools useful for understanding and rethinking business models, marketing aspects, and product typologies. It highlights strategic development opportunities for companies operating in the Contract sector in the context of a growing demand for customized solutions in line with client’s needs. It also deepens quality aspects and distinctive elements of Made in Italy Contracts compared to international competitors, considering the growing demand for beautiful and well-made Italian products.

2. Graphic representation techniques of projects

The module transfers knowledge, methods, and tools useful to effectively represent the project in its different phases: from conceptual sketches in the preliminary phase to 3D modeling, and the description of complex solutions through advanced data-driven representation systems and technical specifications.

3. Technologies and production processes for Contract

The module transfers knowledge, methods, and tools useful to identify technical constraints of different natures to develop solutions by the available material and manufacturing budgets and resources. Particular attention is dedicated to materials and construction feasibility about the new performance, construction, and finishing solutions.

4. Off-the-shelf and custom-made products and solutions, and analysis of financial profitability

The module transfers knowledge, methods, and tools useful to control and assess the costs of specific technical solutions, choosing between off-the-shelf and customized products. In particular, it aims to transmit skills to evaluate investments, compare budgets and cost forecasts, and consider investments in manufacturing equipment and the most correct depreciation formulas.

5. Product design, project, and supply management

The module transfers notions of project and supply management. It illustrates methods and tools useful to support the different phases of the product development process: conception, preliminary technical verification, economic verification, engineering, identification of suppliers, pre-series (with mock-ups and prototypes), production start-up, also given the certification of the proposed solutions

6. Assessments of the qualitative parameters in Contract applications

Contract realizations increasingly concern aspects related to the well-being of users of spaces and services. The module proposes a human-centered approach and transfers knowledge, methods, and tools useful for designing, monitoring, and controlling aspects such as lighting, acoustic quality, environmental hygiene, and air quality. In particular, it introduces problems and solutions bound to lighting, noise reduction, and creation of acoustic patterns, air purification, air conditioning, and sanitary safety, in connection to the development of related technical, building automation, and energy management systems.

7. Product and system certifications

The module transfers knowledge, methods, and tools useful to understand key issues and normative references of the Contract sector in local and international markets and to learn how to structure technical specifications. The module introduces basic notions to facilitate compliance with national and international regulations.

To this end, it gives indications to guide professionals that operate in a rapidly evolving context increasingly driven by issues related to environmental sustainability in understanding and learning how to apply international protocols such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), WELL (Well Building Standard), and BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method).

8. Design workshops

The Master course is realized in collaboration with leading companies in the furniture and contract sectors. The design workshops simulate a professional activity (objectives, timeframe, available resources) starting from realistic briefs and projects already realized by the Master’s partner companies.

The Master offers three design workshops, focusing on three different situations and phases in which companies and professional studios deal with contract design:

• Detailed design phase and industrialization/production of the product starting from a well-defined project
• The project development phase starts with a given concept
• The conceptualization phase of the design idea starts with a brief

9. Professionalising project or curricular internship in companies and professional studios lasting at least 375 hours

Final Exam

The final exam consists of the development and presentation of an elaborate in which the candidate will show the experience gained during the curricular internship and all the master activities and developed projects.

The Master seeks to train professional profiles with knowledge and skills for placement in architectural practices, manufacturing companies developing contract products, real estate companies and contractors, and service and design consultancies. These technical and design skills will allow a potential placement as,

• Contract Design Specialist
• R&D Developer
• Project and Design Manager