ARTH 300 – History of Italian Design
Discipline(s): Architecture & Historic Preservation, Art History
Credits: 3
Available: fall semester 2025, spring semester 2025
Instructor: Franco Pisani, M.Arch., Licensed Architect
Taught in: English
Course Fee: $ 90.00
Formerly ARCH/AAH 330 – History of Italian Design
Description
This course will focus on the history of design and production in Italy from the Industrial Revolution to the present, ranging from industrial, to product, to furniture design; giving attention to the extraordinary blend of imagination and exactitude that characterizes Italy.
The course will discuss Italy and Italian designers in their cultural and productive context together with the technical and semantic background behind their success with particular attention to the world of fashion and automobile design as well as the parallel production of visual arts, cinema, literature, and other fields of culture.
Objectives and Outcomes
After completing this course, students should be able to:
– understand the role of “design” within Italian culture;
– explain and contextualize the work of a designer through a presentation, in which they will develop criteria and create links and comparisons between different works;
– analyze similar product types through a comparison of innovative features, function, aesthetic, and visual appeal, as well as economic, social, and environmental benefits and costs.
Course descriptions may be subject to occasional minor modifications at the discretion of the instructor.