73481 - Product Development Processes (L-Z)

Learning outcomes

At the end of this module, the student achieves a high level of ability to conceptualise, formalise, represent and communicate the design result in all its phases. He/she knows how to set up a conscious approach to pre-design research. He/she is able to conduct and monitor the concept generation process, also through the experimentation of methodologies and tools useful for design activities carried out individually or in groups. He/she possesses competences concerning the technical design and technical production development phases, realising adequate graphic tools, three-dimensional models and/or working prototypes. Finally, he/she is able to elaborate a complete design of the narrative process of the conceived product system

Course contents

The Laboratorio di Sintesi Finale is dedicated to the theme of inhabiting, understood in its broadest sense as human shelter. The home has always represented an essential reference point for existence, the symbolic “north” of life’s compass: a place of safety, privacy, nourishment, leisure, and rest. However, many of its traditional functions are now undergoing deep transformations, and the ways of inhabiting today are increasingly distant from those of our ancestors.

“We have a body made to be in motion, our brain developed through strategies for navigating large spaces, yet our current network-based habits highlight the fundamental contradiction of a society born from the ownership of land. It is necessary to find new solutions for inhabiting and for the city, but as long as we keep seeking answers within the system that created the problem, we can only fail.”
— M. Corrado, The Invention of the Home: Story of a Trap

The Laboratory aims to analyze the various ways of contemporary inhabiting, including transcultural aspects and the perspectives offered by transhumanism, to identify responses and design proposals for new urban and non-urban habitats capable of integrating technological potential with evolving lifestyles between leisure and work.

The course is structured as a living lab of housing innovation, guided by a unifying project thread that will direct the work groups in developing innovative furniture solutions, brought to an advanced level of prototyping, in line with the professional skills expected of designers.

Main Contents — Module 1 (Prof. Andreas Sicklinger)

Industrial design, ergonomics and design practice

Main Contents — Module 2 (Prof. Flaviano Celaschi)

Industrial design, processes and methods for innovation

Description:
This module addresses the processes and methods of innovation driven by design cultures and practices. It draws from contemporary literature on product and process innovation and progressively applies these insights to the Final Synthesis Laboratory theme, focused on innovation in products and human living environments. The module will explore guided innovation processes grounded in historical experience, analysis of current conditions and needs, and anticipation of future demands using specific foresight methodologies. Case studies and practical group exercises based on classroom discussion will frequently be proposed.

• Lecture 1: General design research processes, tools, and methods

• Lecture 2: Research applied to the Laboratory project theme: research driven by past, present, and future

• Lecture 3: Foresight processes and methods, and the study of futures

Main Contents — Module 3 (Prof. Giorgio Casoni)

Behavioral Technologies

Description:
Contemporary Technologies is an interdisciplinary module that explores how the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the spread of Artificial Intelligence are transforming the way we inhabit. Through four main themes—exponential transitions, neuro-environmental well-being, intelligent environments, and responsible innovation—the course equips students with tools to analyze and design products and spaces that address emerging societal needs.

Theme 1 — Inhabiting the Fourth Industrial Revolution

This section introduces students to the exponential changes characterizing our time. It analyzes the shift from the Third to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with a focus on NBIC convergence (Nano, Bio, Info, Cogno). Artificial Intelligence is presented as a transformative agent capable of redefining economies, social relationships, and ways of inhabiting. The effects of technological super-convergence on the design of domestic, urban, and relational spaces are also discussed.

Theme 2 — Body, Environment, and Wellness Technologies

This section explores the growing role of neurocognitive, biometric, and environmental technologies in shaping the living experience. It delves into the concept of neuro-syntonic environments and the importance of designing for emotional, perceptual, and cognitive well-being. Wearables, environmental sensors, and smart materials are analyzed in relation to enhanced comfort and quality of living.

Theme 3 — Artificial Intelligence and Adaptive Environments

This part explores the integration of AI into domestic environments. It examines automation systems, interaction with voice assistants, and the rise of predictive and responsive spaces. Special attention is given to autonomous artificial agents, their future development, and the cognitive and ethical implications of human-machine cohabitation.

Theme 4 — Advanced Certifications and Responsible Innovation

The final theme analyzes the main certification systems for well-being and sustainable living (WELL, Fitwel, RESET, Living Building Challenge). Design criteria based on measurable outcomes and evidence-based design practices are discussed. The course concludes with an introduction to the concept of responsible innovation and the transformation economy, referencing case studies that integrate technology and systemic values in real environments.

Main Contents — Module 4 (Prof. Ivano Gorzanelli)

Inhabiting: A Philosophical and Semiotic Proposal for Design

Description:
To inhabit means to recognize the ecological, geological, and logical specificity of the world and landscape. Philosophically, it implies acknowledging places as essential to the act of inhabiting itself, resisting the ideal of subsuming or erasing concrete perception. It means recognizing a fragmented and porous universal. In design practice, this entails acknowledging the almost abyssal and unculturalizable autonomy of the earth and world we inhabit.

The course aspires to explore the ambivalence between the built environment—the city and its physical structures—and the representation of communal life, of living the city and its forms. To define this relationship, rooted in a realism that embraces imaginative, creative, and improvised ways of living, we need two lines of inquiry: a philosophical reflection on building and inhabiting, and a semiotic reflection on coexisting in space.

Keywords: porosity, representation, inhabiting space, the struggle for the city

The course is divided into two parts:

• A shared part for all students, involving the reading of selected chapters from Richard Sennett’s Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City. The aim is to build an urban, aesthetic, and semiotic reading of inhabiting and the construction of shared spaces. A more concise reference text is the lecture The Struggle for the City.

• A second part involves in-depth readings, requiring group work and presentations by students.

Readings/Bibliography

Professors will provide, in their lectures and in the moments of revision, precise references to texts, sites, journals, magazines, and documents available to deepen the topics presented. Bibliographic indications may also be added as a function of further information necessary during the educational path.

Suggested texts (being updated before and during the class period September-December 2025):

• Sicklinger, Andreas, Design e Corpo Umano, Maggioli Editori 2020
• Zannoni, Michele, Progetto e interazione. Il design degli ecosistemi interattivi, Quodlibet 2018
• B. Munari, Da cosa nasce cosa. Appunti per una metodologia progettuale, Laterza, Roma 2010.
• M. Salvadori, Perché gli edifici stanno in piedi, Bompiani, Milano 2000.
• M. Salvadori, M. Levy, Perché gli edifici cadono, Bompiani, Milano 1997.
• F. Celaschi, A. Deserti, Design e innovazione, Carocci, Roma 2007.
• F. Celaschi, Non Industrial Design, Luca Sossella, Milano 2017.
• D. Norman, La Caffettiera del Masochista, Giunti Editore S.p.A , Milano 1997.
• M. Corrado, L’invenzione della Casa, Storia di una Trappola, Padova 2018
• Z. Bauman, Modernità Liquida, Bari-Roma 2000
• R. Sennet, Costruire e abitare, Feltrinelli , 2018
• W. Benjamin, Napoli, in Immagini di città, Einaudi, 2007.B. Latour, Come abitare la terra, Einaudi, 2024.
• M. Merleau-Ponty, Conversazioni, SE, 2002.
• A. Appadurai, Il futuro come fatto culturale, Raffaello Cortina, 2014.
• D. Mangano, Semiotica e Design, Carocci, 2008.
• Barthes, Come vivere insieme, Mimesis 2024.

Teaching methods

The Laboratorio di Sintesi Finale is structured through lectures, guest talks (by professionals and companies), visits and site inspections, support for both desk and field research, as well as guidance in the design process leading to the development of models and prototypes.

These methods reflect the structure of the course, which is divided into three interrelated phases: research, concept development, and final design with prototyping.

The teaching team, responsible for the various course modules, will jointly support the design process in all its phases, supervising in-class work with students and ensuring both group and individual (team) reviews.

Classroom/online work, as well as project reviews, are fundamental steps in the students’ learning process: attendance is therefore mandatory, and will be recorded by the instructors. Students who miss more than 30% of the classes will not be admitted to the final evaluation.

Students will also be encouraged to take part in events promoted by the Degree Program (seminars with national and international guests, exhibitions, competitions, etc.).

The teaching methods will include:

• in-person/online lectures
• hands-on exercises, sometimes to be completed as homework
• group project reviews
• presentations by invited guests
• possible visits to involved (production) sites
• collective reviews during the development of the three phases: research, concept, and detailed design

Assessment methods

The Final Design Laboratory includes the submission and evaluation of deliverables for each of the three phases into which the course is structured.

The intermediate assessments will take place on scheduled dates, outlined in the general calendar distributed at the beginning of the course. Each group will publicly present their progress through a slideshow, and for each of the three phases, an evaluation will be given.

These intermediate evaluations will contribute to each student’s final grade (based partly on group work and partly on individual contribution).

As this is an integrated course, the final grade will be determined based on the individual assessments provided by the instructors responsible for the respective modules.

The final assessment will take into account:

• Quality of the deliverables and the model presented
• Quality of the research and design proposal
• Active participation in the course
• Punctuality in attendance and submission deadlines

The Final Design Laboratory will conclude in January 2026 with a joint presentation of the results, which includes:

• A digital setup of each group’s exhibition stand

• Presentation of full-scale prototypes (or scaled versions, if agreed with instructors)

• A project poster (100 x 70 cm format)

• A digital presentation of the research carried out

The final assessment, during which each group will have 20 minutes to present the stages of their project (research, design, models), will be graded out of 30 points based on the following criteria:

• Completeness and professionalism of the materials presented: up to 6 points

• Professionalism of the oral presentation: up to 6 points

• Originality and depth of the research behind the project: up to 6 points

• Consistent participation in scheduled project reviews: up to 6 points

• Performance quality and production feasibility of the proposed design: up to 6 points

Teaching tools

• VIRTUALE: communication between teachers and students; uploading of teaching materials; student assignment submissions; forum for students/community interaction;
• TEAMS: virtual classroom;
• MIRO: for brainstorming and other forms of collaborative design;
• Presentations/slideshows;
• Collaboration with external facilities (Model Lab, Photography Lab, libraries, etc.);
• Individual reviews of student project progress;
• Group reviews of student project progress;
• Final presentation of the projects;
• Participation in conferences, talks, exhibitions, and/or educational visits.

Office hours

See the website of Flaviano Celaschi