Extreme Spaces

Course

Extreme environments are innovation laboratories: solutions conceived for critical conditions often anticipate technologies that transform everyday life. Designing for these contexts requires an integrated vision of environmental, behavioral, and systemic dynamics, and the ability to decide under uncertainty. The Course in Extreme Spaces gives participants frameworks to read risk, behavior, and technology in extreme environments — with high altitude as the first case study. Developed with ESA_LAB@PoliMi (the Politecnico laboratory developed with the European Space Agency), it equips participants to build design solutions transferable to many professional fields. Here are the program goals:

• Acquire knowledge of risk factors, vulnerabilities, and human-environment interactions, with high altitude as reference system.
• Develop tools to analyze performance, decision-making, and cognitive deterioration under stress and emergency conditions.
• Apply Use & Gesture Design and Mission Design frameworks to build response systems in high-complexity scenarios.
• Gain a vision of key technologies for extreme environments — wearables, monitoring, safety innovation — and their transfer potential.
• Build design frameworks for extreme scenarios, integrating multidisciplinary knowledge for different professional fields.

Extreme Spaces introduces design principles for extreme environments, with high altitude as the first edition case study. Through seven online modules and an in-person workshop, the course integrates research, industry needs, emergency management, and technological innovation. Here are some of the main topics the program explores.

• Extreme environments as complex systems, with high altitude as the first applied case study.
• Human behavior under stress: decision-making, cognitive fatigue, and performance in emergency situations.
• Design for usability in extreme conditions: gestural interaction, wearable tech, physiological monitoring, and AI.
• Planning and contingency management methodologies for designing operational systems in critical scenarios.
• Comparison across analogous extreme environments (Antarctica, space) and a final workshop on a real high-altitude case.

Download the Course fact sheet for accurate information on the training program.

Didactics

Attendance

At least 80% attendance is mandatory.

Didactic Modules

The Course lasts 45 hours (10 weeks), including 20 online sessions and a final in-person workshop. Classes are scheduled on days and at times that allow working professionals to attend.

Module 1 | 2h (online)

Introduction to Extreme Environments

Extreme environment as complex system: risk factors, vulnerabilities, human-environment interaction. High altitude as the first edition case study. (2h online)

Module 2 | 8h (online)

High Altitude Systems

High-altitude conditions, operational criticalities, intervention dynamics, risk and safety. From mountaineering to professional altitude operations.

Module 3 | 8h (online)

Human Behaviour Under Stress

Decision-making, fatigue, cognitive deterioration, and performance in emergency. Behavioral and neurological dimensions of extreme conditions.

Module 4 | 2h (online)

Use & Gesture Design

UGD framework: operational sequences and gestural interaction in extreme conditions. Design for usability under stress.

Module 5 | 8h (online)

Mission Design & Decisions

Planning, contingency management, decision frameworks, and design of operational systems for extreme scenarios.

Module 6 | 8h (online)

Technologies Extreme Environments

Wearables, physiological monitoring, communication, navigation, protective equipment, and AI in extreme contexts.

Module 7 | 4h (online)

Extreme Analogues Antarctic–Space

From Antarctica to space: analogous extreme environments and the transfer of design knowledge across contexts.

Module 8 | 5h (in-person)

Extreme Design Lab Workshop

In-person workshop: High Altitude Scenario. All frameworks applied to a complex design challenge.

Title Released

Upon completion of the program, participants will receive an Open Badge certifying the skills acquired. It is a recognized credential that adds tangible value to your professional profile and career path.

The Open Badge is awarded upon achieving the following requirements:

• Test: passing the assessment session
• Attendance: at least 80% attendance at the scheduled activities

The Open Badge is issued by: POLI.design, Center for Post-graduate Design Education, founded by Politecnico di Milano.

Admission

Requirements

No specialized skills in technical or scientific fields are required

Basic training in design or technical fields, or equivalent professional experience, is required

Familiarity with design processes, the management of complex systems, or professional activities in dynamic contexts is recommended.

The course is aimed at planners, architects, designers, professionals, and managers interested in acquiring basic skills and interpretive tools to operate in complex and extreme contexts. It is particularly suitable for professionals seeking to explore the topic of extreme environments as a field for innovation and professional development, coming from sectors such as design, engineering, project management, innovation, and research. The course is also designed for professionals in the process of repositioning their careers, interested in developing new cross-functional skills related to managing complexity, resilience, and behavior under extreme conditions.

Applicants must submit the following documents by connecting to the LINK:

• Course application form
• Copy of Tax Code (Codice Fiscale) and ID document

CV / Resume

Deadlines

Application deadline: 12/09/2027

Price

The total cost of the Course is 2.400,00 € (including VAT) for each student. This sum will be paid with a single payment upon signing the contract.

PROMO

LEARNING COLLECTION CATALOGUE LAUNCH: -40%

A promotion for anyone who enrolls in the courses of the Learning Collection catalogue by September 30, 2026.

Faculty