Smart Living Experience Design

Course

Move beyond interior design, shape living experiences.

A postgraduate programme for Smart Living Experience Designers who want to create residential, workplace, hospitality, and leisure environments with human, technological, and cultural impact. Through the Master, you gain the skills to design spaces that respond to evolving behaviours, digital innovation, and contemporary living scenarios — combining spatial expertise with user experience thinking.

Combining theory and practice, the programme helps you develop expertise in user research, behavioural analysis, concept development, BIM, and AI-based design tools. You will work on real projects, attend workshops led by renowned professionals, and experience a unique dual-campus structure between Milan and Morocco — gaining direct exposure to two distinct cultural and professional design contexts.

Didactics

Training objectives

The programme develops five interconnected areas of expertise that together define the profile of a new generation of interior designers — professionals who combine spatial sensibility with human insight, technological fluency, and cultural awareness.

User-centred design
You will learn to place people at the centre of every design decision — conducting user research, reading behaviours, and translating human needs into spatial and experiential solutions across living, working, and hospitality contexts.

Spatial and interior design
You will develop the skills to design interior environments that are functional, aesthetic, and emotionally resonant — working across scales, from material and sensory detail to overarching spatial concept, in response to contemporary living scenarios.

Experience design thinking
You will gain the ability to apply UX methodologies to spatial design — bridging digital experience thinking and physical environments, and using qualitative and quantitative tools to prototype, evaluate, and iterate on spatial concepts.

Digital innovation and technology
You will build competence in BIM and AI-based design tools and learn to integrate advanced digital technologies into your design workflow — understanding how technological transformation shapes living environments and how to harness it strategically.

Cross-cultural and global approach
You will develop a global design perspective through direct engagement with Italian and Moroccan design cultures — learning to read different cultural, social, and market contexts and translate them into sensitive, relevant, and innovative design responses.

Didactic Modules

Seven modules delivered over thirteen months across two campuses. The programme follows a clear progression — from conceptual foundations and research methods, through design practice and evaluation, to digital tools and cross-cultural contexts.

Module 01 — Principles of design and user experience

You will build the conceptual foundations of the programme — exploring the relationship between design and human experience, and understanding how spatial thinking connects with user experience practice. This module establishes the intellectual framework you will carry through the entire course.

Delivered at Politecnico di Milano – POLI.design

• Design culture and history
• UX principles applied to space
• Human-centred design frameworks
• Design ethics

Module 02 — User research methods, tools and practices

You will learn to conduct rigorous research into how people live, work, and interact with their environments — applying both qualitative and quantitative methods. By the end of this module you will have a research toolkit that informs every stage of your design practice.

Delivered at Politecnico di Milano – POLI.design

• Ethnographic observation
• Interviews and surveys
• Behavioural mapping
• Data synthesis
• Research-driven brief

Module 03 — Creativity and user needs analysis

You will develop creative methodologies for moving from observation to idea — translating research insights into spatial and experiential concepts grounded in real human behaviours and aspirations. This module bridges analysis and invention.

Delivered at Politecnico di Milano – POLI.design

• Co-design methods
• Creativity tools
• Needs analysis frameworks
• Concept development and testing

Module 04 — Project visualisation and evaluation

You will acquire the skills to represent and communicate your design projects with clarity and rigour — and to evaluate their impact through both qualitative and quantitative lenses. Visualisation is treated here as both a design tool and a professional communication practice.

Delivered at Politecnico di Milano – POLI.design

• Spatial representation
• Design storytelling
• Evaluation frameworks
• Post-occupancy evaluation
• Data visualisation

Module 05 — User experience design practices

You will apply UX methodologies to real interior and spatial design projects — developing integrated solutions that balance aesthetics, function, and human experience. Working through the full design process from brief to delivery, this module is the practical core of the programme.

Delivered at Politecnico di Milano – POLI.design

• Experience mapping
• Journey design
• Prototyping and testing
• Iterative design

Module 06 — Cultural heritage and living experience design

You will explore how cultural identity, heritage, and local context shape the way people inhabit space. Engaging directly with North African and Mediterranean design cultures, you will develop the sensitivity and analytical tools needed to design across cultural boundaries — creating spaces that are locally grounded and globally relevant.

Delivered at Université Internationale de Rabat

• Vernacular and contemporary architecture
• Heritage and innovation
• Cross-cultural design strategies

Module 07 — BIM and AI-based design tools and methods

You will gain hands-on competence in the digital tools redefining contemporary design practice — working with BIM environments and AI-assisted workflows to expand what is possible in spatial design. Technology here is not an add-on: it is an integral part of how you will conceive, develop, and deliver design projects.

Delivered at Université Internationale de Rabat

• BIM modelling and coordination
• AI-assisted design

Title Released

After successfully completing the final exam, you will earn a Specializing Master in Smart Living Experience Design diploma and 60 ECTS, issued jointly by POLI.design – Politecnico di Milano and Université Internationale de Rabat (UIR).

Employment Opportunities

Graduates are prepared to enter the professional market as interior designers and spatial experience specialists across residential, workplace, hospitality, retail, and leisure sectors — integrating user research, spatial design, and advanced digital tools within a human-centred approach to contemporary living.

Professional profiles include: Interior Designer, Hospitality Designer, Workplace Designer, FF&E Designer, BIM Coordinator, Design Researcher, Interior Experience Designer, Design Project Manager.

Admission

Requirements

Open to candidates holding a bachelor’s, five-year, or specialist/master’s degree. International qualifications accepted if equivalent. Good command of English required; French is a preferential qualification. Experience in design-related fields is an advantage.

Deadlines

For more details send an email to: selezioni@polidesign.net

Documents 

Apply by uploading CV, portfolio, motivation letter, and passport scan. At the same time, apply at www.polimi.it for study title verification, uploading your degree and university transcript (with certified translation if not in English, French, or Italian).

Selection Process

Once eligibility is confirmed, sign a private agreement and pay a €4,000 deposit to secure your seat, followed by the Politecnico di Milano enrolment fee.

Price

The cost of the Specializing Master is €12.500 broken down as follows:

• €500 – Politecnico di Milano enrolment fee
• €12.000 – attendance fee

Faculty

Scientific Director
Prof. Venanzio Arquilla — Politecnico di Milano

Deputy Scientific Director
Prof. Emmanuele Villani — Politecnico di Milano

Prof. Luisa Maria Virginia Collina — Politecnico di Milano

Prof. Imane Bennani — Université Internationale de Rabat

Prof. Youssef El Ganadi — Université Internationale de Rabat