My teaching starts from a simple idea:
A structure must collect forces and transfer them safely and efficiently to the ground.
Students should understand what a structure is physically doing before approaching it as a set of calculations. Structural design is not the application of formulas, but the process of identifying a problem, conceiving a solution, understanding the governing mechanisms and selecting the appropriate tools to quantify structural response.
Teaching Philosophy
My objective is not only to transfer technical knowledge, but to develop engineering judgement.
Students should be able to:
- identify structural mechanisms;
- understand force-transfer paths;
- evaluate assumptions and limitations;
- distinguish between physical behaviour and analytical models;
- critically assess engineering solutions.
Design standards are presented as the outcome of accumulated knowledge and engineering understanding, rather than as the starting point of the learning process.
Current Teaching Activities
Teaching activities span both Civil Engineering and Architecture programmes at Politecnico di Milano.
Current courses include:
Connections and Fastening
Advanced course devoted to structural connections, fastening systems, anchorage and force transfer mechanisms across different structural materials and systems.
Conceptual Design of Sustainable Structures
Course devoted to sustainable structural systems, hybrid construction, life-cycle assessment and conceptual structural design.
Structural Design for Architecture
Teaching focused on the interaction between structural conception, architectural design and construction requirements.
Research-Informed Teaching
Research and teaching continuously support each other.
Emerging research questions, experimental findings, developments in engineering practice and ongoing standardisation activities are progressively integrated into the learning process.
Students are encouraged to work on real engineering problems, laboratory activities, design projects and open-ended challenges requiring both analytical skills and engineering judgement.
Supervision
Research supervision includes:
- MSc theses;
- PhD candidates;
- visiting doctoral researchers;
- international research collaborations.
The objective is to progressively develop independent researchers and engineers capable of addressing complex structural problems through critical thinking, experimentation and scientific rigour.
Artificial Intelligence and Engineering Education
Artificial intelligence is transforming engineering practice.
I believe that this evolution increases, rather than reduces, the importance of fundamental understanding, engineering reasoning and critical judgement.
Future engineers will not be distinguished by their ability to perform routine calculations, but by their ability to formulate the right questions, evaluate assumptions and understand the physical behaviour of structures.