The Architecture for Heritage course at YACademy equips students with tools and opportunities in the protection and restoration of heritage buildings, supported by several well-known architecture firms.

The Architecture for Heritage course trains students in understanding and enhancing the memory of historical architectures.

The course provides students with a deep knowledge of the most advanced survey strategies to protect the ancient wonders without giving up on a contemporary approach.

The design workshop is tutored by Giuseppe Zampieri, director of the Milan office of David Chipperfield Architects, and will focus on the design of a visitor centre at Vulci Castle, a medieval fortress considered one of the most iconic architectural landmarks of central Italy.

With a frequency of three days per week for two months, Architecture for Heritage hosts several frontal teaching modules with the participation of numerous well-known professionals working at world-renowned companies, including Herzog & de Meuron, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Carmody Groarke and McCullough Mulvin Architects.

Believing that construction is a fundamental step in architecture, Yacademy offers its students the opportunity to participate in a construction workshop, gaining practical experience on construction sites and the authorship of projects capable of defining a turning point in their professional career.

At the end of the teaching modules and workshops, Yacademy's placement office will guarantee every student an internship or collaboration proposal in one of its partner studios.

The course offers multiple scholarships for the most deserving students. It is also possible to participate in the course remotely.

School: YACademy
Course: Architecture for Heritage
Type: Short course
Location: Bologna, Italy and online
Course dates: September to November 2026
Application deadline: 26 June 2026

Find out more about the course and apply ›

What will I learn during this course?

– Technical and compositional strategies to adopt in contexts that host outstanding existing architectures
– How to carry out interventions on archaeological and industrial sites that respond to the customs and needs of contemporary society
– How to draw inspiration from historical architecture to restore them with interventions that are enriched by the link to the past and bring along a hint of modernity

What are the requirements?

– At least a B1 level in English
– Participants should be students or graduates in architecture, landscape architecture, design, or heritage-related studies

The Selection Committee can admit applicants who hold a different certificate from those mentioned above after examining their CV, portfolio, motivational letter and, possibly, interviewing them.

What facilities and resources are available?

– Multiple scholarships are available for the most deserving applicants
– The possibility to choose between online and in-person attendance
– An educational hub of excellence in a prestigious medieval place in the heart of Bologna
– An architecture library of more than 5,000 volumes
– Numerous apartments in the same building that houses the institute's classrooms

The accommodation service is to be considered outside of the fees for attendance to the courses, and it is activated upon request of the students.

What career prospects can I expect upon graduating?

Trained in the reading, understanding and manipulation of historical architecture through the juxtaposition of contemporary interventions, students will carry out a period of collaboration with one of Yacademy's partner firms.

Such collaboration will have a minimum duration of two months and guaranteed remuneration, consistently with regulatory requirements.

Some of the professional players with expertise in relation to the course topic include David Chipperfield Architects, Herzog & de Meuron, McCullough Mulvin Architects, Aires Mateus, EMBT Miralles Tagliabue.

Who teaches this course?

– Andreas Fries, senior partner at Herzog & de Meuron
– Valerie Mulvin, director at McCullough Mulvin Architects
– Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, directors of Grafton Architects
– Giuseppe Zampieri, founder of David Chipperfield Architects Milano
– Eduardo Souto De Moura, founder of Souto De Moura Arquitectos
– Paolo Zermani, co-founder of Studio di Architettura Zermani Associati
– Rowan Seaford, director at Carmody Groarke
– Gong Dong, founder and design principal of Vector Architects

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