The Architecture for Wellness course at YACademy trains students in creating architecture that supports psychophysical wellbeing, with opportunities to work on real-life projects.

Architecture for Wellness provides students with a deep understanding of the elements involved in the creation of spaces for bodily care.

The design workshop is tutored by Martine Bedin, art director at Jean Nouvel Design, and will focus on the reconversion of a disused hotel located in Montecatini Alta, in a dominant position overlooking the valley.

With a frequency of three days per week for two months, Architecture for Wellness hosts several frontal teaching modules with the participation of numerous well-known professionals working at world-renowned companies, including Bjarke Ingels Group, Elemental, Álvaro Siza, and Kengo Kuma & Associates.

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 Wellness
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?

– Compositional strategies applicable to wellness, leisure, and fitness environments
– Expertise in wellness space design
– Clinical and perceptual foundations of wellbeing

What are the requirements?

– Participants should have 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?

– 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 translating the principle of care for the body and the mind into 'therapeutic' spaces capable of enhancing users' wellbeing regardless of function, 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 BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, Jean Nouvel Design, Kengo Kuma & Associates, NOA, Studio Alberto Apostoli.

Who teaches this course?

– Giulio Rigoni, associate at BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group
– Alejandro Aravena, founder of Elemental
– Michele De Lucchi, founder of AMDL CIRCLE
– Germàn del Sol, founder of Germàn del Sol
– Martine Bedin, art director at Jean Nouvel Design
– Álvaro Siza, founder of Álvaro Siza
– Gökhan Avcıoğlu, founder of GAD Architecture
– Yusuf Cavdar, board member of GAD Architecture
– Kengo Kuma, founder of Kengo Kuma & Associates

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