SOS | School of Sustainability


by Mario Cucinella Architects
SOS is…

  • a professional school for young professionals, integrating education, research and practice.
  • a comprehensive program, combining principles with a practice-based approach.
  • a training opportunity distinguished by its main focus on the application of sustainable architecture, from urban to product scale, from developing to advanced communities.

SOS aims to...

  • provide the highest quality practice-based experience to the next generation of professionals.
  • serve as a nexus for the exchange of knowledge in the building industry and the community.
  • develop a culture of responsible and sustainable design methods, processes and practices.

SOS - Master Program

The SOS Program is designed to leverage the collective energy and individual experiences of the SOS students and team.

In order to meet the needs of a wide range of students and professionals, the educational format has been re-organized according to a modular structure and at the same hand it is in fact possible to enroll in the full-time master, lasting one year.

The program is based upon a curriculum that combines Practice - Based Education with Research - Based Practice and Site - Based Experience.

Languge: English

Type: Full-time

Intake: September 2022

Length: 12 months

Place: Milan, Italy

Professional Workshops in sustainability

Throughout the course of the year SOS organizes workshops for students interested in learning more about our school and the SOS community mission of creating a community for the sharing of knowledge and for working toward a more sustainable future. During these day long sessions SOS tackle some of the main topics of our academic offering by bringing the theoretical together with the practical. See our upcoming Worskhops below.

As of October 2021 the new SOS Home is located Milan!
The new state of the art, a 1000 sqm structure, hosts both SOS and the Milan portion of Mario Cucinella Architects in order to allow for the continuation of the crucial collaborations on research and development of sustainable design between school and firm.

The new headquarters lie in the Risorgimento neighborhood, on the East side of Milan, the historical and contemporary heart and soul of the city, a symbol of Made in Italy design.

An ample façade conceals four levels interconnected through wide galleries on each floor and with a central opening spanning from the bottom floor all the way up to the dominant skylight, at the center of the rooftop terrace.

Professional Workshops in sustainability

SOS Campus – Milan As of October 2021 the new SOS Home is located Milan! The new state of the art, a 1000 sqm structure, host both SOS and the Milan portion of Mario Cucinella Architects in order to allow for the continuation of the crucial collaborations on research and development of sustainable design between school and firm; as exemplified by TECLA, prototype 3D printed global habitat for sustainable living. Located in a former mill from the 30’s, the new headquarters lie in the Risorgimento neighborhood, on the East side of Milan, just a 30 minute walk from the Duomo and the lively Porta Romana and Porta Venezia, the historical and contemporary heart and soul of the city, a symbol of Made in Italy design. An ample façade conceals four levels interconnected through wide galleries on each floor and with a central opening spanning from the bottom floor all the way up to the dominant skylight, at the center of the rooftop terrace. Via Poma 52, Milano 20129 – just a few minutes’ walk from the historical center of the city, the new location is conveniently connected to Milan’s efficient above and below ground public transportation and just a 20 minute ride from Linate Airport or Milan Central station.

Professional Workshops in sustainability

Mario Cucinella We are running a new edition of the Master’s in Sustainable Design, a Post Graduate program that we crafted by bringing together the knowledge, competencies and skills that MC A has acquired over more than twenty-five years of professional practice in the global context, with the expertise of our partners in the fields of education, industry and research. This is not a conventional postgraduate program, but rather an “Academy of Practical Work”, where we learn how to work - the primary objective for those starting their professional careers - by doing research. In recent years we have tackled emerging issues related to climate change in many countries, from China to the United Arab Emirates, India, Senegal, Zambia, - and finally Italy where the school is based - aware of a strategic challenge related to training the next generation of designers: education can no longer operate as something separate from professional practice. To prepare recent graduates to really face environmental issues that are emerging globally, it is necessary to equip them with new competencies and skills. The 2030 and 2050 roadmaps are the framework within which the next generation, stepping into the professions of architecture and design today, will operate. Designers, architects and urban planners are called on to take urgent action. We have the power to contribute to global de-carbonization, but this is by no means an easy task. In order to turn human environments into ecosystems, we need to re-define our approach and eventually re-shape our work methods; what is required is more a cultural than a technological shift. The terms ‘circular economy’, as well as ‘sustainability’, are so abused in global discourse that they are have nearly lost all meaning. How can we reinvent the terms, measure their success, and use the design tools at our disposal to transition to a circular economy? Every year we accompany a selected group of young designers along a shared path that unfolds in the awareness that it is necessary to rethink the ways we address people’s needs and we operate in the natural context; we do it by offering new cognitive and technical tools that will allow them to design products, spaces, buildings and systems capable of generating new forms of creative empathy. We undertake an intense twelve-month journey within the fields of sustainability, developing research, applying it to real projects for real clients that offer us the possibility to investigate the emerging themes of our time in an open dialogue with a broad audience of experts. SOS – School of Sustainability was shaped in an open and inclusive form: students share the facilities with the team of MC A, and those who participate in the program have access to all the opportunities for knowledge exchange withing this community, which includes consultants and office partners. We don’t address sustainability only from the designer’ perspective: we invite climatologists, journalists, sociologists, anthropologists, digital manufacturers, economists and experts from the industry to share their experience in public events that we host within our spaces. At SOS, participants establish a strong professional network that will serve as a nexus for accessing quality job opportunities, that the school encourages and facilitates. Join the SOS community and become a design leader of the Post Carbon Era!
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