Alberto Seassaro. The demiurge

Appointed as Associate Professor of Tecnologia dell’architettura [Architectural Technology] in 1990 at the Faculty of Architecture, Politecnico di Milano; held the chair in Tecnica ed economia della produzione [Production Techniques and Economics], and, since 1995, Full Professor of Disegno industriale [Industrial Design].

President of the Technological Orientation Board of the Architecture Degree Program from 1981 to 1989.

President of the five-year Degree Program in Disegno industriale [Industrial Design] from 1994 to 2003.

Dean of the Faculty of Design from 2000 to 2010.

President of the Consorzio Poli.design from 1999 to 2002.

Founder of the Department of In.d.a.co (Industrial Design, Art, and Communication).

President of the National Conference of Design Deans (CPD) from 1999 to 2010.

President of the Italian Society of Design (SI.design) and previous associative forms (AUDI) of professors and researchers in the SSD [Scientific-Disciplinary Sector] of Disegno industriale [Industrial Design] from 2005 to 2010.

Member of the Scientific Council of the University Center for the Promotion and Conservation of Cultural Heritage since 2009.

Member of the Board of Directors of the Consorzio Poliedra of the Politecnico di Milano from 1999 to 2011.

Member of the Scientific Committee of the Dipartimento Indaco [Indaco Department].

Member of the Executive Board of the Department of Programmazione, Progettazione e Produzione Edilizia (P.P.P.E., later Di.Tec - Director Prof. Scoccimarro), responsible for the Research Section of Disegno industriale [Industrial Design].

Member of the Executive Board of the Faculty of Architecture (Dean Prof. Stevan).

Member of the Doctoral Board in Architettura degli Interni [Interior Architecture] (Coordinator C. Stevan).

Member of the Doctoral Board in Tecnologie e design per i Beni Culturali [Technologies and Design for Cultural Heritage].

Emeritus Professor of the Politecnico di Milano since 2013.

"Morphology" as the spatial concretization of the behaviors related to the perception and use of forms.

"Existential nature of space and spatial nature of existence" (reinterpreted from Merleau-Ponty).

"Field of form" as a "field of possibilities" and the associated concepts of "syntropy" and "finalism"; the idea of "informative spatial concept" and "elementary experimental spatial model."

"Morphological models" as spatial tools.

"Textures" and the concept of "tissurating bodies."

"Modular space."

"Models of understanding": models as both tools and methods that integrate the development of theory with its empirical validation in a mutually interactive manner.

"Synesthesia among the arts."

"In my studio, leaning against a wall, there are these red and white plastic things made by Seassaro, who has been exploring, for himself but also for others, elementary models, basic groupings of simple shapes, experiments in interactions and interlockings of textured elements with perforated components, of tubes with surfaces, of figures with artifacts, of channels of light with reflections, and so on and so forth—all these things done to better understand the essence of the world of forms…"

Ettore Sottsass Jr., 1968

Emerging from the vaults of art history are the explorations Alberto Seassaro envisioned, designed, and began showcasing in his early twenties in the 1960s. These experiments were distilled and developed with scientific imagination for just over a half-decade, culminating in 1968-69, a pivotal moment when everything was being questioned (with young people worldwide taking to the streets to say "no"). During this period, his work as a "pure" artist achieved undeniably original results and garnered significant recognition: an honorary diploma at the First International Exhibition of Avant-garde Contemporary Art—Piero Manzoni Prize, participation in one of the legendary gatherings of the Centro Pio Manzù (the 17th International Congress of Artists, Critics, and Art Scholars, alongside Getulio Alviani, Enrico Castellani, and Gianni Colombo), the donation of a work to the "Committee for the Promotion of Anti-Militarist Activities and Conscientious Objection" (later acquired by Count Alberico Barbiano di Belgiojoso), and a presentation by Gillo Dorfles in Made In, the bulletin of Lucio Amelio's Modern Art Agency.

These works occupy an exceptional and eccentric position in the "system of the arts."

But eccentricity and producing exceptions were evidently in Seassaro's DNA. He was not merely an artist but belonged to the uniquely Italian category of transdisciplinary creators, imbued with what Enzo Biffi Gentili describes as a "Leonardo syndrome," demonstrating mastery in "doing it all." These creators are hard to classify, always marching to their own beat, operating along indefinable trajectories, and engaging in surprising actions. They seamlessly navigated between various professional realms, transitioning effortlessly from architecture to design, exhibition design to scenography, graphic design to fashion, painting to sculpture, and even photography.

Italy is the land of such creators—Carlo Mollino, Angelo Mangiarotti, Leonardo Mosso, Umberto Riva, Enzo Mari, Alessandro Mendini, Corrado Levi, Nanda Vigo, and many other eccentrics. Many of them, like Alberto Seassaro, were architects by training. While in our region, he is best known for his seminal, foundational, and monumental work in establishing the School of Design at the Politecnico di Milano, Seassaro initially embarked on a journey that led him to practice as a true artist.

After earning his degree in architecture, Seassaro added a professional practice to his portfolio, collaborating with another enigmatic designer, Ugo La Pietra. Their partnership flourished, marked by shared passions, intellectual exchanges, and mutual influences: sculptures became lamps, luminous bodies became plastic models. This synergy is evident in Seassaro's best-known and intellectually rich works: the "Morfemi." These pieces reveal the originality of his scientific and polytechnic thinking, positioned between art objects and meta-projects. Described as "morphological spatial models born from urban planning research," they are modular components of ideal constructions. They draw inspiration from the architectural musings of Enrico Prampolini and the abstract drawings of Bruno Munari from the 1940s, while subtly reflecting the graphic influence of his mentor, Ettore Sottsass.

The "Morfemi" suggest potential (and elegantly conceived) architectures—plastic provocations that explore the supremacy of geometry, enhanced by an interplay of solids and voids, negatives and positives, with emergences and shifts in constant interaction of shadows and light. These qualities align with the avant-garde spirit of kinetic and programmed art groups such as Gruppo N, Gruppo T, and MID. The work probes the essence of forms, evoking a period when monumental sculpture sought liberation, free from museum pedestals, as demonstrated by singular creations from legendary artists like Katarzyna Kobro, Georges Vantongerloo, and Naum Gabo.

These endeavors, which the art world largely overlooked and the architectural culture merely grazed, showcase Alberto Seassaro's remarkable experimentation. He achieved something both daring and astonishing.

"If I’ve gotten the message wrong, please don’t pay attention to it, and above all, whether the message is right or wrong, Seassaro, don’t worry about it: keep doing what you’re doing with the same love and hope as now."

Ettore Sottsass Jr.

Only a few works by Alberto Seassaro in the fields of interior and furniture design are currently known. However, we hope that more in-depth research may bring to light additional projects, realized or not, that will allow us to reconstruct a clearer picture of Seassaro's intriguing and commendable work as an interior and furniture designer during the 1960s and 1970s.

His documented activities are concentrated in the period 1965–1970, beginning just one year after his graduation in 1964. Among his early works is a bold, avant-garde interior design for a private art gallery (1965/66), created in collaboration with Ugo La Pietra, with whom he co-founded the P/S Project Studio in 1964. This was followed by another equally dynamic interior project for the renowned Il Cenobio art gallery in 1966, again with La Pietra. These two exhibition space designs were succeeded by two highly distinctive residential interiors, marked by the complex arrangement of multifunctional frameworks intersecting within the space. These were designed solely by Seassaro: an apartment in Milan for his sister Paola Seassaro in 1968 and a vacation house in Camogli in 1969.

Following these interiors, Seassaro conducted noteworthy research in the domain of living systems design, including the Addition program of modular tables for Acerbis in 1969. That same year, he collaborated with Casertelli and Valota on a "modular and transformable central element" made of ABET laminate. This project won the MIA (International Furniture and Interior Design Exhibition, Monza) competition, judged by figures such as Joe Colombo, Giotto Stoppino, Gianemilio Monti, and Carlo Pagani. In 1970, Domus No. 489 published the prototype of his 1968 project, a compact, multifunctional, and articulable monobloc unit developed with Acerbis. This piece, designed for entirely open-plan living spaces, was featured in the 1972 MoMA exhibition Italy: The New Domestic Landscape under the title Central Block, containing bed, table, wardrobe, toilet, shelves.

Meanwhile, in 1969, Seassaro co-founded the Studio Associato di Progettazione, Consulenze, Ricerche with Cesare Stevan, Alberico Belgiojoso, Ugo La Pietra, Gian Maria Beretta, and Vittorio Algarotti, an initiative still not widely documented.

Even these few milestones illustrate Seassaro’s fascinating trajectory as a designer, characterized by a strong experimental streak and an eagerness to engage with real-world projects. His approach mirrored that of his contemporaries in Milan, such as the De Pas, D’Urbino, and Lomazzi group, with whom he collaborated at Acerbis during the same period.

Seassaro’s vision of inhabited space as open, relational, interactive, diagrammatic, flexible, and mobile reflected the avant-garde movements of the era, particularly Constructivism and Neoplasticism. This vision also aligned with the research carried out since the early 1950s by one of his influential mentors at the Politecnico di Milano, Vittoriano Viganò, under whom Seassaro apprenticed, as well as at the studios of BBPR, Zanuso, Frattini, and Latis.

Seassaro’s trajectory likely also drew inspiration from Angelo Mangiarotti and Bruno Morassutti’s research into prefabricated building systems, often intersecting with furniture design, Ettore Sottsass’s exploration of color and structure in the 1960s, and Joe Colombo’s experimental work beginning in 1963. His designs also showed affinities with Radical Design both in Italy and abroad, and with the experimental works of contemporaries such as Liisi Beckmann’s Karelia armchair (1966) for Zanotta and Fabio Lenci’s Comfort Line (1967).

Moreover, his significant theoretical and applied research in visual arts between 1962 and 1969 intersected closely with his interior design work, resulting in experimental artifacts such as Morphemes, Morphological Progressions, and Primary Environments, which he exhibited in solo and group shows.

Seassaro’s design endeavors reflected key elements of his metadesign philosophy, later evident in his academic and pedagogical contributions. These included a passion for the paradigm/metaphor of technology as an ethical and aesthetic principle, an interest in innovative forms of environmental perception (color, light, sound, new industrial materials), and a project approach that was both systematic and programmatic while remaining open to ongoing revision. This approach embodied his anarchic and unorthodox take on rationalist methodology.

Giampiero Bosoni

Milan, November 10, 2024

Among the design competitions, the realization of architectural works, and the supervision of the technological aspects of using Montedison’s Prefabricated Products during these years: Centro Servizi Operativi Galleria Monte Bianco (1965); Offices and laboratories of Silicalcite SpA (Montedison) in Milan with Ugo La Pietra (1965); Giovanni XXIII Primary School at Villa Gordiani, Rome (1966); Single-Family House at Lido di Pomezia (1966/67); Primary School in the Forte Quezzi neighborhood, Genoa (1967); Classical High School in Grosseto (1967); Project for the I.S.E.S Competition to select designers for the 167 District, Secondigliano, Naples (1967) by Edilstudio SpA (Montedison) with Benedetto Resio, Ugo La Pietra; Project for the Milan Municipality Tender for twenty prefabricated schools (Edilstudio SpA of Montedison); ICLIS (Institute for Housing Workers in the Steel Industry) Italsider Houses (Bagnoli, Naples 1968); ECA Village (Municipal Assistance Authority) (Turin 1969); UTE University in Provins (France 1969); School Complex in Belleville (France 1969).

Alberto Seassaro’s research and experimentation in the field of industrialized construction and prefabrication continued into the early '80s, designing and realizing buildings with industrialized technologies, including: Residential Building in Celerina (Switzerland 1972), Gescal Complex in Vimodrone (Milan 1970s) with Cesare Blasi, Ugo La Pietra, Gabriella Padovano.

I met and spent time with Alberto when everything at the Faculty of Architecture in Milan was being questioned, and the disciplines of traditional courses were being contested by students who demanded a more direct and conscious relationship with society. It was the famous '68, and I remember it with nostalgia because back then we were young and believed in those things with enthusiasm. At that time, Alberto expressed his great vitality and exceptional organizational skills to create moments of free debate and even struggle, but also to form study groups aimed at reflecting on the deeper meaning of design. I particularly remember the seminar he held with Corrado Levi, titled "The personal is political," in which the students' unease and their rejection of architecture were addressed with a method that combined the design process with a contemporary recognition of personal experiences and sensitivities. The seminar was followed with great enthusiasm by many students who, through this experience, found a new way to approach architecture and discover its charm.

And now I think that even the architectural choices and interests later pursued by Alberto, his careful study of technologies and his love for design, were a way to deconstruct those tired forms, now emptied of any vitality, that the academic tradition proposed. In other words, they were the path—which would prove fruitful in the field of ecological thinking, and beyond—to bring architecture closer to life.

Bianca Bottero

Milan, September 10, 2020

Alberto Seassaro was, to me, a unique individual, an important academic and personal reference. I have known Alberto for over fifty years. I first met Professor Seassaro as a student, in my fourth year at the Faculty of Architecture, when he— a young professor—was engaged, along with other colleagues, in experimental forms of teaching and research, which at the time were considered highly advanced and certainly not always accepted by academic authorities. Even then, I noticed his intellectual commitment, curiosity, and his desire to research and delve deeper into subjects, qualities he aimed to pass on to his collaborators and students.

Once I graduated, I had the opportunity to work with him professionally for a short period. During those months, I learned a great deal; he was also a master in professional work: he knew how to be creatively decisive and find non-trivial solutions. He also knew how to draw beautifully: at that time, we used technical drawing boards with pencils, and his pencil sketches had a unique charm.

I then began collaborating in teaching and took my first steps in research. We were working in the field of Architectural Technology. In this area, too, he wove an important network, seeking to combine technology with other disciplines to provide adequate responses to the times. For years, along with other colleagues at the national level, he championed new demands and ensured that the technological debate was a source of effective and productive exchange. In particular, attention was paid to the processes of building production, the quality of industrial products, the study of construction details, and environmental issues. The results of this research often led to publications of scientific interest and didactic reference.

The aspects mentioned, practiced in the field of Architectural Technology, were already intertwining with issues of Design, which had always been present in his research work, eventually assuming their own relevance and independent space in both research and teaching. And so, he took up the challenge and began designing what would become, through much work, the "Design System." As is well known, it was a long journey, built step by step, during which he involved colleagues from other universities whom he believed could contribute, based on their expertise and characteristics, to the creation of a solid research framework, the results of which would be channeled into the design and organization of the School he would lead.

Attention was also focused, and above all, on young researchers, open to new scenarios, who would give and continue to give a decisive contribution. All this with tireless energy and not without serious disagreements. The result is well known and is evident to all.

We therefore owe our thanks to a man who was demanding and strict, intelligent and creative, generous and special.

Cesira Macchia

September 10, 2020

The establishment of the Industrial Design degree program at the Politecnico di Milano, at the close of the last century, represented a renewal of importance comparable to the creation of the Faculty of Architecture in 1932. It was a disciplinary expansion of teaching and research that successfully brought together the Faculties of Architecture and Engineering into a shared project, overcoming longstanding mistrust.

The principal architect of this initiative was undoubtedly Alberto Seassaro. With a shared background in Architectural Composition, Alberto and I had a strong inclination towards exploring Architectural Technology immediately after graduating. Together, we worked to establish a dedicated institute for this field, which I eventually directed in the late 1970s, separating us from the compositional discipline of our training. This initiative was able to catalyze various interdisciplinary interests in the building process, which underpinned the production of architecture.

Within this context, Alberto distinguished himself with an uncommon breadth of vision, as well as a talent for networking and coordination, qualities that were fully expressed in his curatorship of Storia e struttura del settore edilizio. In Italia dal dopoguerra ad oggi (1979), with contributions from a group of professors who would go on to promote the Department of Planning, Design, and Building Production (PPPE) in 1980. This was the first technological department in Italy, following the legislative reform that established departments. Alberto and I co-authored the programmatic document, which was later presented by Marco Zanuso to the University's Commission for approval. Zanuso’s support and authority were crucial for the proposal’s acceptance.

I was then elected director of the Department for six years, during which we strengthened our team with the recruitment of Tomàs Maldonado from Bologna and Achille Castiglioni from Turin. The success of the initiative, which brought together about sixty faculty members and numerous assistants, prompted Eduardo Vittoria, a member of the National University Council (CUN) and a close friend of Zanuso, to encourage me to promote a specialization course in Industrial Design. Milan’s professional and productive environment was fertile ground for such an initiative, though approval from CUN was not easy unless the course was properly structured.

I worked with Zanuso to guide the complex procedure and proposed a committee coordinated by Zanuso, with Maldonado and Castiglioni. However, after some time, Zanuso informed me that the proposal had stalled due to difficulties in assembling the committee, and the initiative did not progress.

By the late 1980s, we considered revisiting the initiative, exploring the possibility of proposing an Industrial Design degree program as part of the broader revision of the academic curricula. This was, however, a challenging and demanding endeavor. Alberto, Valerio Di Battista, Antonio Scoccimarro, and I often discussed it, with other professors showing interest as well. The foundation could only stem from the PPPE Department’s cultural approach, with its pragmatic and interdisciplinary orientation, akin to the Anglo-Saxon design culture.

In the early 1990s, we decided that direct involvement was necessary. During a dinner among the four of us, at Alberto’s place in the attic on Corso Garibaldi, we spent the night discussing who would take on the difficult task of advancing this project. We agreed that Alberto should lead, given his youthful interests and familiarity with the world of designers and artists, which was central to the initiative.

Alberto was initially hesitant, fully aware of the immense personal commitment required. A couple of months passed, during which we encouraged him, and he gradually made his decision. It was a familiar approach for him—his fundamental contribution to department initiatives over the years was marked by periods of reflective study followed by proactive engagement to bring those ideas to fruition. He would wholeheartedly engage others, inspire, and involve them. His unique organizational skills and deep understanding of the institutional and bureaucratic mechanisms of the University were complementary to his creative and artistic personality.

This dual approach was undoubtedly the key to an initiative that seemed improbable, in a context resistant to radical innovations and institutionally entrenched. Only Seassaro, with his dedication and creative ability, could bring together many disciplinary sectors at the Politecnico, as well as the professional and productive world.

Thus, in 1993, the Industrial Design degree program began, followed by the Department and Faculty, opening the way for similar programs in other universities. But that is well-known history. My brief reflection seeks to bring a personal perspective on where and how it all began.

Fabrizio Schiaffonati

Milan, October 31, 2024

Alberto Seassaro's approach to teaching was deeply influential and unique. His commitment to teaching was unwavering, even as his academic roles within the Faculty of Architecture reached their peak. Despite the increasing demands of his positions, he remained deeply involved with students, continuing to teach even while facing illness. His method was distinctive; when he could not speak, he used his eyes and hands, filling pages with sketches—clear, logical, and filled with correlations, yet also twisted and layered, creating a form of extraordinary scriptography. His work resembled an "oxymoronic graphic," where multiple reading paths coexisted, akin to the famous Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus but written from left to right.

His most cherished subject was "Light," or more precisely, the "Culture of Light," a course where not only the physical phenomenon of light was studied but also its aesthetic perception. In this course, the concept of aesthetics was explored in its most ancient form, as a phenomenon that stimulates the senses, with the mind developing through perception.

The preparatory meetings before the lessons were among the most creative parts of the course, often taking place at his home with homemade focaccia and assorted sweets. For hours, discussions would unfold amidst thousands of books and his collection of hundreds of lucky elephant figurines. Every detail of the course had to be planned—topics, timing, exercises, roles of guest speakers. Alberto was known for being an incredibly meticulous planner, but also an extraordinary designer who loved to develop ideas to the fullest level of detail possible.

His teaching style was such that he would often take the students through topics, leading them with a narrative full of cultural references, metaphors, anecdotes, and research ideas. The structure would dissolve in favor of a spontaneous, engaging lecture that covered everything from philosophy to technology, making the "Culture of Light" a dynamic field of knowledge.

When the microphone was turned on, the scheduled plan disappeared, and the lecture took on a life of its own. The slides and images were abandoned, and the discourse became fluid, weaving through complex relationships between light phenomena, humanity, and the environment.

Seassaro’s teaching left a lasting impact, as he was always able to raise students to his level of insight and intellectual curiosity. For him, teaching meant learning continuously, not just from the material but from his students as well, making the classroom a space of mutual discovery and intellectual growth. His method was based on a philosophy of improvement and deep understanding, which made his students smarter by merely engaging with him.

Claudio Conio


Milan, November 2nd, 2024

Let’s try! Let’s try to tell the story of the object that encapsulates over thirty years of work and friendship with Alberto Seassaro.

There’s no friendship without remembering the beginning—the spark that ignited it. And Alberto truly sparked something remarkable! In the late 1980s, he created the Seminario di Cultura e Progetto della Luce (Seminar on Culture and Light Design) within the Department of "Tecnica ed Economia della Produzione Edilizia" at Politecnico di Milano.

While, in 1987, Zanuso and Castiglioni attracted many students to their courses due to their fame, Alberto faced a completely different situation. Not only did he drown in the literal sense but, physically, he was overwhelmed by an unquantifiable number of students attending his light-focused classes. The seminar flyer featured a design from Gli oggetti impossibili (The Impossible Objects)—a lightbulb with a candle inside. This was already an unconventional approach, and it attracted an enormous number of students on the presentation day.

With a blend of irony and authority, Alberto presented the course outline and the two assignments. The first exercise was the creation of a kaleidoscope, serving as a selection process for the second assignment: designing and creating a light event in space and time. His hope was to narrow down the number of participants over the two months of lessons and revisions, pushing the unselected ones toward a bibliographic exam.

However, what was intended to be a difficult task to limit the group turned out to be the opposite. Everyone submitted their kaleidoscope, and chaos ensued! No one was excluded. It was an extraordinary success, one that Alberto savored deeply. This became one of the most iconic courses in the Industrial Design curriculum at Politecnico di Milano. An exceptional learning path that began in 1987 and remained largely unchanged in essence.

The kaleidoscope surprised everyone from the start. The initial surprise at seeing a "toy" turned into admiration when Alberto presented it as a tool to manipulate light. Not a machine for producing light, but for shaping it—a concept never heard of before.

The kaleidoscope was an "abstract" object. It wasn’t a chair, a lamp, or even a bicycle for research and experimentation. Yet, it was an extraordinary object for design education, capable of spanning multiple topics and providing, if understood well, remarkable mental openings. A "small" yet incredibly complex object, which immediately allowed the designer’s soul and personality to emerge.

Alberto Seassaro, known as "the Sea," had a very clear vision that he pursued relentlessly: to establish a strongly polytechnic School of Design. From the outset, he involved faculty from materials science, mechanical engineering, management, and beyond, often stating that he aimed to engage every department within the Politecnico.

This "polytechnic" vision is an indisputable historical merit that must be acknowledged. It contributed to breaking down long-standing silos that had existed within the Politecnico. A prime example is the creation of the Master’s Degree in Design & Engineering, the first truly interdisciplinary polytechnic degree program.

Personally, I became involved in the project through the "materials area" starting in 1994, later joining the Faculty of Architecture in 1997. I participated from the very beginning in the creation of the Industrial Design Degree Program and, later, the Faculty/School of Design. This gave me the opportunity to get to know him very well.

The Sea centralized everything and wanted to control it all. However, in pursuing his vision, he had the foresight to create room for the "engineering" components, which he not only accommodated but sometimes even "defended." This was especially true for "materials."

In return, he always strongly advocated for, and pursued, not only external teaching involvement but also the development of specific research activities and mixed engineering-design expertise. From the start, he supported the creation of the "Materioteca," now part of the University Library System, and facilitated the establishment of a materials laboratory within the Durando Campus.

Everyone who knew him understood how challenging it was to debate with him. His vision always came first, and he wouldn’t stop at anything to achieve it. With him, I shared many enjoyable Negronis at Bar La Rossa after long days of heated discussions. In the end, though, we always reached an agreement.

I can only be grateful to him and remember him with great affection. He will remain a part of the history of the Politecnico.

Alberto Cigada

Milan, 24.11.2024

The memory I have of Alberto dates back to the early years after my graduation, during the 1970s and 1980s, when two groups of “subordinate professors” exchanged harsh courtesies before agreeing on their positions to present at the sparse Faculty Council meetings of the time. Even then, Alberto was tireless in preparing colorful synoptic charts with which he illustrated, in the course of interminable meetings, the experimentation of new teaching structures and study programs, always trying to convince everyone present. Years later, I saw the same anticipatory energy accompany the proposals, reports, and drafts of what could have been the study path for industrial design.

It was in the early 1990s when the first and only Faculty of Architecture succeeded in deliberating, in a crowded and contested Faculty Council, its division into two: the second Faculty of Civil Architecture and the Third Faculty of Industrial Design, which were to find their space in Bovisa—an area easily reachable by two train stations and later connected in just 20 minutes to the Leonardo campus via the much-awaited Passante Ferroviario.

However, the prospect of the move to Bovisa did not immediately gain widespread acceptance. Initially, the industrial engineering faculties within the university opposed it. The hesitation was broken by Professor Amalia Finzi with the relocation of the Aerospace department to via La Masa, where she was the Director; later came the opening of the Wind Tunnel and the relocation of Mechanical and Energy Engineering departments along with their respective laboratories. Meanwhile, the ever-increasing space crisis for the Architecture Faculty at the Leonardo campus forced the early relocation of some courses to via La Masa and then the transfer of several teaching laboratories to the Durando campus, followed by the full relocation of the Civil Architecture Faculty, including classrooms, the office of the dean, and the Department of Architectural Composition.

This marked the beginning of a gradual occupation of available spaces, simultaneously with the planning of student enrollments and faculty strength for the three distinct faculties. Alberto saw this as fierce competition for the Industrial Design Faculty, which still lacked everything.

In this context, Alberto, tasked with forming the new Faculty from that very contested Faculty Council, poured his passion, creativity, and all of himself into a project that was still in its infancy—from the study program to the determination of student and faculty numbers. For some courses, professionals from the design world joined in, as did some colleagues from Engineering, though not always with full conviction from both sides. However, it was the laboratories that required significant effort and proved to be the key element of the entire project: they were the glue that forced both faculty and students to engage with the art of innovation and the use of new materials stemming from the tradition of our craftsmanship and industrial production.

By the end of the 1990s, the establishment of the Industrial Design Faculty was completed with the creation of the Poli Design Consortium, which began relationships with the entire world of industry and, in the 2000s, brought the Faculty to China with the University Design Hub in Xi’an.

Thus, Alberto, with his irresistible creativity and his constant presence at numerous meetings and moments of reflection—often joined by Flaviano Celaschi—triumphed over every adversity. As they used to say, the kite always rises higher, the more the wind blows against it.

Maria Cristina Treu

Milan, October 28, 2024

Systemic thinking involves focusing on the relationship between elements, their evolution, and their connections (whether probable or improbable). It shifts from the notion of assigning blame or responsibility to understanding the conditions that facilitated an outcome. As Paola Pirri and Massimiliano Di Bacco state in The Systemic Thinking: An Approach to Complexity, systemic thinking helps us understand the complexity of problems without oversimplification by considering how different elements influence one another. It involves learning to read environmental, economic, and social problems typical of sustainability through relationships, recognizing the connections and feedbacks that create the processes and phenomena around us.

Systemic thinking helps us view reality in interconnected parts and increases awareness of the consequences of our actions, both in the short and long term. Applying systemic thinking helps to see the world through communicative parts and boosts our understanding of the consequences of our actions in both the immediate and distant future.

https://www.creda.it/pensiero-sistemico/#:~:text=Pensare%20sistemicamente%20significa%20interessarsi%20al,che%20hanno%20facilitato%20un%20accadimento. 

I initially disliked Alberto Seassaro's systemic thinking approach before understanding it and attempting to emulate it. My first encounter with this approach overwhelmed me in 1989. I had just graduated when I received a call from Ida Faré, my thesis supervisor, asking me to help Professor Seassaro, who was in the hospital, carry out research and an exhibition on the habitability of attics in Milan. I arrived at Niguarda, expecting to find an infirm man, only to be swept away by a vibrant figure in pajamas and a flood of thoughts, words, actions, intentions, and desires. I understood about 10% of it. Compared to the “da cosa nasce cosa” method, Seassaro’s approach was far more dynamic. I was drawn into this intellectual whirlwind, working alongside him in spaces such as Luison near Piola Metro Station or Matricola, despite intense schedules. The process was often a web of interconnected ideas, often shattering conventional thinking. We explored connections between objects, light, and space, weaving together concepts of philosophy, history, biology, and even technology.

Seassaro's visionary approach to teaching, his ability to combine new materials, and his dedication to pushing the boundaries of design education led to lasting collaborations with professionals and academics. Through initiatives like the Poli.Design Consortium and the “Design & Labor Market” symposium, he transformed applied research and design into tangible outcomes, bridging academia and industry.

Flaviano Celaschi

October 19, 2024

Important encounters in life are sometimes the result of coincidences.

1993 marked my personal “sliding door” moment at the Politecnico di Milano. In April of that year, I graduated with a thesis bridging architecture and design, combining two advisors who had little in common: Tomás Maldonado and Emilio Battisti (a clear sign of my inability to decisively choose my future path).

In October 1993, the first year of the Bachelor’s Degree in Design within the Faculty of Architecture began. At the same time, I passionately and anxiously started my role as "curator" in the courses on technological culture of design and in the construction laboratory taught by Antonio Scoccimarro in the Faculty of Architecture. A few months later, I began my PhD journey. As a doctoral student, I increased my presence in the cramped and overcrowded spaces of the Department, then called PPPE (unpronounceable acronym for Programming, Design, and Construction Production), which later changed to DiTec (Industrial Design and Architecture Technology) to give visibility to the design area, which was gaining an increasingly significant role within the university.

It was in those spaces, among narrow corridors filled with filing cabinets, overcrowded administrative offices, led with “determination” by the then-administrative officer Catia Carciofi (who drove a Jaguar and often entertained us with stories about her personal life), and photocopiers always in use, that my path crossed with that of Alberto Seassaro. He practically lived in those spaces seven days a week, nearly 24 hours a day. His office had become the operational center of the newly established degree program: a vibrant place for meetings, discussions, document elaborations, and strategies for the future.

I observed the beginning of this grand and ambitious journey from the "neighboring room," living just "two doors down" from Alberto’s office, still unaware of his extraordinary drive and his intention to progressively expand and solidify design at the Politecnico in increasingly broad, robust, and complex ways.

A few years later, the “operational center” moved to the next room, and by the end of my PhD, I, too, became involved in the project’s energy. The "third room" was also conquered!

Alberto learned about my 15 years at the German school in Milan, and immediately decided that I should handle international relations for the newly established degree program. This involved building everything from scratch—creating an extensive network for student exchanges (to free ourselves from the CRIFA program of Architecture led by Maurizio Vogliazzo and managed by Angiola Neri), to establishing academic collaborations with major universities worldwide. This gave rise to the Relé (copyrighted by Flaviano Celaschi), the Office of External and International Relations, which I managed enthusiastically for 16 years with many colleagues, including Anne Schoonbrodt, Francesca Andrich, Carolina Cruz, Valentina Auricchio, and Davide Fassi (with whom I still collaborate at the Politecnico).

Alberto did not speak English, which is why he avoided meeting with the many visiting delegations. However, his linguistic barrier didn’t stop him from sketching broad scenarios and ambitious international strategies for the design system at the Politecnico.

From his vision and the operations of Relé came conferences like Designing Designers, networks like MEDes and GIDE, student exchange procedures on a European and extra-European scale, and the launch in 2005/2006 of the Master’s Degree in Design of Product and Service Systems (PSSD), the first master's program in design offered in English in Italy. After attending a Cumulus conference, I returned to Milan and discussed with Alberto the opportunity to formally join the network. I distinctly remember his words: “If we join Cumulus, we do so with the intention of assuming leadership.” This was Alberto—focused on the present, yet always projecting towards the future with a visionary, ambitious, and challenging approach. I was somewhat disoriented by his words, but those same words clearly came back to me when I was elected President of Cumulus in 2013, realizing an idea that Alberto had had over a decade earlier.

My studies in the German academic environment likely also influenced Alberto’s decision to appoint me as his operational arm for drafting regulations. I could only imagine my joy in being chosen for this role. Among the various regulations written (some even in the middle of the night to meet looming deadlines), I remember the one for the newly created INDACO Department and for the "UdRDs" (Unpronounceable Research and Didactic Units), the basic modules of the Department. Through working with Alberto, I understood how much creativity and design thinking lay behind regulations—short texts that did not just summarize rules and constraints, but condensed principles capable of anticipating or smoothing conflicts and encouraging virtuous behaviors. Consistent with the “systems and components” approach typical of architectural technologists, Alberto would sketch out the individual elements (the UdRDs, the Senate, the Scientific Commission, the Board, the Director...), highlighting roles, weights, and functioning methods. Then, he would gradually map out the relationships between the different bodies, detailing the entire governance system. The process would be enriched by the "what if" approach: Alberto envisioned different cases, assessed their consequences, and devised possible mitigation strategies.

These exercises in institutional engineering were interspersed with numerous diversions—extraordinary travel stories, improbable experiences, anecdotes, Lucio Battisti songs, and much more. Sketch after sketch, the desk would always be cluttered with increasingly complex and detailed schemes, revealing an active and ever-moving mind dedicated to creating, building, strengthening, and protecting a system that, back then, was still in the making, requiring structure but also care and protection.

The creation of the design system at the Politecnico di Milano, its components, and relationships was Alberto Seassaro’s life academic masterpiece, to which he dedicated himself tirelessly and fully for over thirty years. For this, he has earned the profound gratitude of our entire community.

Luisa Collina, known as Lollo

November 14, 2024

Giovanni Azzone, Adriana Baglioni, Sebastiano Bagnara, Corrado Baldi, Giulio Ballio, Emilio Bartezzaghi, Luciano Baresi, Elisa Bassani, Pierluigi Bassani, Gian Luca Basso Peressut, Marco Beccali, Gabriella Belotti, Maresa Bertolo, Marisa Bertoldini, Massimiliano Bestetti, Gianfrancesco Biggioggero, Alessandro Biamonti, Mauro Biscardi, Mario Bisson, Enrica Bistagnino, Luigi Bistagnino, Cesare Blasi, Massimo Achille Bonfantini, Monica Bordegoni, Angelo Borroni, Giampiero Bosoni, Bianca Bottero, Maria Bottero, Pietro Boyl di Putifigare, Armando Brandolese, Andrea Branzi, Fausto Brevi, Francesca Brunella, Gianluca Brugnoli, Valeria Luisa Bucchetti, Tommaso Buganza, Federico Butera, Daniela Anna Calabi, Andrea Campioli, Maria Rita Canina, Alba Cappellieri, Stefano Capolongo, Elena Caratti, Michele Carboni, Francesco Caruso, Giandomenico Caruso, Marco Casamonti, Gaetano Cascini, Aldo Castellano, Eugenio Castelli, Cabirio Cautela, Nicolò Ceccarelli, Mauro Attilio Ceconello, Flaviano Celaschi, Manuela Celi, Claudio Chesa, Giuseppe Chigiotti, Roberto Chiesa, Alberto Cigada, Graziella Leyla Ciagà, Stefano Cinti Luciani, Paolo Ciuccarelli, Luisa Maria Virginia Collina, Chiara Colombi, Alberto Colorni, Giovanni Maria Conti, Alberto Coraluppi, Attilio Costa, Fiammetta Costa, Luciano Crespi, Raffaella Crespi, Umberto Cugini, Gian Paolo Cugola, Laura Daglio, Philippe Daverio, Piermaria Carlo Davoli, Almerico De Angelis, Valerio De Battista, Gabriele De Caprio, Michele De Lucchi, Luigi De Nardo, Roberto De Paolis, Claudia De Rose, Barbara Del Curto, Alessando Deserti, Massimiliano Di Bacco, Valerio Di Battista, Annalisa Dominoni, Lorenza Draghi, Finzi Ercoli, Emilio Faroldi, Ida Faré, Marco Fattore, Maria Rita Ferrari, Simone Ferrari, Marco Ferrara, Francesco Ferrise, Maurizio Figiani, Giuseppe Finessi, Alberto Fontana, Carlotta Fontana, Gianni Forcolini, Fabio Vittorio Fossati, Roberto Frassine, Gabriele Fumagalli, Marisa Galbiati, Marco Gaiani, Marco Garetti, Claudio Gasparini, Paolo Gasparoli, Silvio Gasparoni, Enzo Gentili, Mauro Ghezzoli, Carlo Ghezzi, Franco Giacomazzi, Paolo Giandebiaggi, Marco Giglio, Giulio Giorello, Elisabetta Ginelli, Giovanni Maria Gislon, Claudio Goglio, Francesca Golfetto, Luca Guerrini, Decio Guardigli, Francesco Ermanno Guida, Mario Guagliano, Gabriele Guidi, Maristella Gussoni, Valeria Maria Iannilli, Francesco Ingargiola, Fulvio Irace, Francesco Iovane, Lorenzo Jurina, Vincenzo La Scala, Paolo Landoni, Elisa La Scala, Corrado Levi, Marinella Levi, Giorgio Longoni, Claudio Luini, Eleonora Lupo, Marco Maiocchi, Anna Maier, Luca Mainetti, Roberto Maja, Elisa Maiocchi, Maurizio Maiocchi, Pietro Marani, Attilio Marcolli, Luca Marestotti, Paolo Marestotti, Giampiero Mastinu, Sergio Mattia, Marco Melacini, Elisabetta Merlo, Anna Meroni, Stefano Miccoli, Edie Miglio, Claudio Molinari, Sandro Morasca, Giovanni Moroni, Elena Germana Mussinelli, Pierluigi Nicolin, Luca Nobili, Giulio Ottolini, Stefania Palmieri, Marina Parente, Giovanni Pasca Raymondi, Andrea Pavan, Claudio Pavese, Antonio Pedotti, Antonella Penati, Gian Carlo Pepe, Alessandro Perego, G. Peretti, Marco Perona, Luisa Peverelli, Mario Piazza, Silvia Piardi, Giovanna Piccinno, Margherita Pillan, Marianella Pirzio Biroli Sclavi, Michele Platania, Claudio Podestà, Alberto Pizzati, Barbara Previtali, Maria Pronio, Marco Rasella, Lucia Rosa Elena Rampino, Andrea Ratti, Agnese Rebaglio, Dina Riccò, Francesca Ricci, Silvia Ricci, Marta Rink, Giacomo Rizzi, Roberto Rizzi, Marco Romano, Alfredo Ronchi, Maurizio Rossi, Michela Rossi, Claudio Roveda, Alberto Rovida, Claudio Rovida, Lucia Ruggerone, Giorgio Cesare Santambrogio, Fabrizio Schiaffonati, Antonio Scoccimarro, Giovanni Scudo, Alberto Seassaro, Carlo Signorelli, Giuliano Simonelli, Andrea Simoni, Elisabetta Simoni, Francesco Siliato, Marco Sini, Marco Somalvico, Giancarlo Storti Gaiani, Luca Tallini, Paolo Talso, Letizia Tanca, Marco Tagliasacchi, Enrico Talamona, Paolo Talamona, Cristina Tonelli, Oliviero Tronconi, Raffaella Trocchianesi, Marco Turinetto, Giovanni Utica, Andrias Van Onck, Carlo Vannicola, Nicola Ventura, Roberto Verganti, Paola Vidulli, Roberto Vigano', Claudia Viganò, Maurizio Vogliazzo, Paolo Gaetano Volontè, Elio Zamponi, Paolo Zanella, Salvatore Zingale, Gabriella Zuco, Francesco Zurlo.

Letizia Abbate, Marco Abbate, Maria Gabriella Ablondi, Paolo Accanti, Davide Affaticati, Maria Cristina Ajroldi, Alessandro Alessandri, Jose' Allard, Daniela Allodi, Isabella Amaduzzi, Laura Ammaturo, Laura Ammaturo, Stefano Anfossi, Davide Angheleddu, Silvana Annicchiarico, Laura Anselmi, Massimo Antinarelli, Andrea Aparo, Walter Aprile, Giuseppe Ardia, Mario Argeri, Stefano Arienti, Antonio Armillotta, Gianluigi Arnaldi, Alessandro Arosio, Venanzio Arquilla, Alberto Artioli, Antonietta Astori, Valentina Auricchio, Marco Ausano Introini, Marta Averna, Karim Azzabi, Mauro Bacchini, Helen Bachmann-Field, Laura Badalucco, Roberto Bagatti, Loretta Baiocchi, Claudia Baldi, Enrico Baleri, Luigi Bandini Buti, Simone Bandini Buti, Anna Barbara, Silvia Barberani, Fabrizio Barbero, Daniele Barbieri, Valentina Baroncini, Aristide Barone, Mirko Barone, Daniele Baroni, Federico Barraco, Antonio Barrese, Carlo Bartoli, Paolo Bartoli, Cristiana Bartolomei, Benedetta Barzini, Dimitri Basilico, Gisella Bassanini, Giovanni Baule, Leopoldo Bazzicalupo, Matteo Bazzicalupo, Gianfranco Bazzigaluppi, Daniele Bedini, Deborah Bella, Luigi Bellavita, Guido Belli, Francesco Bellini, Mario Bellini, Claudio Bellotti, Elisa Bellotti, Arturo Bellucci, Antonio Belluscio, Maddalena Beltrami, Luca Beltrami Gadola, Davide Beltramini, Markus Benesch, Antonino Benincasa, Francesco Bergonzi, Diego Bernardi, Giulio Bertagna, Franca Bertani, Paola Bertola, Chiara Bertolaja, Katia Bettin, Maria Chiara Bianchi, Alberto Bianda, Gian Francesco Biggioggero, Manuela Biondi, Fulvia Bleu, Tamara Bloch, Riccardo Blumer, Julia Blyth Binfield, Maria Pia Bobbioni, Gianluca Bocchi, Luisa Bocchietto, Paola Bocci, Claudio Boer, Cristina Boeri, Florian Boje, Marco Boldrini, Manuela Bonaiti, Tiziana Bonanni, Denise Bonapace, Lina Bonapace, Lina Bonapace, Marco Bonetto, Roberto Boni, Roberto Boni, Mario Bonomo, Guy Bonsiepe, Giovanna Borasi, Elena Bordoli, Davide Boriani, Marco Borsotti, Fabio Bortolani, Alessandra Bosco, Chiara Boselli, Gianpiero Bosoni, Federico Botta, Maurizia Botti, Cristiano Bottino, Aldo Bottoli, Andrea Braccaloni, Jessica Bramati, Paolo Brambilla, Carlo Branzaglia, Clare Brass, Richard Brault, Luigi Brenna, Paolo Brescia, Elena Brigi, Stefana Broadbent, Andrea Brogi, Maria Francesca Brunella, Federico Brunetti, Armando Bruno, Davide Bruno, Ampelio Bucci, Laura Buddensieg, Guido Buganza, Luca Bugliesi, Carlo Bulfoni, Gabriele Buratti, Michael Burke, Luca Buttafava, Luca Buttafava, Alessandra Butte' Litta, Dario Buzzini, Giovanni Caffio, Antonio Calbi, Giorgio Calderaro, Giacomo Callo, Luigia Calvi, Pietro Camardella, Andrea Cammarata, Barbara Camocini, Mara Campana, Alberto Alessandro Campolunghi, Alberto Campolunghi, Maria Canella, Roberto Canevari, Mariarita Canina, Enrico Cano, Maria Vittoria Capitanucci, Piero Capodieci, Michele Capuani, Manuel Cardenas, Mauro Carichini, Fulvio Carmagnola, Elio Carmi, Stefania Casacci, Filippo Casale, Barbara Casati, Paolo Casati, Leonardo Cascitelli, Alessandro Casinovi, Mario Castagna, Giacomo Castellano, Paolo Castelli, Achille Castiglioni, Piero Castiglioni, Gianluca Cattoli, Emanuela Cavalca, Francesco Cavalli, Maurizio Cavezzali, Giulio Ceppi, Anxo Cereijo Roibas, Jacqueline Ceresoli, Giovanni Cesareo, Matteo Chevallard, Moh Jin Chew, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Maria Vittoria Chierici, Vittoria Chierici, Andrea Chiodi, Aldo Cibic, Luigi Ciccognani, Stefano Cinti, Simone Ciotola, Carla Cipolla, Erik Ciravegna, Pierluigi Cirrottola, Antonio Citterio, Marcello Cividini, Franco Clivio, James Clough, Maria Cristina Codecasa, Annabella Coiro, Andrea Colcuc, Cynthia Coleman, Cynthiaellen Coleman, Margherita Colleoni, Aldo Colonetti, Maria Gabriella Comelli, Claudio Comi, Marta Conconi, Marta Conconi, Claudio Conio, Claudio Conio, Luciano Consolati, Giovanni Conte, Emiliano Conti, Giovanni Conti, Tommaso Cora', Daniele Cordero Di Montezemolo, Paolo Cornalba, Angelo Cortesi, Angelo Cortesi, Sara Cortesi, Luca Cosmai, Michelangelo Coviello, Paolo Crescenti, Mario Cresci, Ermanno Cressoni, Adriano Crippa, Davide Crippa, Corrado Crisciani, Corrado Crisciani, Vincenzo Cristallo, Silvano Custoza, Giovanni Cutolo, Fausto Cutuli, Toni D’Andrea, Donato D’Urbino, Vincenzo D'Abbraccio, Roberto Dadda, Giorgio Dal Fabbro, Sergio Dall'Orto, Albino D'Amato, Mario D'Andrea, Toni D'Andrea, Antonio Davanzo, Peter Davis, Marco Daz, Luca Dazzan, Luigi De Aloisio, Benedetta De Bartolomeis, Rodolfo De Bernardi, Carlotta De Bevilacqua, Manolo De Giorgi, Angela De Marco, Marina De Meo, Orio De Paoli, Silvio De Ponte, Walter De Silvia, Gabriele De Vecchi, Pietrina Deidda, Arturo Dell'Acqua Bellavitis, Raffaello Dell'Agata, Claudio Dell'Era, Andrea Giuseppe Derosa, Alessandro Deserti, Anna Maria Detheridge, Massimo Deutsch, Carmelo Di Bartolo, Valentina Di Francesco, Fabio Di Liberto, Giuseppe Di Paolo, Ernesto Di Pietro, Maurizio Di Puolo, Elena Di Raddo, Maurizio Di Robilant, Peter Di Sabatino, Chiara Diana, Francesco Dondina, Dante Donegani, Dante Donegani, Gillo Dorfles, Cristina Dosio, Federica Doveil, Eugenia Dubini, Valentina Durante, Alba D'Urbano, Massimo Duroni, Sylvie Duvernoy, Alain Elkann, Chiara Este Bersanelli, Diana Eugeni, Cecilia Fabiani, Cristina Fallica, Ferdinando Fanchiotti, Marco Fantoni, Davide Fassi, Franca Fava, Ignazia Favata, Cristina Favini, Laura Fedriga, Maria Teresa Feraboli, Alessandro Ferrari, Emilio Ferrari, Paolo Ferrari, Silvia Ferraris, Silvia Ferraris, Marco Ferreri, Giordana Ferri, Lisa Feuerherm, Luca Fiammenghi, Emanuele Fiano, Massimo Ficagna, Bruce Fifield, Luigi Filetici, Michela Finaurini, Eleonora Fiorani, Odoardo Fioravanti, Luca Fois, Mario Fontana, Monica Fonteleos Sanchez, Carlo Forcolini, Elena Formia, Ada Francesca Fornerone, Barbara Forni, Stephane Fournier, Marcello Francone, Neil Frankel, Neil Frankel, Gian Luca Frigerio, Gianfranco Frontini, Angelo Fronzoni, Giangiorgio Fuga, Alessandro Fumagalli, Paolo Fumagalli, Elena Fusar Poli, Valentino Fusetti, Gioia Gabellieri Bargagli, Lorenzo Gaetani, Luca Gafforio, Isabella Gagliardi, Raffaele Gagliardi, Marcello Galbiati, Maria Luisa Galbiati, Chiara Galeazzi, Daniele Galiffa, Antonio Galli, Christian Galli, Francesco Galli, Dalia Gallico, Daria Gallico, Emmanuel Gallina, Emmanuel Gallina, Laura Galloni, Enrico Gamberini, Augusto Garau, Isabella Garlati, Gianandrea Garola, Alberto Garutti, Franca Garzotto, Martino Gasparini, Riccardo Gatti, Andrès Carlos Gavazzi, Andres Gavazzi, Bruno Gecchelin, Moreno Gentili, Rina Gerbelle, Gabriele Geronzi, Giulia Gerosa, Mattia Ghezzi, Roberto Ghibaudo, Roberto Ghislandi, Giovanni Giacobone, Chiarangela Giannelli Buss, Antonella Giardina, Giovanni Gigante, Anna Gili, Roberto Giolito, Stefano Giovannoni, Silvia Girardi, Ernesto Gismondi, Federico Giua, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Elena Giunta, Sergio Giusti, Leonardo Giusto, Maurizio Gnot, Katia Goldoni, Stefano Govi, Cristoph Grafe, Andrea Grasselli, Davide Groppi, Ian Grout, Adele Grumelli, Gianluca Guarini, Carlo Guenzi, Alessandro Guerriero, Luigi Gusmini, Nicolas Gyömörey, Massimo Hachen, Makio Hasuike, Naomi Hasuike, Armando Honegger, Isao Hosoe, Roberto Hoz, Leif Huff, Margaret Husmann, Giulio Iacchetti, Angelo Aldo Felice Ielmini, Giancarlo Iliprandi, Andrea Incontri, Matteo Ingaramo, Massimo Iosa Ghini, James Irvine, Francois Jegou, François Jegou, Lodovico Jucker, Youngjoo Kim, Perry King, Julia Kleiner, Anton Paul Kobrinez, Gholam Kowsar, Susanne Kreuzer, Ugo La Pietra, Claudio La Viola, Edoardo Landi, Paolo Landi, Ettore Lariani, Giovanni Lauda, Ferruccio Laviani, Francesca Lavizzari, Lucio Lazzara, Alessandro Lazzari, Robert Le Quesne, Alberte Leclerc, Colomba Leddi, Piero Leonardi, Frencesco Leonetti, Eliezer Levy, Vittorio Linfante, Roberto Liscia, Andrea Lissoni, Vittorio Locatelli, Paolo Lomazzi, Gianluigi Lombardi Cerri, Monica Longhi, Tiziana Lorenzelli, Giorgio Lorenzi, Francesco Lucchese, Marco Luitprandi, Franco Lumini, Italo Lupi, Giovanni Lussu, Andrea Luvisutti, Antonio Macchi Cassia, Antonio Macchi Cassia, Cesira Macchia, Paola Maggi, Daniele Maggioni, Carlo Magistretti, Germana Magnani, Aurora Magni, Grazia Magrassi, Grazia Magrassi, Massimiliano Maini, Massimo Malagugini, Marina Malavasi, Tomàs Maldonado, Giovanni Malossi, Andrea Manciaracina, Stefano Mandato, Annamaria Manferdini, Andrea Manfredi, Monica Manfredi, Sara Mano, Ivano Mansueto, Alberto Mantegna, Ezio Manzini, Alberto Marangoni, Maurizio Marcato, Roberto Marcatti, Alessio Marchesi, Maria Chiara Marchesi, Vittorio Marchetta, Antonio Marculli, Giuliano Marelli, Ilaria Marelli, Osvaldo Marengo, Maurizio Marian, Ciro Mariani, Pietro Mariani, Beatrice Marin, Eugenio Marogna, Nicola Marras, Cristoph Marti, Patrizia Marti, Pierangelo Marucco, Stefano Marzano, Simona Maschi, Camilla Masciadri, Fabia Masciello, Laura Massa, Gianmario Massari, Lucia Massarutto, Roberto Massetti, Andrea Massioli, Mario Mastropietro, Fumi Masuda, Walter Mattana, Massimo Mauri, Massimo Mazzoleni, Michela Mazzucchelli, Norman Mc Nally, Giuseppe Meana, Alberto Meda, Luca Megale, Giampiero Mele, Alessandro Mendini, Sergio Menichelli, Giuseppe Menta, Marco Meraviglia, Cesare Mercuri, Luigi Merlini, Iveta Merlinova, Francesco Messina, Simone Micheli, Laura Micoli, Francesco Micotti, Marco Migliari, Lodovico Migliore, Armando Milani, Maurizio Milani, Tatiana Milone, Tatiana Milone, Maurizio Minoggio, Santiago Miranda, Egidio Miti, Girolamo Modenato, Giacomo Mojetta, Giacomo Mojoli, Ezio Molinari, Pier Molinari, Lorenzo Molinari Tosatti, Marco Molteni, Fabio Moneta, Federica Monetti, Renato Montagner, Federico Montanari, Pietro Montefusco, Andrea Montironi, Francesco Morace, Alberto Morelli, Augusto Morello, Luigi Moretti, Andrea Morgante, Michele Morganti, Silvio Morganti, Maurizio Morgantini, Sergio Moriani, Danilo Morigi, Federico Morisco, Giorgia Morlando, Alfonso Morone, Nicoletta Morozzi, Nicoletta Morrone, Carmela Mulas, Holger Muller, Francesco Murano, Francesca Murialdo, Roberto Musante, Sabrina Muschiato, Silvana Musella, Lorenzo Mussi, Filippo Naggi, Roberto Napoli, Antonella Narcisi, Riccardo Nava, Bob Noorda, Nicola Novelletto, Roberto Nucci, Sergio Olivotti, Sergio Oriani, Franco Origoni, Roberta Orio, Paolo Orlandini, Giancarlo Ortelli, Michele Ottomanelli, Elena Pacenti, Paolo Padova, Angelo Pagani, Luciano Pagani, Cinzia Pagni, Alessandro Palazzo, Margherita Paleari, Gianluca Palermo, Pietro Palladino, Clelia Pallotta, Lorenzo Palmeri, Marco Palmonari, Roberto Palomba, Daniela Paltrinieri, Jogendra Panghaal, Maria Antonella Pansera, Mauro Panzeri, Luigi Paracchini, Paolo Parlavecchia, Francesco Parvis, Matteo Pasca, Girolamo Pasin, Diego Pasinato, Davide Pasinetti, Gianni Pasini, Giovanni Pasini, Ludovica Pasqui, Sandro Pasqui, Michele Patane', Marinella Patetta, Marco Pavanello, Francesca Pavese, Iacopo Pavesi, Jacopo Pavesi, Marco Pea, Terry Pecora, Marilia Pederbelli, Vincenzo Pennati, Clara Pepe, Rebecca Pera, Giuseppe Perchinelli, Enrica Pero, Manuela Perugia, Angelo Perversi, Antonio Petrillo, Gabriele Pezzini, Gianluigi Pezzotti, Roberto Piccinelli, Bruno Piccoli, Matteo Piccoli, Roberto Pieraccini, Roberto Pieracini, Alessandro Maria Pierandrei, Fabrizio Pierandrei, Ruggero Pierantoni, Paolo Pieri, Gabriele Pierluisi, Alice Pignatel, Fabrizio Pignoloni, Giovanni Pilla, Davide Pinardi, Fabrizio Pini, Sergio Pininfarina, Patrizia Pioli Convertino, Gabriella Piras, Francesca Piredda, Alessandro Pirovano, Carlo Pirovano, Giuseppe Pisani, Enza Pisano, Massimo Pitis, Alessandro Piva, Marco Piva, Luca Placido, Osvaldo Pogliani, Pietro Polato, Anna Poli, Annamaria Poli, Armando Pollini, Marco Poma, Michele Porcu, Ivana Porfiri, Marco Porta, Timothy Power, Piero Pozzi, Piero Pozzi, Costanza Pratesi, Monica Pratesi, Fulvia Premoli, Alberto Prina, Roberto Priori, Giampaolo Proni, Carlo Proserpio, Paola Proverbio, Daniela Puppa, Marco Quaggiotto, Giancarlo Quartieri, Christoph Radl, Franco Raggi, Matteo Ragni, Matteo Ragni, Luciano Ragozzino, Marco Raimondi, Claudia Raimondo, Patrizia Ramadori, Renate Ramge Eco, Francesco Rampichini, Federico Ramponi, Giovanni Randazzo, Massimo Randone, Bruno Rebaglia, Danilo Redaelli, Enrico Redaelli, Fabio Reinhart, Emilio Renzi, Tobia Repossi, Marco Ricchetti, Marco Riceputi, Matteo Ricotti, Innocenzo Rifino, Stefania Rigamonti, Marta Rink Sugar, Paolo Riolzi, Paolo Riolzi, Giorgio Riva, Umberto Riva, Carlo Rivetti, Francesca Rizzo, Erminio Rizzotti, Michael Robinson, Gianni Rocco, Patrizia Rodi, Maria Belen Rodriguez, Rodrigo Rodriguez, Valentina Rognoli, Juan Roldán Martín, Chiara Rolfini, Marco Romanelli, Felice Romeo, Stefano Ronchetti, Fulvio Ronchi, Francesco Ronzon, Paolo Rosa, Valeria Roselli, Paolo Rosselli, Michela Rossetti, Alessandro Rossi, Daniela Rossi, Diego Rossi, Michele Rossi, Michele Rossi, Italo Rota, Andrea Martino Rovatti, Manuela Rubertelli, Flora Ruchat, Paolo Rugarli, Maria Elisabetta Ruggiero, Michele Russo, Angelo Sabbioni, Rosa Sacchetto, Giampietro Sacchi, Marc Sadler, Alberto Sala, Franca Sala, Maurizio Sala, Massimo Sale Musio, Giuliana Salmaso, Pierluigi Salvadeo, Alberto Salvati, Giovanni Salvati, Filippo Salvetti, Sergio Salvi, Sonia Sancassani, Simone Sanfratello, Daniela Sangiorgi, Simona Sansonetti, Denis Santachiara, Giorgio Santagostino, Giorgio Santagostino, Wiliam Sawaya, Maria Antonietta Sbordone, Luca Scacchetti, Luca Scacchetti, Alessandro Scandola, Alessandro Scandurra, Benedetta Scansani, Stefano Scarani, Erminia Scarazzini, Erminia Scarazzini, Gabriella Scardi, Anna Maria Scevola, Raimondo Schettini, Viola Schiaffonati, Francesco Schianchi, Paolo Schianchi, Matteo Schiliro, Matteo Schiliro', Giovanni Scialpi, Dario Scodeller, Piero Scotti, Francesco Scullica, Cristiana Seassaro, Marco Sedazzari, Marco Sedazzari, Daniela Selloni, Davide Selmo, Fabio Sergio, Margherita Servetto, Luigi Sessa, Michele Sganga, Dario Sigona, Maria Cristina Silva, Paola Letizia Silva Coronel, Claudio Silvestrin, Claudio Silvestrin, Narciso Silvestrini, Giovanni Simonetti, Walter Simoni, Andrea Siniscalco, Gianni Sinni, Dario Sironi, Susanna Slossel, Luciano Soave, Luciano Soave, Alberto Soi, Michela Solari, Maria Grazia Soldati, Fabio Soverati, Franca Sozzani, Ernesto Spicciolato, Eduardo Staszowski, Anna Steiner, Nancy Stetson Martin, Harald Stetzer, Anna Maria Stillo Castro, Karin Stoppa, Nanni Strada, Margherita Suss, Filippo Taidelli, Setsu Takashi Ito, Hiroko Takeda, Claudia Tarolo, Panteha Tassi, Carlos Teixtera, Francesca Telli, Andrea Terranova, Massimo Tisi, Matteo Titotto, Umberto Tolino, Valerio Tonel, Gabriele Tonelli, Maria Cristina Tonelli, Jorn Tornquist, Jorrit Tornquist, Corinna Torri, Gianfranco Torri, Angelo Tosarini, Daria Tosato, Francesco Trabucco, Paola Trapani, Luca Traverso, Luigi Trentin, Ambrogio Tresoldi, Matteo Tresoldi, Matteo Tresoldi, Silvio Trevisani, Clino Trini Castelli, Sita Trini Castelli, Guido Tripaldi, Gabriele Troilo, Patrizia Trupiano, Patrizia Trupiano, Ivana Tubaro, Daniele Turchi, Huub Ubbens, Paolo Ulian, Giorgio Upiglio, Federica Vacca, Claudio Valent, Marco Valente, Giorgio Valentini, Amelia Valletta, Roberta Valtorta, Maria Grazia Varisco, Stefania Varvaro, Alessandra Vasile, Tatiana Vasileva Tchouvileva, Alberto Veca, Marcello Vecchi, Valentina Ventrelli, Tommaso Venturini, Alberto Vercella, Matteo Vercelloni, Marco Vernillo, Gisella Veronese, Giorgio Verzotti, Federico Vidari, Pier Vidari, Pierparide Vidari, Stefano Vide, Viviana Vigano', Arianna Vignati, Giorgio Vignati, Massimo Vignelli, Alberto Villa, Alessandro Villa, Daniela Villa, Werner Villa, Werner Villa, Beatrice Villari, Joan Vinyets, Michele Visciola, Ercole Visconti, Lorenzo Vismara, Giovanna Vitale, Maurizio Vitta, Hans Von Klier, Enrico Waibl, Daniel Weil, Patricia Welinski, Rosita Zagoreo, Rosvita Zagoreo, Giulio Zanella, Pier Zanini, Michele Zannoni, Fabio Zanola, Marco Zanuso, Marco Zapparoli, Alberto Zecchini, Ezio Zella, Andrea Zerbi, Michele Zini, Renzo Zorzi, Marco Zung.

Liliana Aguilar, Francesca Andrich, Alessandra Boghetich, Mida Boghetich, Daniele Brandolini, Carola Casiraghi, Claudia Cavanna, Valeria Cima, Carolina Cimò, Alessandra Confalonieri, Rosalba Crocetta, Carolina Cruz, Riccardo Curcio, Silvia De Vizia, Milena Di Gennaro, Silvia di Russo, Franca Fava, Marina Hetzer, Antonietta Leanza, Vittorio Linfante, Stefano Mandato, Catia Olivetti, Francesca Onofri, Jago Pallabazzer, Michela Pellizzari, Chiara Rolfini, Daniela Nicoletta, Sabrina Pancrazi, Stefania Ramonda, Elena Rebella, Gloria Sironi, Marzia Saitta, Federica Stucchi, Anne Schoonbrodt, Elena Tosarini, Lea Tamalio, Antonietta Trotta, Pietro Villa, Davide Volontè.

I spent an entire day thinking about what to write about my beloved Dean. I shared so much life with him, and the memories I have still accompany me. It was the most fruitful and enthusiastic period of my professional and personal life.

When Alberto gave me the opportunity to create and manage a new office dedicated to students, he often visited me, sitting across from me at the desk. Of course, his visits were not always selfless; conversations often ended with, Ciccina, you should do this for me...

One summer afternoon, he arrived with his hat, raincoat, and a crochet tie loosely tucked outside his trousers, eating Smarties like popcorn. He asked if I liked Smarties and then began recounting a chapter from de Sade’s Justine and Juliette.

That was him: endless flights of fancy! His stories brimmed with the kind of culture and intelligence I rarely encountered. They inspired me to send him emails to remind him of his responsibilities.

I kept his rare emails with care. Here’s one he sent me on September 6, 2013:

Dear Alessandra,

Welcome back! I presume (hope) you're beautiful, wonderfully tanned, and happy!

If FORCA writes that he gave that grade, it must be true! Therefore, I wouldn't oppose (see what a refined verb – oppose – I've used with you!) its recording in my oral exam on Thursday, September 12.

By the way, could you kindly tell me if there are any registrants for that session, and if so, how many and who? Also, if there are any (hopefully not!), what time and where will the exam take place?

For recording that grade (and those of others, if any), I would proceed, as per tradition, in person with you afterward, equipped with a suitable supply of Smarties (remember my debt? It tormented me all summer).

Best,

Alberto.

P.S. – On that occasion, I will also collect the work that a student brought you at the end of July (if, in the meantime, you haven’t sold it!).

Alessandra Boghetich

Alberto was a man with many horizons and no boundaries, where limits were simply invitations to go beyond.

Even the margins of his papers couldn't constrain him: long texts sent by fax at night, pages filled edge to edge. Those truncated words in the printed document challenged me to go beyond, imagining the meaning of things that weren’t fully in front of me.

Gloria Sironi

When I met Alberto Seassaro, I immediately felt I was in the presence of an extraordinary man. His irrepressible desire to achieve a dream and his unique ability to involve others made everyone feel part of that dream.

This is why I spent countless hours in the office, sometimes on holidays, working alongside him.

Milena Di Gennaro

For me, Alberto Seassaro was a multifaceted figure who seamlessly combined authority with humanity, intelligence with wit. He was not only the Dean of the School of Design and a professor at the Politecnico di Milano but also a unique presence, always ready to listen, smile, encourage, or reprimand when necessary.

Even during our informal computer lessons, he demonstrated a rare mix of curiosity and humility—a true example of how a great teacher remains open to learning and change while maintaining an undiminished sense of wonder.

Andrea Manciaracina

He was an indefatigable man who believed deeply in his ideals. I remember endless workdays, countless sheets of handwritten notes, and teamwork that stretched late into the night. He taught me so much and always made me feel part of his team.

Marzia Saitta

The Sea was a special person of great value who fought for what he believed in and never gave up.

He had an enviable memory. If I couldn’t find an email or document he asked for, he’d insist: Look again because it was done/sent. And he was always, always right.

I cherish those beautiful memories and the lessons they taught me, both professionally and personally.

Marina Hetzer

Professor Seassaro was an unstoppable volcano of energy. His vision and determination made the School of Design what it is today, and I am honored to be part of what he left behind.

He was an incredible storyteller, and even as a young father with immense responsibility, he pursued his ambitions with passion and resilience.

One of my fondest memories was when I was about to get married. He sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a lovely note that I still treasure today.

I will always remember him with respect and affection.

Lea Tamalio

As Pro-Rector Delegate, I bring the Rector's greeting and, by extension, that of the entire Polytechnic community to Alberto Seassaro, Professor Emeritus, who has greatly contributed to the growth of our University.

Alberto, throughout his academic career, made the most significant gesture a professor can make: offering his intelligence, undeniable foresight, and infinite talent for the benefit of the community.

If we are here today, at the heart of education and research in the Milanese, national, and international DESIGN world, we owe much of this to him: an intellectual balanced between consensus and dissent, whose philosophy of life was rooted in his ability to "look ahead."

His broad and varied interests—ranging from design and experimentation to the profession and research, from building production to art and craftsmanship, to future technologies, alongside a deep attraction for history—fueled his work throughout his life, eventually leading him to new horizons, specifically DESIGN, a field that he likely began to shape at that time.

Starting with his interests in technology, building production, prefabrication, art, craftsmanship, and experimentation, his focus gradually shifted with determination toward Industrial Design. In this area, he took on various roles, including President of the five-year Degree Course in Industrial Design from 1994 to 2003, President of the Poli.design Consortium from 1999 to 2002, and Dean of the Faculty of Design from 2000 to 2010, Italy's first Design Faculty in terms of both history and size.

It is precisely at the beginning of this extraordinary growth journey—certainly rare and exceptional in the Italian university landscape—that our paths crossed in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The setting for this collaboration: the spaces of the Department, with its technological soul, which at the time bore the unforgettable name PPPE (an unpronounceable acronym but easy to remember, standing for Programmazione Progettazione e Produzione Edilizia), which later changed to Di.Tec (Disegno Industriale e Tecnologia dell’Architettura) to give visibility and depth to the Design field—a sector that was progressively assuming an increasingly strategic and significant role within the University.

In those small but vibrant spaces, full of people, papers, notes, documents, ideas, and visions, thanks to Alberto, the first national degree course in Design was born. This was the first seed and fragment of what today represents the Design System of the Politecnico di Milano, an educational, research, and experimental center of excellence, and an internationally recognized model.

I pay tribute to Alberto Seassaro, to his intense, constant, and sometimes even stubborn commitment.

Emilio Faroldi

Milan, September 10, 2020

Today, for the younger members of our community, it seems normal that the Politecnico di Milano is an institution dedicated to education in the fields of architecture, design, and engineering. Yet, only a few years ago, this was not the case: despite the prominence of Milanese design and the fact that almost all of its historical figures were educated here, the Politecnico was primarily a school of engineering and architecture. If design has emerged not only as an intermediary culture between architecture and engineering, but with its own autonomous status, this is primarily due to Alberto Seassaro, his proverbial tenacity, and his broad, long-term vision. The Politecnico embraced change, recognized its potential and opportunities, supported it, but also, at times, hindered and opposed it. The new advanced, following the classic Schumpeterian model, fighting the old, with considerable dialectic, which ultimately benefited everyone. Here, the dialectic and the contrast. Alberto came from an anarchistic faith. Hence, his attitude towards challenging established power and defying the rules.

Thanks to the strength of an idea and an ambitious vision, Alberto was able to transform a university. Today, we have one of the leading schools in the world, a design department among the largest and, I believe, also one of the most important globally, which I am honored to lead, as well as a non-institutional education system with a broad catalog that acts as a bridge between the university and the production system. When we started, there was a small, overcrowded shared room where Alberto still smoked a lot, making the air almost unbearable, from which it seemed impossible that everything had originated.

I met Alberto when I was still a student and graduated with him in 1992. At that time, the design program at the Politecnico did not yet exist, though it was about to emerge. While I was still completing my degree, Alberto involved me in organizing an exhibition on the topic of the reuse of attics for residential purposes, which later became the subject of my thesis. His interest stemmed from a particular circumstance: he had renovated a large attic in Corso Garibaldi, which had become his new home. Having encountered numerous regulatory difficulties, as a good anarchist, he challenged the established order, doing everything that could not be done but was logically necessary, since the technologies were available to transform attics into homes that ensured perfect living conditions. There were also motivations that, only much later, would be recognized as significant, such as the potential to increase the availability of living spaces in cities without further land consumption, by repurposing and upgrading the existing heritage. We worked with the Municipality of Milan and the Region, and soon after, the first regional law on residential use of attics was issued. One episode from that experience reveals much about Alberto. We were preparing the boards for the exhibition in a basement, still near the Politecnico. Given the lack of natural light, we worked day and night, and, truth be told, there was more whisky and gin circulating than water. I prepared quite rigorous boards, with a layout grid that we had defined. After all, I was a student who, in a scholarly manner, adhered to the rules. We assembled the boards by hand, gluing texts and images with spray glue, and then used a large-format photocopier to produce the final boards. Alberto worked on the same grid but as if the grid didn’t exist: he created enormous collages, freely juxtaposing images to create highly intricate and complex compositions. His love for complexity, perhaps even a search for complexity, was a distinctive trait I would come to know later. Behind this style, however, there was also his past as an artist, his passion for comics, and a profound visual culture. I will always remember what he did with a large historical photograph, or rather a collection of photographs, of the rooftops of Milan. He cut out dormer windows and roof windows, resized them with the photocopier we had, positioned them in the correct perspective, and glued them onto the rooftops. Today, we might say he "photoshopped" the images. Since I was looking at him perplexed, he explained that these windows and dormers, which were indicative of residential use, had existed in the past but had been removed to prevent attics from being inhabited when the technologies capable of ensuring hygiene and livability in these spaces had not yet been available. In other words, he was adjusting history for what he considered a higher purpose. He was convinced that the power of these images could support a thesis and a cause.

That necessary audacity, along with the same strength and determination to propose a vision and carry forward the new, was what Alberto then applied to the design project at the Politecnico, transforming it into a national initiative and, for what we are today, international. We were doing things that might seem absurd today, and which are certainly contrary to all the rules that, in my current role, I find myself enforcing. I don’t know how many times we climbed over gates to stop and work in the evening or on weekends. The entire design community, even without climbing gates, grew in this spirit and cultural climate. At the same time, it would be reductive to see Alberto only as an anarchist. Like all interesting people, he was characterized by small and large contradictions, which paradoxically led an anarchist to lead a great process of institutionalization. However, Alberto leaves us a great legacy that goes beyond everything he did or we did together, and which concerns the way in which we did it. A lesson that I believe at some point we have forgotten, but which must remain alive. The necessity of dialectic: not conflict for its own sake, but the ability to never bow down, give in immediately, align for convenience, and the tenacity to uphold a vision, preferably ambitious and long-term. For me, this is a lesson in life, and I hope that personally, but also as a community, we will know how to interpret this spirit.

Alessandro Deserti

September 10, 2020

Dear Alberto,

In an institution, as we know, what truly matters are the lessons one leaves behind, and these are the greatest measure of any recognition.

Some teachings transcend the boundaries of specific disciplines.

You have taught and continue to teach us

what it means to be a free spirit

a free spirit that chooses to operate within an institution: you teach us what it means to build within an institution.

You teach us that working for the collective scale

is a responsibility that is by no means obvious, even for those in institutional roles.

You teach us that this is part of our mandate, the civic dimension of our mandate:

to build structures within which the work and passion of individuals, of others, can grow.

This mandate is that of the frame builder,

a figure often unnoticed, yet the rarest and most precious:

the carpenters of systems, they create spaces and leave room. (But this, after all, is also the essence of teaching.)

You teach us that the free spirit, your free spirit, is that of one who knows how to overcome obstacles

because they see beyond them.

It is the spirit of the designer, but, if we may, of a designer who knows how to be revolutionary.

It is the spirit of one who knows how to listen to the winds of society's new demands and lives with urgency to provide answers.

That sense of urgency paired with your tenacity and perseverance in moving forward: intolerant of stagnation or inertia that change encounters.

It is the free spirit of one who knows how to insist that, if a project is right, it must continue and overcome all the barriers in its way.

Thus were born a School and a System: the conditions for the birth of a widespread discipline.

You taught us to think that the culture of design could be articulated and consistently developed in areas that the university had never dared to cross before.

You believed, for example, in an unimaginable bet, a bet within a bet:

that the digitization of communication could pass through university education, and that from here it could plant a seed in the world of the profession. And so it happened.

You taught us that taking the risk of entrusting a team of young professors,

and even some who were not so young, is a necessary gamble, one that carries risks but can bear fruit.

Now that gamble has taken root in a way that no one can uproot.

It has been a privilege

for those who have closely followed your tireless work of construction,

for those who have supported your journey in moments of cultural and institutional decisions.

Dear Alberto,

Master of sculptures of light,

the brightest of your light sculptures

is now

the one that lights the eyes of thousands of young people, students, graduates, and researchers

who, from their computer screens, continually question themselves and are also capable

of always looking ahead.

They have multiplied, they are a constellation.

Here is their embrace, as strong as ours, perhaps even stronger, because even in times of darkness and discouragement, your teaching - like their presence - surrounds us with brilliant light.

Giovanni Baule

Milan, 10 September 2020

I met Professor Seassaro in the late 1980s, when I was a cultural assistant, a young person – unfamiliar with the world of the Politecnico and the Faculty of Architecture – with no specific project within the university except for the desire to live cultural experiences and continue studying and learning, through participation in teaching activities.

Therefore, from the very beginning, I experienced the path that led us to where we are today, a path that started to take shape precisely in those years.

The memories are numerous, and the initial relationship with Alberto wasn’t easy. I remember at Di.Tec when he assigned Raffaella Mangiarotti and me a small task to create an observatory of those conducting research and providing services in the field of design, and we, a bit confused and inexperienced, failed to meet his expectations, leading to a reprimand that, for many years, both of us couldn’t forget. Only later did we understand that what he had asked of us was part of a larger plan, a forward-thinking hypothesis regarding the reality of that time, which we hadn’t been able to grasp. But even Alberto's scolding was extraordinary, as he dedicated time to it, investing in that moment by explaining what, from his point of view, had been the mistakes. In that moment, he was dedicating time to build.

In this long journey, what I admired – among many other things – was Alberto’s passion, a passion that he had the ability to transfer to others.

Alberto Seassaro was an engine for our community, capable of imbuing energy, sometimes intimidating, overwhelming; his contagious energy required each of us to raise, on every occasion, our personal bar, to accept a new challenge.

And in the shared challenge, in the field of design in which we found ourselves, Alberto was someone who made you feel part of not an efficient company, but a collective project, which has far greater value.

Even when your role, due to age or profile, wasn’t central, the feeling was that you were essential to a common design, that you were part of it.

With him, it was tangible to feel constantly immersed in a condition marked by designing and building, which he governed with his presence, his physicality, his thoughts, and which his desk reflected, through that interweaving and layering of papers and notes – which we all knew – and which were a form of “written-graphic” notation of his thoughts.

Today, as the coordinator of the degree course, I want to remember him with particular gratitude, as it is thanks to Alberto Seassaro that our degree course, and the Master's degree in Communication Design, exists. I am therefore convinced that the moral debt of gratitude can be repaid not only by continuing the work he started, but by having the ability to put a vision back at the center, with the courage to propose models that respond to an ideal in which others can recognize themselves, with the daring to be beacons capable of lighting the way.

Finally, I would like to remember Alberto, Sea, in a July month at San Fruttuoso, on a shady path, climbing quickly despite the difficulties; always a leader ready to mix fun, irony, and new battles. With the sea before him and his sharp gaze, capable of seeing beyond you.

Valeria Bucchetti

Milan, 10 September 2020

I would have preferred to deliver this farewell off-the-cuff, but the overwhelming emotion I feel prevents me from doing so.

Thus, I am immediately at odds with the “Seassaro spirit,” which, borrowing a Dadaist maxim, often repeated, “thought is made in the mouth,” or “thought takes shape in the mouth.”

Indeed, for all of us who knew him, it’s impossible to forget how Alberto’s verbal texts defied schemes, outlines, or, even more so, slide sequences. In his communications, every order was overturned, and it often happened that annotations would take precedence over the main text. Yet in his written texts, Alberto was sharp, meticulous, and rigorous. I doubt I’ll be as much.

TO ALBERTO

Each of us is made up of many stories, as every story reflects the projections of others—the people we’ve encountered, those with whom we’ve built relationships. For this reason, each story contains a fragment of truth.

For individuals as profoundly rich as Alberto, the stories they live—and will live—are infinite: the infinite stories others recount and will continue to recount about him.

When people who are as rich in humanity as Alberto also possess a sharpness of thought, they understand that these stories are never linear. They are filled with contrasts, illuminated by moments of poetry and prosaic struggles, heroic deeds, and missteps, as befits those who immerse themselves in the complexities of human experience.

History also teaches us that we cannot wish the past to be different from what it was, as Carmagnola put it. The past cannot be altered, only understood by embedding it within its historical contingencies, reconciling with it.

When a person’s thought and actions are as politically infused as Alberto’s were, any understanding of what has been, who we have become, and what we will become can never be reduced to individual events. What Alberto achieved, he achieved because he was not alone; he was part of a community.

The building behind me, the space we are in—soon to be filled with thousands of students on Monday morning—the tangible community we are today, all stand as testaments to one of Alberto’s many stories: Alberto as an institutional figure, Alberto as an institutional innovator. This narrative coexists with others: Alberto the artist, the activist, the politician, the traveler, the father, the grandfather, the man of his beloved Garibaldi neighborhood.

Of all these stories, I want to highlight Alberto’s story of confronting illness and death.

These reflections are not meant to strike an intimate tone but rather a private one. A dimension that, following Foucault, Alberto explored alongside colleagues like Corrado Levi, in reflections, writings, and seminars titled “The Personal is Political”—a phrase rich with theoretical implications.

Illness and death, as fundamental aspects of human experience and thus of thought and design culture, also remind us of Ida Farè—a great woman and intellectual, whom Alberto loved and to whom many of us are indebted for her prescient focus on moments of human experience that others seek to forget or even obscure.

Alberto lived face-to-face with illness for many years, integrating it into his daily life. On this grueling stage, all the qualities he embodied in his public life—patience, tenacity, intelligence, determination, acceptance (never self-pity), and vision—emerged again, but above all, his humanity. Boundless humanity.

Illness is not chosen; it happens. The experiences it entails, the people we meet, and the medical institutions with their rituals, protocols, and ideologies of the body, illness, and care often lie beyond our control.

It is in this “face-to-face” with illness and its socio-technical microcosm that one reveals the true capacity to endure trials and confront the challenge of a body no longer following the mind—a body dependent on everything and everyone, placing one’s life in the hands of others, be they doctors or nurses.

In this terrain of illness, Alberto the Great was more Seassaro than ever.

For someone as indomitable as Alberto, the other battles—including those at the Politecnico—were mere strolls in the park by comparison.

Faculty councils? He downed them like a glass of water—the bare minimum of challenges. Meetings with the rector to request something new and seemingly impossible? A necessary evil, “but no cause for worry.” Spicy academic senate disputes? A Negroni sufficed. For revising the university statute under the Gelmini law, make that a Double Negroni, naturally.

But Alberto and illness—or rather, Alberto and illnesses—or better yet, Alberto and all illnesses (with a list as vertiginous as Rabelais’), taught me the most.

Meningitis, aggressive tumors, bronchiectasis, asthma, strokes, atrial fibrillation, bilateral glaucoma—his medical record was endless. Even in illness, he had the gift of defying banality.

Every diagnosis contributed to defining his exuberant personality. So, if at the emergency room, not all conditions were recorded for expediency, he would return upon discharge to protest: “This is the sloppiest chart I’ve ever seen!”

“Here, carotid closure at 96%—but you didn’t write ‘ulcerated’!”

Because 96% alone didn’t pose enough of a challenge. “Ulcerated” added the necessary thrill.

Then came the fateful myasthenia gravis. The word gravis filled him with pride—it was worth having the condition, but only if it was a gravis myasthenia. This marked the beginning of his real ordeal, lasting a decade. Yet even in his darkest moments—of which there were many—Alberto was never defeated.

He found humor in his battles, like with his infamous middle finger, disfigured by infection, which became a symbol of defiance. “Promise me we won’t despair,” he said. “Promise me you’ll help me never become a one-dimensional man defined solely by illness. Promise me we’ll keep thinking and designing.” I must confess that, in this, Alberto helped me more than I helped him.

These years were a testament to his spirit. Even in small things, he found interest and curiosity. He lived fully, forming bonds with fellow patients and staff, creating community wherever he went.

To the end, Alberto lived with courage and joy, reminding me of the boy in Life is Beautiful, exclaiming amidst rubble, “We’ve won!”

I don’t know if we’ve won, my dearest Alberto, but as you loved to quote Neruda: Confieso que he vivido.

With you, I confess I have lived. And for that, I will forever thank you.

Milan, September 10, 2020

OOOOPS I almost forgot the great truths of life: forgive me, Albe, but you were right. Lady Jane ends in Re-Mi. I was wrong with the higher note. We sang it differently. But together, it was beautiful.

Antonella Penati

Tomato pasta: peeled tomato fillets, NOT tomato purée, one clove of garlic, and a basil leaf for each guest.

Never assume you’re out of something.

Buy Chios mastika.

Swordfish, mint, and pink peppercorns.

How pack logic works.

How to resist the Sea’s provocations (... and therefore all provocations).

Martini cocktails at the Pub and Spritz at Radetzky (when they make the meatballs, though now it’s overrun with posers).

Genoese focaccia dipped in coffee with milk.

The meaning lies in the asides: how to apply Proust's style to writing and life.

Indian tablecloths and Paisley handkerchiefs.

Pastel-colored shirts and Henley sweaters.

It’s not forbidden to contradict yourself.

Better to be respected than liked.

Pilot pens and shirt pockets stained with Pilot pen ink.

The giant bunch of keys, always with him, like a tattoo.

Crocheted ties.

The only intolerable vices: hypocrisy and opportunism.

Tin dishes, tavern glasses, and silver cutlery.

Audacious … meaning free from prejudice.

Mortadella and anchovy sandwiches.

Those who are timid cannot be free.

Spray cream.

... and the Sea moves on, with the hum of his Fiat Panda.

Paola Bertola

Milan, September 10, 2024