Brighenti Tommaso

Tommaso Brighenti (Parma, 1985) is an architect and holds a PhD in Architectural Composition. Since 2021 he has been a Researcher in Architectural and Urban Design (CEAR-09/A) at the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering (ABC), Politecnico di Milano. Since 2015 he has served as Managing Editor of FAMagazine, and since 2021 he has been a member of the Editorial Board of Stoà; both journals are ranked as “Class A” in the field of architectural and urban design. Since 2016 he has coordinated the book series AAC – Architettura, Arti, Città (Accademia University Press). He collaborates with several Italian and international universities, including Politecnico di Torino, IUAV Venice, the Università di Parma, Università di Napoli Federico II, PUCV (Chile), SCI-Arc (Los Angeles), and FAUP (Porto), undertaking teaching and research activities. He is the author of monographs, essays, and articles published in peer-reviewed journals, and serves on the scientific boards of several editorial series. Since 2025 he has been a member of the PhD Board of the Department ABC at Politecnico di Milano.

Career

In 2011 he graduated with honours from the School of Civil Architecture, Politecnico di Milano.

In 2015 he was awarded a PhD with honours in Architectural Composition (27th cycle) at the Scuola di Architettura Civile, Politecnico di Milano, with a doctoral thesis entitled: L’insegnamento della composizione architettonica.

In 2018 he obtained the Italian National Scientific Qualification (Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale) for Associate Professor (second tier) in the competition sector Architectural Design (CEAR-09/A).

Research

His research activities are structured along parallel and complementary strands, which have developed through teaching and scholarly initiatives including exhibitions, publications, and the organisation of seminars and lectures. The primary field of research addresses themes and problems of architectural composition within urban design, with particular attention to the prerogatives and specificities of the architectural project in the construction of the contemporary city. The investigation focuses on the operational implications of design in relation to the historicity of the built environment, the contextual conditions of intervention, building typology, settlement morphology, and the figure and form of architecture. Within this framework, particular attention has been devoted to the following topics: the role and responsibility of architectural design in the conservation and transformation of fragile contexts, with specific reference to post-disaster reconstruction strategies; innovative models for archive architecture aimed at the preservation and enhancement of cultural heritage; and innovative models for school architecture, with reference to processes of construction, refurbishment, transformation, and adaptive reuse. A second research strand concerns the teaching and pedagogy of architectural design, with comparative attention to schools at both national and international levels. This investigation explores foundational and identity-defining principles and their impact on architectural education and professional practice, as well as pedagogical approaches and tools for the teaching of architectural design.

Selected Publications

T. Brighenti e J. Leveratto (a cura di), Il laboratorio di progettazione. Note per un progetto didattico, Mimesis, Milano, 2024, pp. 1-213.

F. Belloni, T. Brighenti e E. Manganaro, Hinterland. Architetture ibride per teatri impropri, Libria, Melfi, 2023, pp. 1-151.

E. Bordogna e T. Brighenti, con una prefazione di Giovanni Carbonara, Terremoti e strategie di ricostruzione. Il sisma in Centro Italia del 2016, LetteraVentidue, Siracusa, 2022, pp. 1-220.

T. Brighenti e E. Manganaro (a cura di), Del ‘gioco’ e del ‘montaggio’ nella didattica e nella composizione, “FAMagazine”, n. 51, gennaio - marzo 2020, pp. 1-115 (Ita), pp. 1-115 (Eng).

T. Brighenti, Pedagogie architettoniche. Scuole, didattica, progetto, Accademia University Press, Torino 2018, pp. 1-384.

T. Brighenti (a cura di), Pedagogie architettoniche. Visioni del mondo, “FAMagazine”, a. VII, n. 38, ottobre - dicembre 2016, pp. 1-70.

Community Service

Since 2015 he has served as Managing Editor of the open-access scientific journal “FAMagazine. Ricerche e progetti sull’architettura e la città” (ISSN: 2039-0491). The journal is recognised as a “Class A” scientific journal in the field 08/D1 – Progettazione architettonica e urbana. [famagazine.it]

Since 2016 he has been Editorial Coordinator of the book series with international Scientific Committee “AAC - Architettura, Arti, Città” (Accademia University Press, Turin).

Since 2018 he has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the series “Architettura”, published by Nottetempo (Milan).

Since 2021 he has been included in the Register of Expert Reviewers of the Agenzia Nazionale per la Valutazione del sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR). In this capacity, he has served as an external reviewer for the evaluation of research outputs within the framework of the VQR 2015–19 and 2020–24.

Since 2021 he has been a member of the Editorial Board of the four-monthly journal “Stoà. Strumenti dell'insegnamento della progettazione architettonica”. The journal is recognised as a “Class A” scientific journal in the field 08/D1 – Progettazione architettonica e urbana. [stoajournal.com]

Since 2024 he has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the series “DT2 – Design Toolkit for Design Teaching”, published by Mimesis Edizioni and developed within the framework of the PRIN “DT2 – Le domande della ripresa e le risposte formative: indicazioni per il progetto della didattica del progetto”.

Since 2025 he has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the series “Architetti italiani del Novecento”, published by Franco Angeli.
Since 2025 he has been a member of the PhD Board in Architettura, ingegneria delle costruzioni e ambiente costruito (ABC-PhD), Politecnico di Milano.