The Metal Award to a Young SUPSI engineer

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Once again this year, AM Suisse Ticino has presented the award that recognizes graduates of the Bachelor of Science SUPSI in Civil Engineering. The recipient was Mattia Angelo Villa, honored for the innovation, functionality, and environmental awareness demonstrated in his thesis project.

Photo © AM Suisse Ticino 

AM Suisse is the professional trade association representing companies active in Switzerland in the fields of metal construction, agricultural technology, and farriery, encompassing production, service, and trade sectors. During its Autumn Assembly held in Biasca, AM Suisse Ticino, chaired by Fabio Cameroni, conferred the Metal Award, established in collaboration with the Department of Environment Constructions and Design SUPSI.

The purpose of the award is to significantly promote the use of metal in civil and industrial construction, highlighting the key role of this material in terms of sustainability and reusability.

For the 2025 edition, the Metal Award was presented to engineer Mattia Angelo Villa for his thesis project Structural system for temporary public buildings, a work distinguished by its innovation, functionality, and focus on environmental impact. Mattia completed his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering SUPSI in Mendrisio in the summer of 2025.

The award clearly reflects the close collaboration between the academic world and industry. The jury included members of AM Suisse Ticino (Piergiorgio Rossi, Marzio Regazzi, and Alberto Belloli) as well as lecturers from the Department of Environment Constructions and Design SUPSI specializing in steel structures (Stefano Bernasconi, Leo Girardi, and Renato Guidicelli), together with the Head of the Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Manuel Lüscher.

Mattia’s thesis project

Mattia’s goal with his project was to design a steel structural system for temporary public buildings, particularly in the field of school construction, that could prove competitive and advantageous compared to existing solutions such as container units, by emphasizing the concepts of modularity and disassembly.

The proposed system provides temporary, interlocking, and easy-to-assemble accommodations to be used during the renovation of damaged or outdated public buildings. The various designed joints and prefabricated wall panels, complete with windows and infrastructures offering multiple options, allow for very rapid assembly times of the building.

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