Horacio Pagani receives Honorary Degree in Design and Engineering
Horacio Pagani, founder and Chief Designer of Pagani Automobili, was awarded a Honorary Master's Degree in Design & Engineering by the Politecnico di Milano. This was in recognition of the immense contribution that the Italian-Argentine entrepreneur has made to the automotive industry through his creative genius: a talent that led him to design and build a Formula 2 car for the official Renault Argentina team, to then move to Italy to work at Lamborghini, and finally to start his own hypercar company, Pagani Automobili, introducing huge innovations into sports car design.
The audacity to pursue beauty without fear forms the foundation of the balance between form and function that characterizes his creations. A principle inspired by the vision of the Renaissance artist-scientist, like Leonardo da Vinci, which continues to guide the work of Horacio Pagani.
After greetings from the Rector Donatella Sciuto and a tribute by Giorgio Colombo, Professor of Engineering Drawing and Methods at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Horacio Pagani gave a keynote address.
The ceremony concluded with the official proclamation, prior to which Professor Francesco Zurlo, Dean of the School of Design, explained the reasons for awarding the degree:
The Honorary Degree in Design & Engineering awarded to Horacio Pagani is in recognition of a creative professional career that exemplifies the synthesis between art, science and technology — the three founding principles of the culture at the Politecnico. The reasons for this award lie in Pagani's extraordinary ability to blend technological innovation with experimentation with materials and forms, following the great Italian tradition of sports car design. His work embodies a vision in which the design concept is combined with flawless engineering, producing cars that are both objects with considerable technical content and contemporary works of art […]
Horacio Pagani Bio
Horacio Pagani is the founder and Chief Designer of Pagani Automobili. After heading the Composites Division at Lamborghini, he began designing his own car in 1988, including some highly innovative features. The result of this idea was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 1999 under the name of Zonda. The reception was immediate and overwhelming, ushering in the era of the hypercar. The Zonda has evolved into many versions over the years, each with increasingly sophisticated technical solutions. It is now considered an icon among sports cars, one of the best loved and most desirable vehicles for admirers and collectors around the world.
In 2011, Pagani brought out the Huayra, a hypercar that set a new standard in the automotive industry. It was a pioneer of new technologies such as active aerodynamics, which can change the behaviour of a vehicle in real time, and for the use of advanced composite materials to ensure exceptional strength and lightness. In 2012, the Huayra won the three most important awards in the sector such as Car of the Year, strengthening Horacio Pagani's reputation as a visionary in the automotive world.
His subsequent projects have further consolidated this status, confirming that Pagani models are among the most advanced and desirable hypercars in the world. For over forty years, he has been in relentless pursuit of excellence, making continuous investments in research and development. In 2022, he won the prestigious Compasso d 'Oro, bestowed by ADI – the Association for Industrial Design, in the "Design for mobility" category: an award for successfully combining form and function, which is central to his philosophy of design. In 2024, the GIOYA institute in Malta awarded Horacio Pagani an Honorary Degree in International Business & Entrepreneurship.
The third stage in a creative journey that aims to combine sophisticated technology with timeless design has come to fruition in the presentation of the Utopia project. In addition to hypercars, Pagani has also turned to new horizons with Pagani Arte, a division dedicated to interior design, where expert craftsmanship and high-tech solutions are applied to living spaces and to objects with a special character.
