Desde los Navigli hasta el Rio de la Plata. Politécnicos milaneses en la Argentina de posguerra. From the Navigli to the Rio de la Plata. Milanese Polytechnic Graduates toward Argentina in Second Postwar.

This chapter investigates the circulation of architectural knowledge between Italy and Argentina in the decades following the Second World War through the professional trajectories of architects educated at the Politecnico di Milano. Framed within the broader history of transatlantic exchanges and the dissemination of Modern architecture, the study explores how migration functioned not merely as a geographical displacement but as a transfer of technical expertise, design methodologies, educational models, and professional networks. Drawing on unpublished archival sources preserved in Italy and Argentina—including drawings, correspondence, travel diaries, photographs, and institutional records—the chapter reconstructs the activities of Maurizio Mazzocchi and Marco Zanuso, whose work exemplifies two complementary models of professional mobility. Mazzocchi developed an entrepreneurial practice that integrated design, construction management, and industrial innovation, while Zanuso established long-term collaborations through the Olivetti network, contributing to the diffusion of Milanese design culture and corporate architecture in Argentina. Particular attention is devoted to the reciprocal nature of these exchanges, demonstrating that Argentine contexts also reshaped the architects’ design approaches. Zanuso's encounter with the vernacular architecture of La Boca, for instance, informed his reflections on industrialized building systems, prefabrication, and architectural technology, influencing both his subsequent projects and broader debates within the Milan School. By analysing these experiences through the notion of the migrant architect’s "toolbox"—comprising technical knowledge, design culture, pedagogical traditions, and adaptive practices—the chapter argues that post-war architectural migration generated a bidirectional process of knowledge production rather than a simple exportation of European Modernism. It ultimately contributes to a more nuanced understanding of transnational architectural modernity, highlighting the active role of Argentina in redefining the theoretical and professional horizons of post-war Italian architecture.