Abstract:

This contribution presents the evolution of an academic creative experience initially designed for first-year Building Engineering students at Politecnico di Torino, later adapted and reinterpreted for a broader audience during the European Researchers’ Night. Originating as a pedagogical experiment integrating active and inclusive methodologies within the Building Drawing course, the activity was reconceived as a public engagement initiative aimed at fostering creativity, collaboration, and architectural awareness among citizens of all ages. Through the use of modular architecture and 3D printing, the project transformed a classroom-based team-building experience into an open participatory event where research, art, and education converged into a single creative process.

During the Researchers’ Night, the modular system inspired by Walter Gropius’s Baukasten im Großen was used as a tangible and symbolic tool to promote interdisciplinary dialogue between researchers and the public. Participants—children, families, and adults—were invited to design and assemble 3D-printed modules into original spatial compositions, experimenting with form, balance, and proportion while discovering the scientific and aesthetic principles underpinning architectural design. The experience was facilitated by a team of professors, PhD candidates, and students, who acted as mediators of creativity rather than instructors, guiding participants in a process of discovery based on play, collaboration, and collective imagination.

The workshop’s success highlighted the potential of creative methodologies as powerful instruments for science communication. Beyond the playful atmosphere, the activity fostered intergenerational collaboration, strengthened community identity, and revealed how tactile, design-based experiences can make complex research topics accessible and emotionally engaging. The event served as a living laboratory for observing informal learning dynamics, showing how active involvement and shared creativity enhance public understanding of research.

The initiative demonstrates that creative design and modular thinking can effectively bridge academic education and public engagement, offering new perspectives on how universities can act as mediators between scientific knowledge and civic participation. By opening the educational process to the community, the project reaffirmed the role of higher education institutions not only as centers of technical knowledge but also as catalysts of social connection, imagination, and cultural innovation.

Keywords:

Experiential learning, Modular architecture, 3D printing, Co-creation, Informal learning.