Abstract:

Introduction:
Education does not come to an end within schools and academies: it might work at different levels and in different times (Montessori 1970). Some of its possible implementations can fit within ‘popular science’ (Brock 2006) and ‘public engagement’ activities (Manners 2014).
For some years, Italian universities have been working on third mission projects going towards the requirements of the European Charter for Researchers (UE 2005). Almost all of the events related to European Researchers’ Nights (ERN) have gone in this direction since 2005, developing new interactions between researchers and the general public.
The contribution critically presents some activities developed with the ERNs 2020, 2021 (Sharper Nights Torino, Italy) to communicate geometry as a common language between maths and architecture (2020) as well as a complex tool to understand and share the built shapes of historical architecture (2021). Even if linked by a common context where geometry is intended as the main language to convey and discuss about shapes (architectural and not only) with a heterogeneous public, these activities were delivered in two different ways. In 2020 we were forced to opt for online only events, due to COVID-19 pandemy, whereas in 2021 we came back to onsite activities.

2020 - Modell@To:
Events have concerned communication and enhancement of the collection of models of mathematical surfaces of the Peano Library of the University of Torino (Giacardi 2015). This collection is not usually accessible to the public and therefore its sharing through remote management was an opportunity to ‘disclose’ its face to non-specialists. To create useful materials for the management of two different appointments, we worked with the collaboration of the staff of the Library itself and with technicians of the ModLab Architettura and of the MultiMedia Lab (both PoliTo - DAD) (Cumino et al. 2022). We then delivered:
Virtual tour to the collection through the production of audiovisual material made available on social networks;
Online workshops related to the production of models inspired by those of the collection and made with rapid prototyping techniques.

2021 - Geometrizz@to:
We proposed a ‘walk with the researchers’, an informal tour for families to discuss the geometries of the architectural spaces found during the walk. To this extent, we produced and used tangible models, made with different techniques and materials. Such models were used to focus on the dynamic history of the geometries of roofs and vaults exposed to visitors during the walk. We completed the walk with a workshop experience that offers visitors the opportunity to see faraway and/or inaccessible shapes ‘with their hands’ by modelling of one of the roofs of the Valentino’s Castle allowing attendees to gain a ‘tangible and repeatable memory’, a dynamic artefact reliving at every turn, spreading the experience over time (Armand et al. 2018).

Discussion and conclusions:
A comparison between the two types of experiences cited above highlights that, regardless of the media used, the possibility of indirectly/directly exploring and creating tangible models together with confrontation not only with researchers and technicians but also with students involved in their creation, have fostered the process of public engagement through the dialogue that sees the physical model as a privileged place of the intersections between architecture and mathematics, geometry and shapes.

Keywords:

Geometry, Prototyping, Physical Models, Third Mission, European Researchers’ Night.