The Department of Design at the 2026 International Engineering Festival

From September 18 to 20, 2026, the International Engineering Festival returns, an event dedicated to promoting scientific and technological culture and fostering dialogue between research, innovation, and society. A rich programme of initiatives – including conferences, meetings, lectures, talks, open laboratories, activities for children and young people, exhibition stands, performances, and exhibitions – will animate the campuses and spaces of the Politecnico, engaging an international audience of students, researchers, professionals, families, and curious minds of all ages.

The Festival will open on Friday, September 18, with the inaugural event, before continuing on Saturday, September 19, at the Bovisa Campus, where the programme will also feature activities and spaces hosted by the Department of Design. On Sunday, September 20, the initiatives will move to the Leonardo Campus for the final day, dedicated to discovery, knowledge sharing, and encounters with the Politecnico community.

Below are the activities organised by the Department of Design:

Creative Weaves: Between Warp and Weft

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B2, Laboratorio Moda

Through the use of a rudimentary loom, participants will learn to understand how fabrics are born and how, by varying the weaves and/or using yarns of different thicknesses, it is possible to create a wide range of patterns.

Curated by Angelo Sabbioni and the colleagues of the Laboratorio Moda, Department of Design (DDES).

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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Wood and Design

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B2, Laboratorio Prototipi e Allestimenti

A laboratory dedicated to the discovery of wood and its main derivatives, through practical exercises and the creation of small artifacts. Participants will explore the characteristics of different materials, interlocking techniques, and the use of the main equipment for woodworking, trying their hand at creating a solid wood sculpture and a small-scale chair.

Curated by Mariano Chernicoff and the colleagues of the Laboratorio Prototipi e Allestimenti, Department of Design (DDES).

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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Materials Design for Transition: Experimenting from a Biodesign Perspective

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B2

Biodesign lab-interactive gazebo, designed to introduce visitors to contemporary material design practices for the ecological transition. The focus will be on bio-based, bio-inspired, and experimental approaches that connect design, science and sustainability. Throughout the day, a team of researchers, PhD candidates, and design students will welcome visitors to explain various projects and live demonstrations, offering engaging and accessible experiences on alternative material development and low-tech laboratory experimentation.

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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Inside the Wardrobe. Living Collection _ Participatory Installation

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B4

The Fashion & Textile Living Lab 'Too Cool to Go Wasted' is a Politecnico di Milano research infrastructure in the fashion and textile field. Its physical venue at the Bovisa Design Campus focuses on researching and testing product-service systems for a sustainable transition, with a particular emphasis on garment repair, upcycling, swapping, and care activities developed through co-design with designers, artisans, companies, and citizens. On the occasion of the Festival dell’Ingegneria, the Living Lab transforms into a large collective wardrobe. 'Inside the Wardrobe. Living Collection' is a participatory installation where participants are involved in activities aimed at investigating the wardrobe as a system: inflows and outflows, usage and non-usage patterns, as well as care and reuse practices. Through co-creation activities based on real materials, visuals, and design toolkits, adults and teenagers bring to light habits, bottlenecks, and opportunities for change, identifying concrete micro-actions to reduce waste in their way of dressing. The collected contributions – questions, experiences, ideas, and micro-commitments – will be integrated into the MADEBACK Circular Fashion Festival in October 2026, offering participants a unique opportunity to directly contribute to the future activities of the Living Lab.

FROM 12:00 PM TO 2:30 PM AND FROM 3:30 PM TO 6:00 PM, THE LABORATORY WILL BE OPEN FOR VISITS WITHOUT PRIOR REGISTRATION.

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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Circular Fashion-Tech Lab & Gianfranco Ferré Research Center

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B2

The Laboratory presents interdisciplinary research activities dedicated to the digital reproduction and advanced manufacturing of garments and accessories from the Ferré Archive. Through demonstrations and visual contents, the public will be able to explore processes and technologies that foster a dialogue between heritage, design and innovation.

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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Harry Potter and the Magic of Cinema

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B9, Aula De Carli

Apparitions and disappearances, astonishing transformations, flying brooms, and staircases that change direction on their own: but is it really all the work of Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s magic… or do digital technologies have a hand in it? Together with Mariana Ciancia, we will set off on a journey into the heart of Hogwarts, where you will discover the tricks hidden behind the most famous spells. You will find out how special effects, green screens, and other digital magic transform the set into an enchanted world. Get ready to have fun, be amazed… and experiment to become a little cinema wizard yourself!

Curated by Mariana Ciancia, Department of Design (DDES).

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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Design Intelligences

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B9

Design Intelligences is a collective of human and non-human beings dedicated to bringing together diverse forms of life and intelligence to address the complex environmental and social challenges of our global society. The group's mission is a commitment to more-than-human design research and practices, integrating ways of knowing and creating the world that span from the human to the natural, and up to the artificial. On the occasion of the Engineering Festival, the research group will showcase images and videos of some of the interactive prototypes developed within the Final Design Studio 2 of the Master’s Degree in Digital and Interaction Design.

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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Let’s Co-Design! The Value of Participation

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B2

The stand presents the research activities of the Polimi DESIS Lab (part of the international DESIS Network) through visual materials, videos, and prototypes (e.g., co-design toolkits). Projects developed in collaboration with communities, institutions, and organizations will be showcased, addressing contemporary challenges linked to macro-themes such as food, school spaces and services, neighborhoods, public spaces, hybrid spaces, digital services, queer, and more-than-human. The space will be animated by a cycle of co-design mini-workshops, each dedicated to one of the group's research areas, where visitors can experiment with co-design tools and processes based on real cases. The goal is to bring out the value of participation in a practical way: visitors actively contribute to building ideas, experiences, and collective outputs, understanding how co-design generates value beyond the project itself within decision-making processes, in both public and private spheres. The activity highlights the centrality of citizens as active subjects, capable of contributing not only to the definition of solutions but also to the building of transformation processes.

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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KD.KnitDesign

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B2

The stand presents the research and teaching activities of the KD.KnitDesign group in the field of knitwear, bridging the enhancement of traditional techniques and technological innovation. Through samples, prototypes, and demonstrations, the public will be able to explore the use of natural and innovative materials, processing techniques, and knitwear applications in contemporary design, with a particular focus on sustainability.

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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Virtual Reality and Work

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B9, Porch Aula De Carli

What if technology could guide you, step by step, as you learn to do something new? In this activity, you will discover and try out the applications developed, which use virtual reality and augmented reality to help people acquire the skills needed to perform a job independently. The process works in two phases: first, you train in a safe and repeatable virtual environment, where you can practice without pressure. Then, in the real world, augmented reality steps in, providing contextual visual guidance exactly when and where it is needed.

Curated by Paolo Perego, Department of Design (DDES).

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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Serious Games to Encourage Physical Activity - Gaming for Wellbeing

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B9, Porch Aula De Carli

What if staying active became a game? In this activity, you will be able to experience firsthand the serious games developed as part of the European Dorian Gray project – avatars and AI to decipher the link between cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline. Serious games combine the typical engagement of video games with concrete goals related to physical wellbeing: the result is experiences that motivate movement, make exercise accessible, and integrate it into daily life in a natural and enjoyable way. During the activity, you can try the demos developed by the research team, understand how design and engineering collaborate to create effective tools for health, and discover the design challenges behind an apparently simple experience. An opportunity to explore how technology can become an ally for our bodies, and not just for our screens.

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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Smart Textile

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B9, Porch Aula De Carli

What would happen if your clothes could sense you, respond to you, and even help you? In this activity, you can literally experience firsthand the future of smart textiles: materials capable of detecting information, processing it, and reacting in real time. Smart textiles integrate sensors and electronic components directly into the fiber, opening up unprecedented scenarios: from clothing that monitors body signals, to interactive textile surfaces that respond to touch, movement, and presence. During the Festival, you will be able to interact with a series of textile prototypes developed by researchers from Politecnico di Milano: surfaces that move, react, and communicate. Not screens, not devices, fabric.

More info and bookings on the Festival website.

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The Climate Fresk: you have all the cards in your hands!

Bovisa Durando Campus, Building B2

Activity exclusively for children aged 10 to 12,

Have you ever wondered how climate change really works and how our actions impact the planet?

The Climate Fresk is an interactive workshop that invites young people to explore the mechanisms that regulate the climate system. Through a simplified version of the Climate Fresk – an internationally recognized workshop based on the scientific data of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), participants will work together to build a “climate map”, linking the causes, effects and consequences of climate change.

Human activities, greenhouse gas emissions, natural processes, environmental impacts, and social consequences thus become the pieces of a journey of discovery, dialogue, and collaboration, designed to foster curiosity, awareness, and critical thinking.

Adults will also have the opportunity to take part in a dedicated activity, designed to explore the same topics and encourage moments of shared dialogue and reflection.

Curated by Polimi LCA network: Elisa Amodeo (DIG), Paola Gallo Stampino (DCMC), Carlo Proserpio (DDES) e Camilla Tua (DICA).

More info and bookings the Festival website.

Discover the full programme and more activities on the Festival website.