Campus Mining: Progettare e Prototipare con gli Scarti del Politecnico di Torino / Campus Mining: Designing and Prototyping with Waste Materials from the Politecnico di Torino

The construction sector is among the primary contributors to resource consumption and waste generation. Within this context, the built environment can be reinterpreted as a reservoir of reusable materials. This paper investigates the potential of urban mining at the local scale through an experimental and prototyping initiative conducted at the Politecnico di Torino. By conceptualising the campus as a “material mine”, a series of educational design activities were developed based on reuse, repurposing, upcycling, and self-construction, employing waste materials sourced from construction sites and university storage facilities. The contribution specifically presents the case study “Pimp Up Your PoliTO Bike Racks”, an eight-hour design sprint in which Architecture and Design students redesigned decommissioned bicycle racks by integrating discarded materials such as PVC banners, pallets, obsolete blackboards, and waste bins. The process, guided by direct observation and hands-on material manipulation, fostered a material-driven design approach in which dimensional constraints, physical properties, and resource availability informed formal and functional solutions. The resulting prototypes expanded the original functions of the bicycle racks by incorporating seating elements, planters, notice boards, and support surfaces. The findings highlight how situated reuse practices can reduce waste generation and the consumption of virgin resources, generate economic benefits through the use of locally available materials, and produce social and cultural impacts by strengthening environmental awareness and fostering a sense of community. The experience further demonstrates the educational value of self-construction and adaptive design within a pedagogical framework in which the university becomes a laboratory for circular innovation applied to the built environment.