The University of Navarra is the only Spanish center participating in an international working group organized by the Politecnico di Milano - one of the reference centers in the teaching of design- to develop a proposal game or children's toy that takes into account the special status experienced by the little ones on the occasion of COVID-19.

With this premise, a team made up of students and professors from the Schools of Architecture and Engineering is participating in a working group together with universities from Australia, Canada, Argentina, Italy, Turkey, Israel and China. This workshop will last for five weeks, until the end of July.

According to one of the team leaders, School of Architecture professorJuan L. Roquette (PhD Arch '10), "the idea is to give final-year students the opportunity to participate in a project that integrates the three mentions of Degree of design (Fashion, Service and Product) - taught by the School of Engineering - in a pioneering international , born from the difficulties caused by the coronavirus". School of Architecture- and the Degree of design and development Product Engineering - taught by the School of Engineering - in a pioneering international project , born out of the difficulties caused by the coronavirus".

"The difficulties that the confined status of working together with other universities might initially have entailed," Roquette adds, "have become an opportunity to generate a global university ecosystem, combining local presence with real-time digital connections with other teams from around the world.

Relationship between the world of toys and the artistic avant-gardes

The professors from the University of Navarra participating in this project are Adrián Larripa, Raquel Cascales, Adam Jorquera and Juan L. Roquette himself. And the student body is formed by Itsaso Iriondo, Natalia Bruguera, Nora Villar, Amaia Pérez, María Ruiz and José Pou.

"The topic starting point of our proposal is based on the relationship between the world of toys and games with the artistic avant-garde and the birth of design. We propose to delve into its pedagogical role, following the thesis of Juan Bordes, visiting professor of our Degree in design and expert in this subject". "At the end," the teacher explains, "the students will make a game or toy proposal that can be developed industrially and marketed with the support of the companies H-Farm and Clementoni".

The workshop, of an experimental nature, as Juan L. Roquette explains, begins with a phase of joint research "with conferences, hackathons (an event organized to work collaboratively for a limited period of time) and several sharing sessions, with the goal aim of detecting lines of
innovation in the field of children's toys and games".

Once this approach has been made, each university will develop a proposal, which can be prototyped and even tested and marketed by Clementoni. If so, it will bring commercial recognition and authorship to the students who have devised it, as well as the possibility of undertaking professional internships for students interested in continuing with this experience.

"It is about, from the academic world, to promote lines of research that complement innovation in the market by leading companies of design for children. It is also intended to act as a springboard that launches graduates in design, to help them find ways to development their professional careers and get started in the workplace," concludes Juan L. Roquette.