Bringing an institutional space to life: the C3 story
Activating community, collaboration, creativity (C3) as dynamic tools for change
Ever walked through an institutional space and felt like something was missing? That it could be so much more than just walls and floors? The KPMG Gallery (named after its sponsor) at Nova School of Business and Economics has gone through a journey of transformation called C3: Community, Collaboration, Creativity which invited everyone to participate.
Community-centered design
Picture this: a busy university corridor where thousands of people pass through daily, but somehow it felt disconnected from the vibrant community it served. Students rushing between classes, faculty members grabbing a quick coffee, visitors trying to navigate – all sharing the same space but not really connecting with the space or each other. Aware of this disconnect, KPMG Portugal invited the DESIS Lab to help them reimagine the Gallery. C3 aims to revitalize the gallery, emphasizing collaboration, serendipity, and engagement. Instead of imposing a design vision from above, the C3 team took a more community-centered approach – asking the people who use the space what they needed. Born from a belief that sustainable social change needs more than good ideas – it needs participation, connection, and play – C3 brought together students, faculty, staff and local community members to co-create an inclusive space for learning, expression, and impact.
Bringing ideas to life
The early weeks of the initiative turned the KPMG Gallery into a dynamic living lab. Students mapped community connections with strings, imagined the future on bright-colored walls, and explored what it means to belong and participate. It’s messy, honest, hopeful work – made by many hands, not just a few. Over two intensive months, the team mapped out community perspectives, ran accessibility workshops with people with disabilities, observed how people naturally moved through the space, and invited everyone to envision together.Fast forward to today and the colorful stained glass windows catch your eye as you enter the space. They transform sunlight into ever-changing patterns that shift throughout the day, creating moments of wonder in the everyday rush. The cozy Quiet Kube offers a tech-free sanctuary where you can actually hear yourself think. The Konnect Area becomes whatever the community needs – brainstorming space, casual meeting spot, or just a place to sit and be. But what makes the space special is that every single element came from the community itself. The accessibility map being developed? Born from workshops with people who actually navigate campus with different needs. The vertical green structures? Inspired by conversations about bringing nature indoors and handcrafted with recycled materials by a Portugal-based Chilean entrepreneur who worked with a traditional Portuguese ceramist. Beyond beautifying spacesC3 proves something powerful – when you invite people to co-create their environment, good things happen. It's not just about making spaces prettier (though the colorful transformations definitely do that). It's about recognizing that the people who live, work, and learn in a space are the real experts on what it needs to be.The project shows us what's possible when we move beyond designing for to designing with. When community engagement isn't an afterthought but a starting point, when sustainability means creating solutions that actually work for real people's real lives.
The ripple effect
What started as reimagining one gallery space has become something bigger – a model for how we might approach change in communities. Recognizing the challenges of engaging Gen Z students and accommodating the constraints of academic calendars, the C3 team engaged a group of KPMG Design Fellows. These passionate students who helped champion the process, are now taking learnings from these collaborative approaches into their other projects and networks.C3 reminds us of the power behind having the courage to ask ‘what if we did this together?’ and the commitment to actually listen and deliver on the answers. It’s a process that thrives on curiosity and welcomes everyone to engage – demonstrating that creativity and collaboration can be dynamic tools for change.