Cultureaction! An Interaction and Experience Design Project to Explore San Marino’s Historic Center as a Living Archive

This research explores how design-driven approaches can boost engagement with cultural heritage and archives, centering on an experimental initiative in San Marino's historic center. The project envisions the city as a dynamic archive brought to life through interactive installations. A system featuring an interactive device called Iride and six site-specific installations was created to reveal the hidden historical and meaningful layers within the urban landscape. These installations use multisensory components to craft experiences that enhance visitors' cognitive and emotional connections with local cultural stories. This method illustrates how design and digital technology can connect tangible and intangible heritage, institutional archives and community memory, as well as static preservation and dynamic interpretation. The project provides a model that small historic towns can replicate to utilize their cultural resources and create engaging heritage experiences. This highlights the role of design in reimagining archives as evolving cultural engagement sites in the digital era.