Three high school students use wooden sticks, hot water and 3D-printed connectors to develop a new construction technique; their research reaches an international engineering conference

Three high school students from the US have developed an innovative, low-cost technique for creating curved architectural structures using wooden sticks, hot water and 3D-printed plastic connectors. Madison Lee, Taylor Yeh and Joyce Jia Xu conducted the research through Hofstra University's summer programme under engineering professor Edward Segal. Their work was presented at the international IASS conference in Turin, Italy, in September 2026, highlighting the potential of accessible materials in architectural design and engineering research.