In the present study, we combine numerical simulations with compressive testing of 3D printed polymer structures to investigate the buck ling response of a slender column, whose architecture employs unit-cell lattices which in turn consist of a sequence of columns uniformly spaced. The lower-scale columns are both of comparable size with the macro-geometry and a priori susceptible to buckling. Within the accuracy of data, the experimental trends are consistent with the numerical simulations and show that both the buckling and the post-buckling response at the macroscopic (i.e. continuum) level are dependent on the lower-scale microstructure.