Fabrication Laboratory

FABRICATION LABORATORY is a group of activities ( exhibition, real-time manufacturing laboratories, workshops, conferences, etc.) which aim to analyze new three-dimensional digital manufacturing technologies - a phenomenon in constant evolution that is leading to radical changes in design and production processes.

To understand the multiplicity of this phenomenon, the FABRICATION LABORATORY, commissioned by Ramon Prat, was conceived as a dynamic event to which various layers of information and experience will be added until it closes. In this way, it will gradually consolidate an ongoing analysis of the new production context. The objects developed using new technological tools—advanced design software and CNC digital fabrication machines—and the ability to design and mass produce customized products (mass customization) are calling into question the future of the traditional model/series approach of industrial design. 


Digital fabrication technologies offer new opportunities for design professionals in the 21st century and are ushering in a more flexible project methodology, capable of adapting to meet different and changing needs. The impact of this new technological paradigm is being felt in every phase of the production process, from conceptualization to materialization, from distribution to consumption. Moreover, it is paving the way to the promise of participation and personalization.

The contents are organized into our major areas in order to structure the different approaches to digital manufacturing:

Permanent exhibition Full Print3D. Printing Objects

16.06.10 – 29.05.11 The exhibit Full Print3d. Printing Objects introduces us to the additive manufacturing systems, and presents a series of projects that analyze the conceptual implications for design, that arise when using this means of production. The additive processes make it possible to produce an object, particle by particle, according to the data sent from the computer. This flexibility allows unprecedented freedom in the shape of the design and the control of the material.

DHUB FAB


16.06.10 – 29.05.11. DHUB FAB is a digital manufacturing laboratory equipped with CNC machinery, that provides an opportunity to experiment with the production of prototypes and objects on site during workshops aimed at professionals non-professionals alike. The workshops will focus on specific topics such as CNC cutting and milling, 3D scanning and printing, and making electronic circuits and customized machines for producing all kinds of objects and inventions.

DHUB Sessions


Over the months that the FABRICATION LABORATORY is developing, and through a serious of lectures and discussions, we will learn about the latest advances in the field of digital manufacturing and its applications in different disciplines. The conferences will be documented and become part of the structure of contents of the exhibition which visitors will be able to consult.

Laboratory Expositions


During the FABRICATION LABORATORY program, we will present four temporary exhibitions that show innovative works in emerging processes and practices, as well as, their application in the field of digital manufacturing. Featured, in addition, will be historical documents that illustrate design manufacturing strategies from the 60’s and 70’s from which we can draw parallels with what is happening today, a time of major change in the disciplines linked to the world of design. As a counterpoint to the infinite possibilities that new digital manufacturing systems offer us, we also present a weekend of repair workshops that encourage the comtemplation of restoration as part of the global process of production.

(FAB)BOTS. Customised Machines and Robots for Design and Fabrication 

16.06.10 – 28.11.10. (FAB)BOTS presents a collection of ten projects that explore the continuity between digital design and fabrication through the invention and development of customised manufacturing machines, the research of materials and the use of parametric design. The projects exhibited were created by students at the Escola d’Arquitectura de l’Architectural Association (AA) and de l’Institut d’Arquitectura Avançada de Catalunya (IAAC).

Environments and Counter Environments" Italy: The New Domestic Landscape", MoMA 1972
12.11.10 – 20.02.11 The unearthing of documents (plans, models, films, comics, etc.) generated for the 1972 exhibition at the MoMA in New York provides insights into the enthusiasm for change that prompted a group of Italian designers and architects to launch a debate on the socio-cultural implications of design.


Working Prototypes. Design, Manufacture, Test!
14.12.10 – 27.02.11 This selection of prototypes, fabricated during the 2010 Smart Geometry workshop held in Barcelona, offers a broad overview of prototype design—conception, fabrication and analysis—using a combination of computing and numeric production
.

EcoRedux 02 Design manuals for a dying planet

08.03.11 - 29.05.11. The EcoRedux exhibition documents experiments with ecological materials conducted by groups of alternative architects in the 1960s and 70s.

Platform21 = Repairing Workshop

15.10.10 – 17.10.10.
 Confronted by the infinite possibilities that new digital manufacturing systems offer us, DHUB offers you a weekend of reparation with the workshops of Platform21 = Repairing.