Fab Lab Barcelona
ABOUT
Fab Lab Barcelona, part of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, is one of the leading laboratories of the worldwide network of Fab Labs. The centre develops several educational and research programmes related to the applications and implications of digital fabrication, and it is also the headquarters of the global coordination of the Fab Academy programme in collaboration with the Fab Foundation and the MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms. The Fab Lab Barcelona also develops projects in different scales, from smart devices for data collection by individuals (Smart Citizen), the new generation of Fab Labs (Green Fab Lab), to new production models for cities (Fab City Project).
Context & Agenda
Fab Lab Barcelona empowers communities to design and make possible futures. The centre develops its activity around four main actions: dwell, eat, produce and share.
Dwell is comprised here as an essential part of living in communities and sustainable housing, building smart cities and exploring new materials through technology in order to develop different kinds of habitat.
Eat is explored in projects that handle different thematic such as environment, ecosystem, technology and waste. These projects address to this human basic function a great power in advancing research and development of robotics through an everyday action. Although starting as an individual action, the act of eating is a formidable cultural and political constituent that defines whole civilizations.
Produce has a central role in every project Fab Lab accomplishes. Based on the transition of the PITO (Product In Trash Out) model into the DIDO (Data In Data Out) model, it is essential that the prototypes are thought, designed and produced within a holistic view. The Fab Lab community includes all types of makers and people who are curious about producing things themselves, exploring and playing with technology.
Share comes as a principle and a natural consequence for the Fab Lab network. The principle of envisioning communities of producers and change makers can only be possible with the share of knowledge, technology and information. It is also a consequence while most of the projects are inviting the community to participate and to be actors on the changes they want to have in their cities and neighbourhoods.
What is a Fab Lab?
A Fab Lab is a technical prototyping platform for innovation and invention, providing stimulus for local entrepreneurship. A Fab Lab is also a platform for learning and innovation: a place to play, to create, to learn, to mentor, and to invent.
To be a Fab Lab means connecting to a global community of learners, educators, technologists, researchers, makers and innovators – a knowledge sharing network that spans 30 countries and 24 time zones.
Because all Fab Labs share common tools and processes, the program is building a global network, a distributed laboratory for research and invention.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES
Fabricademy is a transdisciplinary course that focuses on the development of new technologies applied in the textile industry, in its broad range of applications, from the…
Fab Academy is a Digital Fabrication programme directed by Neil Gershenfeld of MIT’s Center For Bits and Atoms and based on MIT’s rapid prototyping course…
EUROPEAN FUNDED RESEARCH
mAkE is a transdisciplinary project from EU and Africa that enables Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs), specifically makerspaces, to maximize their potential as spaces for digital innovation, skill building, job creation and contact points for global collaboration networks.
The Distributed Design Platform aims at developing and promoting the connection between designers, makers and the market.
CENTRINNO aims to develop and demonstrate strategies, approaches and solutions for regeneration of industrial historic sites and areas as creative production and manufacturing hubs.
EU Project Making Sense (2015-2017) Description Making Sense shows how open source software, open source hardware, digital maker practices and open design can be effectively…
EU Project OrganiCity (2015-2019) Description OrganiCity brings software, hardware and associated human processes flexibly together into a new living city that is replicable, scalable as…
EU Project Made@EU (2014-2016) Description Made@EU aims to foster the third industrial revolution by radically changing the production and distribution status quo, and strongly influence…
EU Project MAKE-IT (2016-2018) Description Make-IT studies maker communities within Europe both through different case studies and innovation action research to enhance their use of…
EU Project DO-IT (2017-2020) Description Entrepreneurial skills for young social innovators in an open digital world EU Call Horizon 2020 Total Funding 2,479,422.50 € IAAC…
EU Project ISCAPE (2016-2019) Description Improving the Smart Control of Air Pollution in Europe EU Call Horizon 2020 Total Funding 5,850,829 € IAAC Department Fab City…
EU Project GROW Observatory (2016-2019) Description The GROW Observatory is a platform and community for large scale citizen science that aims to empower tens of…
EU Project DSISCALE (2018-2019) Description The DSI Scale is an open source tool that facilitates the assessment of DSI projects, taking into account values like…
EU Project SISCODE (2018-2021) Description Co-Design for Society in Innovation and Science. EU Call Horizon 2020 Total Funding 3.999.268,75 € IAAC Department Fab City Research…
EU Project ROMI (2017-2021) Description The overarching goal of ROMI is to develop an open and lightweight robotics platform for microfarms (densely-planted, intermixed polycultures), especially…
PUBLICATIONS
The rapid urbanisation process of the last century has been possible thanks to the industrial revolution and the assembly line, which allowed for the rapid…
The rapid urbanisation process of the last century has been possible thanks to the industrial revolution and the assembly line, which allowed for the rapid…
This book is an introduction of the work done during 2016 and 2017 within the MAKE-IT Horizon 2020 European research project. The scope of this…
