Our Resources
Fab Lab
Our ‘fabrication laboratory’ is kitted-out with the latest in digital design technologies – from 3D printers to 3D scanners, a vinyl cutter, CNC milling machine, CNC router and laser cutter. It adds a whole new level of opportunity for students across all creative walks of life.
<p>Fab Lab Plymouth is a digital 'fabrication laboratory' based in the heart of our Plymouth city-centre campus – for use by students across all areas and levels of the university.<br /></p>
<p>Our Fab Lab is part of an international network of over 1,000 official <a href="https://fablabs.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fab Labs</a> worldwide, each filled with the latest in digital design technology. Fab Labs are innovation and research spaces encouraging investigation and material exploration.<br /></p>
<p>Cutting-edge 2D and 3D design software and machinery, including 3D printers and scanners, prototyping tools, laser cutters, vinyl cutters, milling machines, and a large CNC router, are housed alongside the university's Material Lab, Fabric Lab, Imprint Lab and Multimedia Lab. This creates the perfect setting to work across traditional making and cutting-edge digital technology.</p>
<p>With the increased recognition of design thinking as a key driver for innovation across all sectors, we provide opportunities beyond the creative industries, working with science, medicine and engineering, to name a few. One such example is working with <a href="https://www.plymouthart.ac.uk/blog/a-new-wave-of-green-energy-created-with-the-help-of-fab-lab-plymouth">Art & Energy</a> to explore and develop solar panel design. The Fab Lab also works with creative practitioners and businesses, such as Dartington Crystal, Princess Yachts and the Bovey Tracey Craft Festival.</p>
<p>Head to the <a href="https://fablabplymouth.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fab Lab Plymouth</a> website for more information.</p>
<p>The Fab Lab concept was first developed by Professor Neil Gershenfeld at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Center for Bits & Atoms.</p>
<p>The principle centres around providing the general public, entrepreneurs, and inventors with open access to high-end digital equipment in order to find and share solutions to everyday issues, projects and products.</p>
<p>Fab Labs are seen as a place to learn, experiment and create and Fab Lab Plymouth is no exception. The facility provides our students with access to the very latest in digital technology and affords them an opportunity to innovate.</p>
<p>Our Fab Lab is unique in that it is situated next to our craft and design workshop complex which creates the perfect setting for traditional crafts and new technologies to merge with exciting consequences. <br /></p>
<p><a href="https://fablabplymouth.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fab Lab Plymouth</a> has strong working relationships with Fab Labs in Barcelona, Amsterdam, Brest and Hamburg. By connecting to other Fab Labs globally, artists and makers can share ideas and knowledge, and solve problems together. Students from every programme at the university have access to the technologies housed within Fab Lab Plymouth, allowing them to create work that would otherwise be impossible using traditional methods.</p>
