An innovative project from UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) is helping give students better access to contemporary ‘making’ practices and technologies like 3D printing, laser cutting and robotic milling.
“We want students to connect input – like digital models and drawings – to output, or fabrication,” Associate Professor Blair Satterfield explains. “We want every SALA student to have the chance to actually construct or prototype something at a scale and in a way that makes the design process more tangible.”
Thanks to funding from the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund, Dr. Satterfield and his team are taking a multi-tiered approach to the project. That means identifying opportunities at UBC to use tools and equipment, exploring ways to augment and expand the curriculum in order to bring tools into the classroom, and finding new opportunities for students to work on design build type projects. Dr. Satterfield’s ultimate goal is to redesign the school’s fabrication-related curricula, infrastructure, training and teaching.
The project represents UBC’s efforts to support Strategy 13: Practical Learning in its strategic plan, which endeavours to expand experiential, work-integrated and extended learning opportunities for students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Learn more about the innovative project and how it’s helping students to work differently and more intelligently, effectively bridging the gap between virtual models and physical outputs.