Escuela de Politécnica Superior

During the last three decades, technological, economic, social and cultural innovations have changed radically our cities and with them, they have trans formed also productive processes that now we must define as flexible. As a result of this situation, there have been changes in the architectural design education to accommodate new demands provided by the opportunities of the fabrication based design techniques and schools of architecture have been trying to adapt digital fabrication concepts in their curricula. In this paper, it is presented a case study: the Advance Diploma in Digital Fabrication for Architectural Design taught in the Digital Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab Madrid CEU) based in CEU San Pablo University. This training program intends to take advantage of the high creative potential associated with the combination of virtual computer aided design and digital fabrication tools, as milling machines, laser & vinyl cutters and 3D printers, which are considered the fourth generation of the application of digital technologies in the field of Architecture.

Digital fabrication technologies can be powerful tools for architectural representation, assisting during the fabrication of physical models and prototypes useful in architectural design. The use of these technologies can contribute to complement conventional architectural drawings by allowing the creation of physical models, prototypes and architectural models of constructive details or structural elements, to be used as visualization and communication tools to explore different solutions during the design phase. Therefore, it seems appropriate to reflect and work towards a better integration between the latest digital fabrication technologies and architectural graphic tools to assist the architect. This paper will try to deepen on the applications of digital fabrication in the field of Architecture, based on the projects carried out in Fab Lab Madrid CEU, the Digital Fabrication Laboratory based at CEU University, reflecting about the potential of milling machines, laser cutters, 3D printers and molding and casting technologies to materialize ideas and projects.