Home - Fabrication Lab

Welcome to the Fabrication Lab!

The Fabrication Lab is an innovative new centre for teaching and research, purpose-built for students and researchers to engage and experiment with emerging technologies for Architecture and the Built Environment. We provide the places and tools, as well as the training, teaching and expertise to allow you to speculate and innovate using a diverse range of materials, processes, and new architectural media.

ACCESSING THE LAB

The Fabrication Lab is only available to currently enrolled students and staff at the University of Westminster. Make the most of the Lab while you can! We open at the following times:

TERM TIME OPENING

Monday: 10:00 - 17:00

Tuesday: 10:00 - 21:00

Wednesday: 10:00 - 17:00

Thursday: 10:00 - 21:00

Friday: 10:00 - 17:00

OUTSIDE TERM TIME

Monday: CLOSED

Tuesday: 10:00 - 17:00

Wednesday: CLOSED

Thursday: 10:00 - 17:00

Friday: CLOSED

TRAINING COURSES

Winter term:

Tuesday: 10:00 - 12:00

Wednesday: 10:00 - 12:00

Friday: 10:00 - 12:00

Spring term:

Tuesday: 10:00 - 12:00

Wedneday: 10:00 - 12:00

Summer Term:

Wednesday: 10:00 - 12:00

Note that courses run much less frequently as the year progresses. Make sure you take all the necessary Essentials Courses early, or you won't be able to use the Lab!

There are different levels of access to the Lab, depending on what you need to do.

1. BROWSE

Feel free to browse any of the places in the Lab below - no training required!

LAB SHOP

Come to the Lab Shop not only for a wide range of materials you can use to make things in the Lab, but also for making large format prints. As soon as you've registered, you'll also be able to take out loans of equipment.

LIGHT LAB

The Light Lab has all sorts of technologies for working with Light, from photographic studio lighting, to 2D and 3D scanning, to specialist tools like our Artificial Sky.

MATERIALS LAB

The Materials Lab has a comprehensive library of construction materials available for reference, from the everyday to the cutting edge. It also offers machines for testing material properties, including their strength under compression, tension and bending.

2. REGISTER

If you want to use the Project Space or go any further with what's on offer in the Lab, you'll first need to Register.

PROJECT SPACE

The Project Space is at the heart of the Lab and offers space to assemble projects as well as the place where we host events.

PRINT FARM & MINI MILLS

The Print Farm provides access to a suite of 3D Printers for rapidly manufacturing projects in plastic. Once you register, you'll also have access to the Roland mini-mills, for straightforward subtractive manufacturing.

REGISTER HERE!

CAM LAB

The CAM Lab gives you access to the software you'll need to prepare toolpaths for the CNC machines.

3. LEARN

To use any other areas of the Lab, you'll first need to learn how to use them. We offer an Essentials Course for every area of the Lab where there are potential hazards. The courses are called Essentials because it's essential you do them, and because they'll teach you all the essential things you need to start making something for yourself. We offer these short introductory courses for all the places in the Lab below:

MACHINE ROOM

The Machine Room is home to a wide range of traditional hand and machine tools. Take Wood, Metals or Polymers Essentials to learn how to work with these materials and use this space.

WOOD ESSENTIALS

METAL ESSENTIALS

CERAMICS LAB

The Ceramics Lab provides the tools for working with clay, or casting in plaster and concrete. It's often used in conjunction with moulds made using our CNC or other tools in the Lab. Learn how, with Ceramics Essentials.

CERAMICS ESSENTIALS

LASER LAB

The Laser Lab has five, Trotec Lasers, as well as all the materials we supply to use these amazingly precise but easy to use tools. Book in for Laser Essentials, and learn how to use our Laser Cutters and the Laser Lab.

LASER ESSENTIALS

XR LAB

The XR Lab is a joint venture with the School of Computer and Engineering. It is one Lab, with Centres in the Marylebone and New Cavendish Campuses. It offers the latest technology in Virtual and Augmented Reality. Get started with XR in XR Essentials, offered in both the Fabrication Lab and New Cavendish.

DIGITAL MACHINE ROOM

The Digital Machine Room is the digital or Computer Numerical Control (CNC) counterpart to the Machine Room. It offers a wide range of tools controlled by computers, from mills and routers. It also houses the Additive Manufacturing Lab for 3D Printing, and the Robotics Lab for all sorts of innovative processes. Start now with CNC Essentials....

CNC ESSENTIALS

4. JOIN US

If you really want to get the most out of the Lab, you might want to join the Lab team working as a Lab Assistant. We frequently have openings for motivated team-players to help us build the Lab and contribute to our teaching and research. If you think you might be interested, you can find out more and register your interest here:

WORKING IN THE LAB...

We use RoboDK for simulation
and offline programming of industrial robots.