FAB FEST was a major international design and fabrication festival and competition. It ran for three consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, creating more than 100, 1-1 pavilions, and involving 45 London-based architectural offices and 50 Universities from around the world. The project explored ideas around digital fabrication, design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA), and collaborative working using networked tools.

Teams of five students designed and prototyped a habitable pavilion made of recyclable cardboard, working iteratively and testing ideas remotely using the digital cutting tables in the Lab. Teams brought together in mentoring roles academics and practicing architects from leading London offices. Designs were manufactured in the Lab at the end of the design process, delivered flat-packed on pallets to Ambika P3, and assembled in an intense construction week by teams joining the Lab from around the world.

FAB FEST culminated in a one-day public festival of making workshops and live music, in which visitors could visit and enjoy the pavilions, and student teams could see their project realised and their ideas tested through observation and interaction with the general public as they occupied their projects.