Fabrication laboratory opens at BRACU

BRAC University (BRACU) recently inaugurated a fabrication laboratory (fab lab) at the Department of Architecture on its Mohakhali campus in the capital, says a press release.
The fab lab is a collaboration of technological innovations where digital fabrication is aided with contemporary visualisation techniques and facilities to build accurate physical prototypical models of computer generated designs.
The lab contains a state of the art 3D printer, 3D scanner, laser cutter, 5 axis CNC cutter, and related IT equipment and other accessories. The emerging science of digital fabrication is bringing the programmability of the digital world of bits to the physical world of atoms.
The programmed assembly of functional structures, ranging from nano-scale cells to micro scale micro-fluidics-blocks to macro scale buildings, along with counterparts investigating the global implications and local consequences of the digitisation and personalisation of fabrication allows a fab lab to create opportunities to expand the horizon of research.
The facilities are expected to harness new ideas and connect to a worldwide network of sharing for applying different innovative technologies.
Adnan Zillur Morshed, chairperson of the Department of Architecture, said they would try to get the faculty trained on using the lab from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. There are less than 1,000 fabrication laboratories in the world, he added.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony on May 22, BRACU Vice Chancellor Syed Saad Andaleeb said the university was shaping graduate programmes to instill higher intellect in students.
“The price of products depends on the amount of human intellect behind it and Bangladesh should go for producing such high-valued products instead of only depending on labour,” the VC said.
The Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP) provided Tk 6.4 million for the project, while the remaining 20 percent came from BRACU’s own funds. The University Grants Commission is implementing the HEQEP, which was taken up by the Ministry of Education with assistance from World Bank.