Frontiers in Desktop Fabrication

Set at the Cal Design Lab at the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley, this workshop will explore emerging technologies that push the bounds of what can be physically made using inexpensive and accessible desktop fabrication technologies. Workshop participants interested in advanced modeling, integrated electronics prototyping and physical fabrication techniques will learn how to hack 3D printers, vinyl and paper cutters to create origami-folding 2D to 3D models, interactive objects with integrated sensing and circuitry, and 3D models using experimental materials. Participants will be given tutorials in basic modeling, plotting, and fabrication programming. Workshop exercises include creating 3D jewelry from cement, actuated origami, and custom capacitive touch sensors. This workshop will be led by Bjoern Harmann, an Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley and Ronald Rael, who is an architect, author as well as an Assistant Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley. The 2013 Cal Design Lab will include the following workshops: Expressive Movement in Architecture and Design (July 15-19), Robotic Prototypes in Architecture (July 22-26), and Gestural and Natural User Interfaces (August 5-9). Each one-week workshop is designed by an expert in the topic domain that is pushing the boundaries of making, and features a combination of informational lectures, structured hands-on learning activities and self-directed open-ended experimentation. For more info, please visit: http://ced.berkeley.edu/academics/summer-programs/design-futures-workshop-series/.