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Postgraduate in Digital Fabrication – Fab Academy BCN

From Zero to Maker: A Hands-On Crash Course to Master Digital Fabrication

The Postgraduate in Digital Fabrication – Fab Academy BCN is directed by Neil Gershenfeld of MIT’s Center For Bits and Atoms and based on MIT’s rapid prototyping course: How to Make (Almost) Anything; it focuses on personal fabrication – prototyping your ideas into products.

Presentation

Are you ready to rewrite the rules of how the world is built?

In the Postgraduate in Digital Fabrication at Fab Academy BCN, you will step onto the leading edge of a global revolution where bits become atoms and your design concepts materialize into physical reality. Over five intensive, transformative months, you will master a comprehensive toolkit of digital manufacturing—from 2D/3D CAD modeling and CNC machining to custom circuit board production and embedded programming. This is a hands-on, hyper-connected learning experience designed to completely “reprogram” how you solve problems. By learning to design globally and fabricate locally, you will transition from a passive consumer to an active architect of sustainable, self-sufficient cities and communities

The global classroom

Fab Academy consists of both classes online and offline disciplines, a method that we call “distributed education“. Students work on two levels – global and local. The global level, otherwise known as the Global Campus, connects +250 students enrolled in Fab Academy in more than 50 cities worldwide. The students connect weekly for Global Lectures with Professor Neil Gershenfeld – Director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms. After every Global Lecture, in which Prof. Gershenfeld explains the content and lays out the assignment for the week, there is a round of reviews that opens the possibility for students to interact with the rest of the global community.

The Fab Academy program is based on MIT’s popular rapid-prototyping course ‘How To Make (Almost) Anything – both courses are taught by Prof. Neil Gershenfeld. The Fab Academy Diploma is awarded by the Fab Academy community with the support of the Fab Lab Network and Fab Foundation. In the past years, numerous institutions hosting the course have started accrediting the skills developed in the course – you can check these institutions here.

A (local) Digital Fabrication playground

Once enrolled in Fab Academy you will learn how to use the Fab Lab’s digital fabrication tools, machines and skills such as Project management, Computer design, Computer-controlled cutting, Electronics, 3D scanning and printing, Electronics design, Computer-controlled machining, Embedded programming, Molding and casting, Networking and communications, Mechanical design, Interface and application programming and Machine design. In addition to the Global Lectures, there are two days each week where you will receive specific support for your project and have access to Fab Lab Barcelona’s workshop and digital fabrication equipment.

By the end of the course, you will have the essential knowledge to plan, develop and prototype a final project. You will also have a comprehensive understanding of how to plan a sustainable business and how to share cutting-edge designs in an open source environment.

Why study Fab Academy in Barcelona?

For over fifteen years, Fab Lab Barcelona—housed within the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC)—has been the undisputed global benchmark for the Fab Academy experience, serving proudly as the international headquarters for Fab Academy Global Coordination​. 

Students from every continent gather at our ​Fab Lab to prototype alongside leading multidisciplinary experts in robotics, coding, machine learning, and materials science. Through our collaboration with the Master in Design for Emergent Futures (MDEF), you’ll be part of a vibrant, cross-disciplinary space to expand your professional and personal horizons. 

By choosing to study at IAAC, you join a legendary global lineage of alumni who have gone on to lead the international Fab Lab network, establish pioneering design studios, and build successful careers as social design entrepreneurs

An Innovative Environment

Barcelona is a cosmopolitan city and a global hub for design, creativity, technology, and innovation, making it an ideal environment for new ways of learning, making, and producing. IAAC is located in Poblenou, a former industrial district that has evolved into one of the city’s most vibrant ecosystems for design, digital fabrication, creative industries, research, and Industry 4.0. Here, historic factories and workshops coexist with universities, startups, technology companies, design studios, makerspaces, and cultural organizations.

At the heart of this transformation is 22@ Barcelona, an innovation district fostering the interaction between knowledge, technology, industry, and local production. The emerging Poblenou Maker District further strengthens this ecosystem by promoting digital manufacturing, reindustrialization, and new models of urban production. This context connects with Barcelona’s Fab City vision and IAAC’s role within the global Fab Lab and Ensamble network, linking local experimentation with international communities of makers, designers, researchers, educators, and industry.

How does it work?

Fab Academy is a five-month program, classes run from mid-January to mid-June, plus 1 month to finish documentation and evaluation. The classes run from Monday to Friday, with a total dedication of around 30 hours a week between classes and personal work in the Lab.

Each week the student will be expected to complete a different topic fully documented. The knowledge learned will contribute towards the development of the final project.

The Fab Academy Graduation Ceremony will take place at FAB27 in Oulu, Finland.

The conference consists of online and offline activities such as events, resources, workshops, fairs and boot camps that promote and advocate for emerging creative talent and their business productivity and sustainability.

Competences

Management

Principles and Practices
Project Management
Applications and Implications
Project Development
Invention, Intellectual Property, and Incom

Student Profile

Fab Academy Barcelona is open for students, professionals, lifelong learners with backgrounds from all kinds of disciplines looking for new approaches or to broaden the scope of their practice. We welcome individuals from every walk of life – with or without experience in technical training, whether it’s looking for a way to develop a specific project or pursue the physical aspects of an idea.

Fab Lab Barcelona’s Academy consists of technical training but also the creative freedom to develop projects with an analytical and logical approach alongside practical design experience. Students will become acquainted with industry standards, latest innovation trends and participate in a booming ecosystem of young scientists and entrepreneurs. Fab Academy is an inspiring creative technical environment in which designers and scientists collaborate, looking to create the maximum positive impact for the planet.

Faculty

Admission Requirements

There aren’t specific technical requirements, but we do expect our students to show basic notions of of 2D & 3D design, and basic understanding of coding and programming. A high level of english both written and spoken is mandatory.

Students aiming to get ECTS certification must also provide the following documentation during the course of the program (it is not necessary to have them at the time of the Application):

a) Legalized copy of your previous academic degree. (Please make sure to arrange the legalization of your diploma as required by your country of origin (more info here).

b) An Official Translation of your legalized diploma (first you must legalize it, THEN, translate all to Spanish) to Spanish language (if not in Spanish already). Your diploma must be translated by an official sworn translator duly registered by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. List of authorized translators here.

c) A copy of your valid passport, or I.D. if you are a citizen of a member state of the EU

Student Stories

Head over to our blog and see what graduates of Fab Academy have to say about the program.