The FabLab

RolePrintFX/FabLab Coordinator, day-to-day operations

ChallengeToy Design needed 3D printing and rapid prototyping; they had about $100K but no space or staff to run it

ApproachPooled departmental funding for shared infrastructure, operated centrally

OutcomeA prototyping lab with 3D printers and laser cutters, open to the entire school

One pitch about emerging tech, pooled budgets from small departments, and a fabrication lab for the whole school.

The model: departments that couldn't afford the equipment alone pooled their budgets into one shared shop.

The challenge

The Toy Design program needed 3D printing and rapid prototyping. They had about $100,000 to spend and nowhere to spend it: no space, no staff to run it. We had the space and the staff. But no single small department could afford the equipment alone, and the need wasn't unique to Toy Design.

The approach

A lot of it came from walking around. I visited the different programs, asked what they needed, hung around the water cooler. That's how I found out about the Toy Design need in the first place. The service list grew because I was out listening, not because anyone filed a request.

It was emerging tech that got me to pitch 3D printing and laser cutting to my boss. But before I pitched anything, I did the homework. I visited the fabrication labs at NYU, Parsons, Pratt, SVA, and Columbia: toured their shops, inventoried their equipment, and asked the people running them what they'd improve and what they'd buy if they were starting over. I didn't want to reinvent the wheel. I wanted to make a better one. That's how I knew what to ask for, what to avoid, and how to make the case that FIT's lab would match or beat what the other schools had.

Something else stuck with me from those visits: the smell. Laser cutters and 3D printers put real fumes in the air, and I was thinking about the staff who'd be breathing it all day. So I brought in our health and safety officer, researched filtration options, and had facilities price out external ventilation. We ended up with a whole-room air cleaning system and purifiers. The lab my staff worked in was going to be safe to breathe in, not just impressive to tour.

Then I reached out to other departments that could use the equipment and made them an offer: pool your funds together, give it to me, and I'll build a prototyping shop open to the entire school. Together, they could afford what none of them could alone.

The outcome

That's how the FabLab got built. Shared infrastructure, funded by pooled budgets, operated centrally: a prototyping lab with 3D printers and laser cutters, open to the entire school. The shared equipment I sourced: Universal Laser Systems laser cutters and 3D printers from Stratasys and Formlabs. When I arrived the bureau was called GraphicsLab-PrintFX. When I left in 2013, it was PrintFX/FabLab. The name changed because the place changed.

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