Digital Digital Fabrication Fabrication: Remote collaborative teaching and learning in advanced fabrication
Authors:   Florida A&M University, Mangual-Martínez Isaac A. , Sherbakova Larisa ,   Florida A&M University, Craney Ryan ,   University of Michigan, Wood-Sternburgh Garret , Patel Misri ,   University of Michigan
Published: January 2024

Many schools of architecture are facing a pressing issue: How do we offer access to fabrication in an equitable and inclusive manner? Furthermore, how can we create a sustainable, pedagogical model for our institutions to share knowledge about machinery and fabrication processes that are often inaccessible? Two architecture programs, one a PWI (Predominately White Institution) and one an HBCU (Historically Black College/University), joined forces during the 2020-2021 academic year. Together they explored the teaching of advanced fabrication in a virtual/remote learning space. Advanced fabrication mentors from the PWI provided virtual/remote mentorship for students at the HBCU, to assist in designing for and using the ShopBot CNC router at their school’s fabrication space. The team of fabrication mentors stayed constant over both semesters, in contrast to a changing cohort of students and project objectives. During the fall, HBCU worked with mentors to complete a bigger scale, parametric modeling project. Throughout this semester, both teams realized that existing practices, already developed for use in other remote learning environments, were not fulfilling the pedagogical goals of these advanced fabrication efforts. In the spring semester, the PWI/HBCU teaching team reworked the curriculum, as the student body progressed towards smaller scale making-focused projects. In addition, the implementation of innovative technologies in live-streaming allowed for more responsive and interactive collaboration. These projects tackled two primary challenges: working through the technical issues of digital and physical fabrication, and establishing a remote, fabrication-oriented mentorship process, which by nature is hands-on and requires in-person work. Coordinated work sessions between the two universities’ fabrication spaces were facilitated through a real-time, multi-camera, CNC set-up which utilized open-source broadcasting software to sync multiple audio feeds, screen share (Rhino and CNC programing software), and live video feeds of both CNC router setups. Iterative improvements to the technical set-up were invaluable as consistency and learning from past errors were major keys to success, evidenced by a dramatic improvement in the quality of work and participation from one semester to the next. To sustain this new pedagogical model of exchange, a legacy of knowledge needs to be built. This starts by ensuring that there are always more experienced students who can guide incoming students (and those who are new to fabrication). All of this will be possible by maintaining the primary goal of increasing accessibility to the technological and machine based integration that is necessary for architectural education programs to remain relevant in the future. This collaboration demonstrated that remote digital and physical fabrication is possible, and both universities are working to expand this platform to other projects and collaborations. By recognizing and leveraging the expertise that already exists within faculty and staff of each institution, collaboration-come-knowledge exchange is not only possible but fruitful and highly effective. Remaining vigilant in the efforts to increase equity of access should be the charge of all schools of architecture; embracing ever-evolving pedagogy through an understanding that experimentation is necessary will propel this type of learning, allowing for a model that is both transportable and sustainable.