BRAC University (BRACU) inaugurated a fabrication laboratory in the Department of Architecture, the first such facility in Bangladesh on May 22, 2017.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony as the chief guest at the BRACU auditorium in the capital’s Mohakhali, BRACU Vice Chancellor Professor Syed SaadAndaleeb, Ph.D. said BRACU was shaping graduate programs 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, he said.
The Department of Architecture Chairperson Professor Adnan Zillur Morshed chaired the session, saying there were less than 1,000 fabrication laboratories (fab labs) in the world.
He said the architecture department would try to get its faculty trained on using the lab from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.
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 equipments 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 digitization and personalization 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.
The Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP) provided Tk 64 lakh 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.
Dr. Gauranga Chandra Mohanta, ndc, Project Director, HEQEP and DrMokhlesur Rahman of World Bank were present as special guests. The guests and participants later visited the fab lab on the 9th floor of Building #4 of BRACU.