Fab Lab La Campana

Supported by the British Council, this project brought together educators from a range of disciplines interested in social and educational innovation. The aim was the co-design and co-create a Fab Lab with a marginalised community in Monterrey, Mexico.

This process focused on the empowerment of community members to make the changes they desired, for themselves and their community. Beyond skills for making, the Fab Lab also facilitated the building of partnerships, and the development of social competencies, that are often overlooked in the process of empowerment and social mobility.

The project was directed by educational researchers from Tecnológico de Monterrey, in collaboration with the University of Bath, the Open University and the University of Leeds. Emphasis was placed on areas of education in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math), participatory design, and digital fabrication within the Fab Lab. Beyond the physical space, equipment and educational activities, a community architecture intervention demonstrated the large-scale impact digital fabrication could have in creating spaces shaped by and for the community.