Fab Lab Barcelona is a research-focused fabrication laboratory in a former ceramics factory at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC). It is part of the Fab Academy network, a global distributed program with nodes worldwide.
Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
FLB offers four blended education programs and partners with schools and universities to foster what it calls “a participatory, hands-on, and future-facing” style of learning. Fab Lab Barcelona is also the coordinator of the Distributed Design Platform, an exchange and networking hub for the European maker and design movement.
Recently, the centre collaborated with Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) to host a Data for Good design challenge in Budapest. Held in February 2025, the challenge lasted for a week and involved students from different bachelor’s and master’s programs at MOME exploring environmental data and design
The Smart Citizen kit, an open source project led by Fab Lab Barcelona, was used to collect environmental data from different locations on the MOME campus, nearby forests, and the city center. The students were also encouraged to record their physical perceptions of air quality conditions.
The objective data from the Smart Citizen kit was compared with the recorded sensory experience to identify correlations and variations. The students worked in three groups, refining ideas to identify environmental challenges and develop solutions. These solutions were to be open, collaborative, and presented at the end of the week.
Data collection with the Smart Citizen kit (📷: Antoine Jaunard)
The development process involved public exhibitions of the working prototypes, with students setting up project stations with posters, mockups, drawings, and illustrations. Visitors can move between stations and talk to the group members to provide feedback and suggestions. Fab Lab Barcelona calls this style of presentation “Design Dialogues.”
Design Dialogues (📷: Antoine Jaunard)
At the end of the week, the three projects — a ring with changing color based on air quality, a mobile game aimed at children and young adults, and an interactive public installation to showcase social and environmental issues — were presented formally.
The Data for Good design challenge helped the students learn about environmental monitoring, data analysis, and design thinking to develop practical, innovative solutions to pressing environmental issues.
Fab labs, makerspaces, and open source communities are better-positioned than traditional institutions to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
According to Jessica Carmen Guy, Distributed Design lead at Fab Lab Barcelona, they can do this by providing access to advanced tools, “enabling students and researchers to prototype ideas, test concepts, and engage in hands-on experimentation.” They can also foster interdisciplinary learning and serve as co-creation hubs where knowledge is shared freely and openly.
Jessica Guy, distributed design expert
Within the Fab Academy network, fab labs are moving from being a support and outreach system to academic institutions in their own right.
Fab Lab Barcelona encourages its students to adopt an iterative mindset to learning, “where research and fabrication are not separate phases but intertwined processes.” They are shown how to “frame clear research questions, document processes rigorously, and use fabrication as a method for inquiry and knowledge production.”
The center champions distributed education, an approach to learning that emphasizes both local and global instruction. According to Guy, FLB collaborates with experts worldwide to create learning content, allowing them to represent themselves. The center’s role is to facilitate the conversations and support “communication and knowledge sharing in an equitable, meaningful, and respectful manner.”
Distributed education is still an instructional model in its infancy, and Guy admits that it is an ongoing learning journey for all participants. You can visit FLB’s website to learn about the center and what they are building.