IAAC’s Fab Lab Barcelona, Valldaura Labs, and Advanced Architecture Group have made their digital fabrication facilities and resources available to the medical community to print protective wear and elements for respirators. This is the first time that a consistently distributed network of prototyping resources, pioneered by IAAC and the Fab Labs, has been at the service of solving a global challenge.
The response made by the community of makers and Fab Labs around the world shows how distributed manufacturing in time is already mature in order to solve real problems through the altruistic cooperation of designers, engineers, doctors, makers, and technology enthusiasts.
IAAC’s Fabrication Laboratories sum around 25 3D printers that have been distributed in our team’s homes in order to answer the demand for production in Barcelona, and nearby cities of Catalonia. We have partnered with companies and the local City Council of Barcelona to make more resources accessible to people in need, and contribute with our efforts to fight the current COVID-19 crisis.
At global level, together with the Fab Lab Network, Fab Foundation and MIT’s CBA, we have released an open-source repository of designs and solutions in order to share standards regarding materials and manufacturing processes:
Also, since Valldaura Labs continues to function due to the fact that students live there, it has allowed the development of specific projects at the request of public hospitals in Barcelona. From their innovation department they have created working groups to quickly resolve the need for protective equipment with ventilation for patients and doctors.
We have been printing valves to hack Decathlon snorkels, following a design from Isinnova in Italy, at the request of the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona who has tested and validated them.
In Catalonia and Spain, the Coronavirus Makers through the CV19_FAB_BCN platform has coordinated a large part of the operation to print elements for medical protection. Thanks for the effort to all!