Our diverse blend of studios and labs represent our focus on experiential learning. These spaces feature state-of-the-art equipment and offer the opportunity to work alongside faculty and industry professionals seeking to solve real-world design and planning challenges.

Studios and Labs

Design Studios

Student Working in StudioThe studio method of education is central to CAP’s success and provides students with hands-on design exercises almost every semester. That makes the design studios the hub of activity in our college.

Throughout your college career, you will be assigned your own personal work space in a studio, accessible 24/7 while the university is in session. Each design studio offers state-of-the-art tools and materials for creating drawings, models, and other hands-on assignments. All departmental and faculty offices are located near the studios to enhance mentoring and student/faculty rapport.

You will have all of the technology you need to succeed in today’s world of environmental design and planning, which employs digital technology to facilitate both the analysis that precedes the design process as well as the design process itself.

Our students have access to a variety of digital design and presentation tools, including 3-D modeling and animation software, video filming and editing equipment, and live interactive media.


Digital Simulation Lab

Participate in hands-on collaborations with corporations and nonprofits to create thermal, solar, environmental, acoustical, or structural simulations for proposed construction projects.

Tools and Equipment

  • Dell workstations with dual Xeon processors and 24-inch Dell ultrasharp flat panel LCD monitors
  • Apple workstations with dual G5 processors and 23-inch Apple Cinema displays
  • 50-inch Gateway plasma monitor
  • HP 5500dn color laser printer
  • Custom Shuttle Athlon 64 workstation
  • Panasonic LCD projectors with short-throw lenses
  • Custom polarizing filter solution for stereoscopic work
  • Floor-to-ceiling rear-projection screen
  • THX-certified 5.1 surround sound system
  • Professional software includes:
  • Adobe Creative Suite Premium
  • Alias Maya 6
  • Apple Final Cut Pro HD
  • Corel Painter 8
  • Curious Labs Poser 5
  • Delcam Artcam Pro 8
  • Macromedia Authorware 7 and Studio MX
  • Microsoft Office
  • Rhinoceros 3 with Flamingo 1.1

Learn More

Through the SimLab, our students and faculty work directly with businesses and nonprofits, helping them address their challenges while gaining real-world experience. See for yourself.


Digital Fabrication Lab

Digital fabrication is the way of the future, and this lab allows you to engage in this process that joins design with production through the use of 3D modeling software or computer-aided design (CAD) and additive and subtractive manufacturing processes.

The "Fab Lab," as we call it, contains equipment for designing and making 1:1 prototypes of building and furniture components, as well as smaller-scale models. Located in the Architecture Building, room 031, the lab is part of the CAP shops, which includes the wood shop, metal shop and paint room.

For more information, contact Judy Kreiger.

Hours of Operation

Room 031 is the Laser Lab, but the shop operates as one facility with the wood shop. If one of those doors is closed during normal hours, please check the door on the other side of the lab.

The Lab reopens after the start of Fall semester

FABLAB Laser

  • Lasers may only be used by CAP students, faculty, and staff. For individuals or groups outside the college, you must have permission to use the FABLAB and shop facilities. For permission, contact Philip Repp, Dean of the College of Architecture and Planning. 
  • Time may be reserved in 20-minute increments totaling one hour per day for the laser.
  • Unreserved time slots may be used on a first‐come first‐served basis.
  • BE ON TIME! If you are not here within 4 minutes of your scheduled appointment, your reserved time slot will be given to a peer, who is on stand-by as a walk-in, five minutes after your scheduled time.
  • SIGN IN when you arrive to use a walk-in or a scheduled machine
  • NEVER leave a project unattended! While your file is cutting on the laser, YOU MUST REMAIN IN THE ROOM, ensuring that you project cuts safely. If you leave your project, the machine will be shut down.

    Shop Policies and Information

It takes the latest equipment and technology to adequately research and preserve the oldest architecture and buildings.

Students in our historic preservation program use the Preservation Lab to carry out class projects in preservation technology, including conservation and paint and mortar analysis.

Equipment

  • stereo microscopes that can capture digital images of material samples up to 180 times
  • field kits for building assessments
  • heat lamps for drying mortar samples
  • a desiccating chamber
  • various hand tools for material sampling
  • a pressure washer
  • catalogs and literature related to the latest materials and products

Wood Shop

Supervised by a fulltime shop technician, the Wood/Metal/Plastics Shop provides students with the equipment they need for working with wood, metal, plastics, and other materials.

The technician assists students in model building and creative projects for hands-on courses in the College of Architecture and Planning (CAP). The shop is open during regular university hours, plus additional evening hours.

Equipment

  • woodworking machines
  • welding equipment
  • vacuum forming machines
  • computer numerical control (CNC) router

Location

Architecture Building, Room 029 and the Design Build Lab 765-285-5859

The Wood Shop reopens after the start of Fall semester.

These are normal operating hours. If advance notice is given by faculty, the shop may extend hours to accommodate peak project times. If the door is closed during normal hours, please check the door on the other side of the lab.

We observe all major and university holidays and observances.