Facilities

Students have independent access to a variety of design and specialist digital media facilities.

Design facilities include dedicated design studios, digital sketching, extensive workshops that are both traditional (such as wood, model making, metal fabrication) and contemporary (3D printing), as well as electronics labs.

Modern, industry standard digital media facilities include a green screen and post-production studio, motion capture, photography and sound studios, up to 12K digital cinema cameras and 360° VR cameras, lenses, monitors, motion controllers, lights, and a dedicated render farm. There's also the opportunity to use our immersive virtual environment laboratory.

You'll have access to all our modern spaces during your studies and gain hands-on, professional skills for developing new products and services. Our workshops are collaborative spaces where you can share advice, support and creative ideas with other students. Expert technicians provide workshop training and support our students to develop quality hands-on skills to become creative designers in the modern world.

Explore our design facilities

Digital fabrication laboratory

Our design fabrication laboratory is home to cutting-edge rapid prototyping technologies, computer-based manufacturing techniques, CAD modeling, simulation and 3D printing which ensure you’re using the most up-to-date technology. The laboratory is equipped with open-source SLA printers as well as offering multi-material, multi-colour printing with unmatched versatility.

From flexible, silicon-like parts to rigid resins, and from transparent to opaque finishes, the laboratory supports students to realise their solutions within the full Pantone colour spectrum and with a high degree of accuracy. Students can produce professional-quality prototypes that look, feel, and perform great and accelerate the design process.

Dedicated Makerspace Facilities

In the Makerspace, where you’ll make everything from industrial models to aesthetic products, you’ll find everything from hot wire cutters and sheet plastic benders for shaping bold forms, to disc sanders, band saws, wood and metal lathes for hands-on making.

Students have access to build robust structures that can be manufactured from a wide range of mediums such as exotic hard wood, and sheet materials through to composite PU boards and a variety of plastics including polycarbonate, HIPS, PETG and acrylic. For precision and accuracy, our CNC routers, vacuum formers, laser cutters as well as manual powered and hand tools allow you to create intricate and detailed work within a flexible, adaptable and collaborative environment.

For aesthetics and professional finishes, students have access to a wide range of methods and techniques including polishing, laminating, and spray finishes. Our students can experiment with a wide range of colour, material, finish (CMF) when working on their projects.

Explore our digital media facilities

PC 3D/VR studio

A larger studio where you’ll use 3D-optimised PC workstations for visual effects and image editing including 2D and 3D graphics, animation, immersive mixed reality, and compositing, using industry standard software.

Green screen studio

With an infinity cove green screen, postproduction PC workstations, and industry standard software, our visual effects studio is used for professional productions. Here, you’ll earn the art of digital compositing and editing, creating footage useful for a range ofcreative visual outlets.

Motion capture, photography and immersive VR studio

Motion capture sits at the heart of games, blockbuster films and a whole host of other creative industries. Within our motion capture studio, you’ll get hands-on experience and learn to master a technology that’s core to the world of 3D animation. This multi-purpose space is also used as a studio for digital portrait and product photography, as well as a studio housing our PCs and headsets for immersive mixed and virtual reality work.

Music/sound capture studio

An acoustically treated space that has everything you need to record, mix and master instruments, vocals, sound effects and voice-overs. It’s connected to our larger live space; you’ll have plenty of room and flexibility to work.