Labs, Centers and Initiatives

Public spaces are vital components of the physical design as well as the social fabric of any urban area. Public spaces are the platforms where public activities takes place. Since the beginning of the history of cities these spaces have been used for meetings, leisure, protests, and gatherings. There is a vital connection between art and urban planning. For planners, placemaking is, more than ever, beginning to involve the use of public art to revitalize cities. For artists, understanding the public realm is essential to the creation of effective and meaningful public art.

See More

DAAPcares honors and supports the work of DAAP students, faculty, staff, and alumni to improve the quality of life around the world. From local to global, individual to multidisciplinary, and academic to professional - we connect scholarship to solutions. These accomplishments are celebrated annually in a showcase of innovative projects and research that represent our mission to achieve sustainable outcomes with environmental, economic, and cultural equity.

See More

Started in 2018 by Liz Ricketts, the Sustainable Fashion Initiative is an organization working to make the schools fashion program zero-waste, as well as advocating for sustainable fashion practices across campus and the Cincinnati area. SFI is a student-centered coalition of advocates, designers, consumers, tinkerers, strategists, environmentalists and citizens working together on a multi-pronged mission.

See More

The Sustainable Industrial Design Initiative is a student-centered effort to instill the values of circular design and implement circular strategies in the Industrial Design program at DAAP. We seek to educate and inspire designers to change the way they think about Industrial Design as a connected part of the world and society.

See More

The Communication in the Urban Environment (CUE) initiative at the University of Cincinnati is engaged in two fundamental dimensions of communication — understanding the city as a place of social interaction and sharing, and designing of systems, structures and artifacts for effective communication for all. At CUE, we believe that good communication in the urban environment — for communities and individuals — is enabling and empowering: it is the agency for expression that creates identity.

The Future Mobility Center at the Ullman School of Design of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning at the University of Cincinnati, is a glimpse into the next iteration of vehicle design studios. The space is composed by a collaborative workspace that enables multidisciplinary work, an advanced visualization lab for traditional 2D development future concepts, and a space that mixes virtual reality development with physical prototyping.

See More

The Fashion Technology Center consists of three different laboratories. The Textile Innovation Lab provides resources for advanced digital textile design and materials development. All three labs provide tools used to create the world-renowned research and projects coming out of the Fashion and Design programs at DAAP.

See More

As we continue to make moves toward being recognized as a Design school with a prominent user-centered, design-driven packaging focus, the mission of proactively improving the future outlook of sustainably responsible consumption is at the core of the Experimental Packaging Lab (EPL) efforts.

See More

The Fashion Technology Center consists of three different laboratories. The Apparel Production Lab (APL) includes specialized industrial sewing equipment for apparel and soft goods design and making. All three labs provide tools used to create the world-renowned research and projects coming out of the Fashion and Design programs at DAAP.

See More

The Architectural Robotics Lab at the University of Cincinnati DAAP is equipped with one KUKA six axis robotic arm with a 20 kg payload. Currently we use four end effectors: one extruder for fine prints, a custom extruder for larger prints, one gripper, and one router. Most of the current research in the lab addresses 3d printing with soft rigid materials, materials research, and creative coding.

Visit the website to see more

You may follow us on Instagram at #sincyrobotics.

The Fashion Technology Center consists of three different laboratories. The Wearable Futures Lab includes advanced wearable technology prototyping tools, electronic workstations for coding and soldering, computer workstations equipped with advanced software for digital illustration, patternmaking, 3D virtual modeling, pattern digitization and plotting/cutting. All three labs provide tools used to create the world-renowned research and projects coming out of the Fashion and Design programs at DAAP.

See More

The Joint Center for Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis (GISSA) consists of faculty from the Department of Geography and School of Planning, in collaboration with faculty from other academic units, such as Architecture, Business School, Biology, Computer Science, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Health, Institute of Policy Research, College of Medicine, College of Business Administration, and College of Education.

See More

The DAAP Build Lab offers tools for wood and metal working, as well as a welding area and a foundry. The wood working area features circular saws, jigsaws, belt sanders, and more. The metal working area includes milling machines, lathes, and bandsaws. The welding area has two mig welders, a tig welder, and two plasma cutters. Students can also check out tools.

See More

The DAAP Photo Lab provides several services to assist in printing, photographing, and documenting work. The DAAP Photo Lab also servers an inventory of photography, video, and sound equipment available to rent. 

See More

The RPC is home to numerous state-of-the-art 3-D printing, laser cutting and Computer Numerical Controlled milling machines. The Rapid Prototyping Center provides creative services for faculty and students who need to build models in support of the design and research efforts. Faculty and students partner with center staff during the model development process then schedule the use of the rapid prototyping machinery that includes providing the final CAD model.

See More

The Computer Lab is located in 4425 Aronoff is a state-of-the-art facility with high end workstations and various peripherals such as scanners, plotters and digital video editing suites. The computer lab is a place where university researchers have access to sophisticated graphics equipment and high levels of technical support for computer visualization, advanced computer graphics and virtual reality. To augment the use of laptops in classrooms, the large computer graphics instructional studio provides hands-on instruction labs for individual classes.

See More