Our Mission
Moving beyond the creation of objects or artefacts, the QUT Design Lab demonstrates the benefit and value of design methods, practices, and outcomes in realising Australia’s National Innovation agenda.
Our mission is “Change by Design.”
Fostering transdisciplinary collaboration, the QUT Design Lab has been established in 2016 as a centre for bold, fresh, and rigorous design-led research that seeks to tackle our most pressing 21st century challenges. The QUT Design Lab offers an open, agile and permeable structure comprising three value-driven research programs.
As a hub and home for a diverse team of academics, research students, industry professionals, and community leaders, the QUT Design Lab supports transdisciplinary collaborations that result in tangible impact and engagement, and which transfer knowledge and technology into beneficial applications for industry, society, and the environment.
QUT Design Manifesto
Design today is not just a noun, but a verb. It is not just an object, but an action. It is not just an artefact, but an approach. Design resists stasis: it enables, disrupts, innovates, mediates, and facilitates. Uniquely equipped to deliver social, cultural, political, economic and environmental impacts, design drives value creation and innovation in the 21st century.
The QUT Design Lab and the School of Design engaged in an engagement process to tease out the values we want to adhere to in research, teaching, learning, and practice. The result is the QUT Design Manifesto:
Design is inclusive [open].
Design serves people, place, and planet [ethical].
Design seeks a better future [optimistic].
Design privileges curiosity [experimental]
Design disrupts to drive positive change [transformational].
Facilities
J Block Maker Space
The J Block workshop houses a comprehensive range of fabrication technologies and is run by a team of staff with a wide range of design and fabrication expertise. There are three programs available as fabrication services, depending on the requirements of the client:
- maker-space program, allowing for space and access to the workshop;>/li>
- a fabricator program, allowing for space as well as expertise;/li>
- partner program, allowing space, expertise, and ongoing collaborative knowledge transfer agreements./li>
Utilising the ongoing development of expertise and experience in the QUT Design Lab, these services are designed to provide clients with a structured yet customisable experience to support the development of innovative design products and services.
Tools and Equipment
The Maker Space in J Block has a range of equipment for production of models and prototypes.- Paint Booth
- 3D powder printers.
- Wet area room
- Line bender, acrylic sander and polisher,
- 3 Axis Timber Router Room
- 1200 x 2400 format, with new 250mm Z axis
- Rapid Prototyping Room
- Laser cutters, 3D printers (plastics.) Vacuum- Former
- Welding Shop
- Tig, Mig, Stick, Gas and Plasma equip.
- Metal Shop
- Engineering lathe, mill, bending, rolling and cutting equip.
- Mezzanine
- Industrial sewing machines, engraving pantograph.
- Entrance & Assembly Room
- Hot wire foam cutters, benches, hand tools materials store.
- Sanding Room
- Timber and foam shaping and finishing work.
- Timber Shop
- Panel saw, mills, drills, lathe, band saws, benches
Hours and Contact
8am-12pm and 1pm-5pm Monday to Friday.For queries please contact Simon Belton, Team Leader – Design & Fabrication Lab, at s.belton@qut.edu.au, or phone 07 3138 2672.
PAS Lab Facilities
The People and Systems (PAS) Lab contributes vital equipment and facilities to the QUT Design Lab portfolio, including:
- A world-class, state-of-the-art laboratory space designed explicitly to research human experiences with artefacts and systems
- Research data analysis software packages: Noldus Observer, Portable Noldus Observer, Noldus Face Reader, Atlas.ti
- Tobii Eye Tracking System: Tobii eye-tracking technology records visual footage as seen by the participant. Sensors track eye movements, identifying exact location of what the participant is looking at. The Tobii system consists of Tobii glasses and recording assistant worn by the participant during observations.
