Architecture schools are using digital fab labs to 3D print medical equipment

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to worsen and foreseeable shortages of necessary safety and medical equipment begin to materialize, several initiatives involving designers have sprung up to aid in the production of specialized protective gear for the doctors and nurses treating sick patients. 

Rapidly Produced Face Shields

One effort is taking root through a network of partnerships between Barnard College and Columbia University, where librarians, designers, and technicians at the school's Design Center are working together to 3D-print protective face shields for medical workers.

The project has resulted in the Guide and Design for Rapidly Produced Face Shields, a document created by Columbia's Digital Scholarship Librarian Alex Gil and Research Data Librarian Moacir P. de Sá Pereira that includes a list of materials and instructions for 3D printing plastic protective visors for hospital use. 

"Although 3D printers can be used to print complex PPE such as N95 masks,"  text on the p...