Cambridge School of Art facilities
At ARU, we know that experimentation is key to finding your creative voice.
That's why, as one of our students, you get access to all our Cambridge School of Creative Industries facilities, as well as Cambridge School of Art's, no matter which course you study on.
Why not 3D print your graphic design work, or use our darkrooms and editing suites to combine film and photography for your fine art installation?
As well as dedicated studios for all our courses, our Cambridge School of Art facilities include:
Futures Lab
Our Futures Lab is a digital workshop that comprises a variety of computer-aided manufacturing machines. It will allow you to learn up-to-date manufacturing and design processes as well as aid and support you in many traditional techniques. The technologies you will be find in the workshop include:
3D Printers & 3D Scanners:
- FDM printers - Two Tiertime UP300 large build volume printers
- Material-specific extruders, one for ABS and other high temperature filaments; one for lower temperature filaments such as PLA; another for TPU, a flexible polyurethane
- SLA Formlabs printers – Form 3 & Form 3L, scalable prototyping and super high detail
- SLS Formlabs Fuse1 - production-ready nylon 3D printing with compact selective laser sintering (SLS) platform
- Structured light 3D scanners - EinScan Pro 2X Professional 3D digitising solution for a versatile range of applications – capture 3D models of medium to large size objects with high efficiency
2D Printing and Cutting machines:
- Laser cutters: An LS1290 fitted with a 80W CO2 laser for processing paper, card, fabrics, plastics or wood; an LS1390 Multi-Cut hybrid laser machine that will cut metal (mild / stainless steel) as well as non-metals such as acrylics, plywood’s, and MDF
- Roland BN20 Vinyl printer & Cutter - with eco-solvent inks and a range of material compatibility and integrated contour cutting, perfect for creating t-shirt graphics, poster prints, stickers and decals
- Gerber Substrate cutter - a large bed, high-speed, single- or low-ply static table cutting system designed to cut a wide variety of materials. Ideal for fabric, paper & card
- Mimaki TX300P sublimation printer - a high quality, versatile, direct-to-textile inkjet printer, ideally suited to applications such as fashion, furnishing, soft signage and exhibitions
3D workshop and annexe
- Hand tools and power tools including battery drills, jigsaws, multi tool, router, hand sander, hammer drill, and Proxxon finishing tools
- Bandsaw, panel saw and chop saw
- Disc sander, belt sander and spindle sander
- Laser Cutter
- Spot Welder
- Vacuum Former
- 3 electric kilns
- Glaze spray booth
- Wenger potters’ wheel
- Brent CXC potters’ wheel
- Leach kick wheel
- Spray room
- Air bench
- Plaster area for sculpture and mould making
- Fan assisted oven
- Wax pots
- Installation Spaces
Art and Design studios
- HD rostrum cameras and traditional lightboxes
- Cintiq pro 24 and latest digital 2D animation software
- Dedicated Mac and PC suites with the latest software including Adobe Creative suite
- Dedicated stop-motion room with lighting set-up
- 3D modelling and compositing software, including Autodesk Maya
- Motion capture equipment
- Access to 4k cameras, lighting kits, Wacom tablets and a range of other equipment
- Spacious and well-lit studios
- Life drawing room
Fashion
Dedicated fashion workshops with a variety of industrial sewing machines, and specialist machines including:
- Jersey cover sew machine
- Bias binder machine
- Variety of overlocker machines; 3, 4, and 5 thread
- Buttonhole & bar tack machines
- Walking foot machine for heavy duty fabrics including leather
- Heat presses for textile work
- Saori looms
- Knitting machines and Ribber
- Embroidery machines with Wilcom software
- Seam-sealing machine
- Long arm quilter
- Monti Antonio heat press
Photography
- Black and white darkroom with Colenta roller transport paper processor and wet tray printing. 13 enlargers for 35mm, medium format (all sizes) and 5 x 4 negatives
- Colour darkroom with Colenta roller transport paper processor and RA4 chemistry. 5 enlarger booths with a variety of enlargers for 35mm, medium format (all sizes) 5 x 4 and 10 x 8 sheet film negatives
- A film processing room for black and white film processing in small tanks, (35mm, 120mm and 5 x 4)
- A bespoke digital suite with 20 iMacs, flat bed and virtual drum scanners. A variety of Epson professional large format inkjet printers, to produce A4, A3, A2, A1 and A0 prints
- A lecture room with print finishing facilities
- Three photographic studios with Profoto lighting and a wide range of Profoto accessories. A fluid space with interchangeable backdrops
- An extensive range of analogue and professional digital cameras and lenses. Canon, Sinar, Nikon, Pentax and Hasselblad to name a few
Printmaking
Facilities for Etching (zinc and copper), Screen-printing, Off-set lithography, Relief printing, Monoprint (plate and off-set), Photopolymer plate printing, Letterpress and Risograph.
- Main Workshop: 3 x Hand presses; 4 x Etching presses; 2 x Off-set presses; Traditional Aquatint booth; Electric paper guillotine; Drying rack; Risograph duplicator (twin drum)
- Screen printing: 6 x Screen printing hand tables; 2 x Exposure units; 2 x Drying cabinets; 4 x Drying racks; Washout room with backlit washout booth and pressure washer
- Letterpress workshop: 2 x Hand presses; Swiss proof press; Farley press; Plenty of type
Ruskin Gallery
A professional and digital art gallery shows touring exhibitions of international standing as well as student work. Ruskin Gallery is a unique exhibition space surrounded by the artists' studios of Cambridge School of Art.
