The most commonly used 3D technologies for digital output include 3D printing, CNC milling, and laser cutting. All of these machines work with CAD drawings created using software applications like Rhino. This capstone project for the course seeks to provide students an opportunity to get acquainted with these processes while producing models for their final design in studio. Special attention is paid to a good setup in CAD that enables efficient iteration through designs, and to investigate ways of exerting more control in the process to obtain more creative results. Just as the practice of descriptive geometry has been radically transformed by computational techniques in the past few decades, so this transition into the information age has impacted the domains of manufacturing and fabrication. The dominant paradigm of mass production has begun to be displaced, as artisanry was before it, and replaced by a much tighter loop connecting design prototypes, design specifications, manufacturing process models, and machine instructions.

Using a combination of fabrication processes and machines, including CNC milling, laser cutting, and 3d printing, students produce a large-scale model constructed of materials of their choosing. The model serves as a site and scheme model for their final design project, depicting the overall form of the proposed scheme and how it relates to site conditions, including a proposal for built intervention and modifications to existing topography and site.