Take a trip with us to San José, Costa Rica, for our conversation with Luis Diego Gómez Quesada, digital animator and 3D model developer at Fab Lab Kä Träre, a center of innovation at Universidad Estatal a Distancia (UNED). You will learn how a fabrication lab is an important element within a distance education university and how its openness also serves communities across the country of Costa Rica.

We were overdue for this episode given that the Fab Lab Kä Träre was recognized in 2024 with an Open Education Award for Excellence and also that August 2025 marked the Fab Lab’s 10 year anniversary. Listen to learn about the Fab Lab’s projects in everything from field used models of frogs to virtual reality apps for understanding physics through ballet to teaching the methodologies of Design Thinking to a version of the lab on wheels that brought this modern technology to small communities.

There is much more to this lab than just 3D printers. Listen for all the details.

In This Episode

FYI: For the sake of experimentation and the spirit of transparency, this set of show notes alone was generated by the AI “Underlord” in the Descript editor we use to produce OEGlobal Voices.

Taking Digital Fabrication to Costa Rica: Inside Fab Lab Kä Träre (Space of Light)
In episode 96 of OE Global Voices, host Alan Levine interviews Luis Diego Gomez Quesada at Fab Lab Kä Träre (“space of light”) at UNED, Costa Rica’s distance learning university, a 2024 Open Education Award for Excellence winner celebrating 10 years. Gomez shares how he joined the lab as a digital animation student doing required community service, including a project to 3D model and print a frog for field research that helped reveal territorial behavior and supported funding. He explains the Fab Lab’s role in UNED’s investigation branch as an open, documented prototyping space that guides other university units, its outreach through social networks and partnerships, and projects focused on access—such as Arduino-based kits for students without computers and a Mobile Fab Lab truck that tours remote communities with 3D printers and laser cutters. The conversation highlights digital fabrication tools, design thinking workshops in Civic Centers for Peace, open publishing and non-commercial open designs like a DIY light box, and the lab’s nine-person interdisciplinary team.

• 00:00 Intro Music and Highlighted Quote
• 00:56 Podcast Introduction
• 02:17 Meet Luis Diego
• 03:02 Frog Model Origin Story
• 06:17 What the Fab Lab Does
• 08:21 Reaching New Projects
• 09:39 Name Space of Light
• 10:37 How the Lab Began
• 12:57 Tech Access for Students
• 15:39 Mobile Fab Lab Tour
• 19:39 Digital Fabrication Basics
• 22:12 How Printing Evolved
• 24:14 Creative Standout Projects
• 28:37 Design Thinking Workshops
• 31:37 Small Team Big Impact
• 33:38 Open Education and Light Box
• 36:43 Awards and Closing Chat
• 38:40 Podcast Wrap Up

(end of AI generated show notes)

Additional Links and Quotes for Episode 96

• Fab Lab Kä Träre (Universidad Estatal a Distancia, Costa Rica)
  • Projects
  • Team
  • Diana Hernández Montoya (Director Fab Lab Kä Träre)
  • UNED Investigations Branch
• Fab Labs (International Community)
• Ngöbe people (Wikipedia)
• Lizette Brenes (founder of Fab Lab Kä Träre, LinkedIn)
• Printrbot (Wikipedia)
• RepRap (3D printed 3D printer, Wikipedia)
• Inclusión digital project (Wifi access point project, Fab Lab Kä Träre)
  • Teléfonos públicos brindan Internet inalámbrico a pueblos (La Nación)
• Apoyos ante la pandemia (3D printed support during the pandemic, Fab Lab Kä Träre)
  • Fab Helmet: ventilación mecánica no invasiva para pacientes con COVID-19 (Repertorio Científico, UNED)
• Digital Lab Will Travel Around Costa Rica in 2018 (The Costa Rica News)
  • Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (Wikipedia)
• Física del Ballet (Ballet Physics project, Fab Lab Kä Träre)
• Laser Cutting (Wikipedia)
• CNC Machining Computer numerical control (Wikipedia)
• What is FDM (fused deposition modeling) 3D printing? (ProtoLabs Network)
• Resin Printing or Stereolithography (Wikipedia)
• Design Thinking (Fab Lab Kä Träre)
• Centros Cívicos por la Paz (Civic Centers for Peace)
• Laura Chinchilla (former President of Costa Rica, Wikipedia)
• Urgencias existenciales (Light Box project, Fab Lab Kä Träre)
• The Story Behind the OE Awards Trophy (OEGlobal)

Photos from the Fab Lab Kä Träre

All photos by Luis Diego Gómez Quesada shared under CC-BY

 One of the native peoples of Costa Rica is the Ngäbe people. When the Fab Lab started, we had, a cultural mediator from the  Ngäbe here, learning a little bit about digital fabrication. And we asked him for a name for our laboratory. And the name that was given to us was  Kä Träre.

It means space of light. And in their culture, they believe that light is knowledge and that it’s something that is meant to be shared with everyone. So it was perfect, for the vision and the mission of the Fab Lab.

Luis Diego Gómez Quesada

The open licensed music for this episode is a track called Make It by Synapsis shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.e. Like most of our podcast music, it was found at the Free Music Archive (see our full FMA playlist).

A photo of the Fab Lab Kä Träre location in San José, Costa Rica included as background in the featured image for this episode is San Jose Costa Rica Skyline, December 2023 a photo from Wikimedia Commons by Spicypepper999 dedicated into the public domain using Creative Commons CC0.