Makerspace Benefits: The Power of a Well-Designed Makerspace
Many of us at studioTECHNE|architects are experiential learners. In fact, the word ‘techne’ means ‘the art of making’. We specialize in designing makerspaces and fabrication labs.
Table of Contents:
Makerspace Benefits in a Learning Environment
The think[box] Makerspace
Start a Makerspace with studioTechne
Makerspace Benefits in a Learning Environment
A student reads about electrical circuits, that’s great … but to design one, print one and see it work? - that’s when the magic happens, that is when learning happens. 3D Printing in a maker’s lab allows for experiential learning, problem-solving, and collaboration. A makerspace’s benefits include creating a learning environment that engages multiple learning styles in students and individuals and encourages incidental interactions among interdisciplinary groups. On a college campus, the makerspace benefits mean places and opportunities that unite the engineering departments and connect many other disciplines including art, music, and Biomed (to name a few).
The common thread within an engineering school, among all specialties, is a shared thought process. Often, you know they’re engineers because they like to experiment. The thought, ‘Cool, let’s try something new’ permeates the air.
When confined to a classroom, it's challenging for students to get beyond their own discipline or concerns. A makerspace benefits students by creating the opportunity to perceive a project holistically, rather than looking at it from the more usual micro level. It's a lab for bringing together the design, production and testing phases - a place for making of meaningful artifacts.
The think[box] Makerspace
We are seeing this pedagogy in action at studioTECHNE’s in-progress project, ‘think[box]’ at Case Western Reserve University. The concept is similar to a makerspace, but perhaps with more emphasis on applications. We began collaborating with CWRU in 2009 to design an ecosystem to support interdisciplinary engineering projects.
Anyone can walk in. think[box] is the only Maker Lab in the U.S. free and open to the public. As a result, its community of users are entrepreneurs, generating new products and businesses. Unlike other universities that own a percentage of the intellectual property of each invention produced on campus, the inventors at think[box] are free to market their products independently. think[box] provides a locus for the maker movement, a spirited place focused on making, inventing, and creating.
Start a Makerspace with studioTechne
Engineering professors ponder reasons to welcome a makerspace on campus.
Many schools struggle when their faculty undertake the design for makerspaces internally, without the help of an experienced architect.
Once you have explored the makerspace’s benefits and decided that a makerspace is right for you, there are 5 questions that will shape design and implementation that must be answered.
Why are you investing in a makerspace?
What need will having a maker space solve?
How will a makerspace integrate into your curriculum?
What skills do you expect the students to gain?
What machines + activities support answers to the first four questions?
At studioTECHNE, we find elegantly simple solutions to complex problems; every day we bash, build and make something beautiful. Contact us now and learn about makerspace benefits and the power of a well-designed makerspace!
