MakerSpace and Wood Shop

Launching in January 2018, the new Swarthmore MakerSpace & Wood Shop located on the ground floor of Beardsley Hall will act as a physical visual nexus for the MakerSpace Ecosystem and the Swarthmore Innovation Collaborative’s work.  Staffed by a newly hired Digital & Wood Shop Manager,  the space will represent an open and communal facility with resources for making, including tools for digital, mechanical, and manual fabrication.  Whether it is a student exploring Japanese joinery in a studio course, or a group of students building a solar powered speaker, the MakerSpace will be a testing ground for creative innovation.  The goal is that the space will generate more inter-disciplinary interaction on campus, particularly between Engineering and Art, but also from such departments as Theater, Computer Science, Biology, and Physics. In addition to curricular uses, we imagine significant interest from individual students,  faculty projects and community partnerships working on projects, as well as in attending regular workshops and training opportunities that will be offered in the space.