Social
Spaces

Yesterday I visited FabLab Zuid-Limburg: a new fabrication laboratory at the heart of Maastricht (NL). Coincidentally, it opened its doors for the public that same day! Founded by stichting OpenWijs.nl, Maastricht University, Continium and Huiswerk Architecten, FabLab Zuid-Limburg focuses on the entire region of Dutch-Limburg. FabLab Zuid-Limburg is open to everyone: if you are interested you can visit the Lab and test out its two lasercutters, the 3D-printers such as the “RepRap” and the “Ultimaker”, the 3D-scanners, the vinyl-cutters and the milling machines (for a complete list of the machines at FabLab Zuid-limburg, click here). They also organize several workshops and trainings for (potential) visitors to become acquainted with (the machines in) the FabLab: for example, you can participate in a workshop on how to make your own 3D-printer or in a training on Google Sketchup.

You can visit the FabLab at Hoenderstraat 3 
in Maastricht (NL). For more information, check its website http://fablabzuidlimburg.nl/.

On http://www.fablab.nl, I have found an interesting article on a mobile fablab, developed by Jaap Vermaas. The Dutch FabLab Truck makes it possible to give a demonstration of the possibilities digital fabrication offers outside of the setting of a traditional FabLab. It especially visits festivals, schools and workshops and can be set up for special occasions.

The truck drives around a Makerbot 3D printer, a laser cutter, a vinyl cutter and the FabLab video conferencing system. A RepRap 3D printer and a CNC milling machine are likely to be added to the equipment soon. It is designed in such a way that the equipment won’t be damaged during the transportation (it doesn’t take long for the machines to start up after arriving to its destination either!). It can be used autonomously, since it has its own electric power supply and internet connection.

From August 4th until August 6th 2010, the FabLab Truck was invited by the Hamburg FabLab to visit them in Germany. The visitors could participate in different workshops and see for themselves what a FabLab can be. In this video, the people of the Hamburg FabLab introduce themselves and the truck:

For more information on the FabLab Truck, see: http://fablabtruck.nl/

I recently discovered a website “where the future is being made today!” On www.fablab.nl, a Dutch website, you can find about anything on Fablabs (short for Fabrication or Fabulous Laboratory): it features interesting articles, shows Fablab initiatives in the Netherlands and beyond, offers an overview of machines you should definitely put in your own Fablab and directs you towards numerous audio- and videoclips. You can even e-mail the developers of the website if you need andy help, advise or support with setting up your own Fablab!

While you’re visiting this website, you should definetely check out the audioclip “The Making of a Personal Lab”: in the clip, dating from 2005, Neil Gershenfeld of MIT (the ‘founder’ of the Fablab) talks about a manufacturing-revolution in which “existing technologies and tools bring capabilities once held by huge facturies dowon to the personal level”. You can check the clip here.

As described in the post “Mapping the Euregional fablab: a report”, Social Spaces did two mapping sessions at the i_beta festival in Heerlen, the Netherlands on Friday June 18th 2010. Here, we designed a Euregional fablab. The videos of the two presentations (in which the participants of both the sessions presented their maps) are now online!

Creating spaces: Euregional fablab from Social Spaces on Vimeo.

Creating spaces: Euregional fablab from Social Spaces on Vimeo.

On Friday 11th of June the research group Social Spaces was invited to organize two mapping sessions at the i_beta festival in Heerlen, the Netherlands. This festival revolved around innovation and new trends in the world of e-culture and creative economy. Organized by Social Beta – centre for e-culture, the i_beta festival focused especially on the challenges the Meuse-Rhine Euregion faces today and on the role e-culture can play in solving these problems. During the two mapping sessions the participants, all coming from various disciplines, designed a Euregional fablab. They discussed how they would imagine a(n) (e-culture) fablab in the Meuse-Rhine Euregion and what key values it would represent.