1100: Designing for Makerspaces
As education evolves, so do schools and their facilities. In primary education, makerspaces bring together science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) to encourage a creative, hands-on approach to learning. Modular furniture, moveable partitions, and natural daylight all result in more flexible and dynamic solutions.
These spaces enable students to explore, experiment, and acquire new skills in technology and fabrication, fostering a sense of curiosity and innovation that they’ll carry throughout their education. The multidisciplinary approach to learning also ensures students feel welcome and capable of engaging in these academic explorations.
Today’s makerspaces respond to a variety of needs that go beyond reading and listening. Here’s how the design of makerspaces transforms organizations and helps students apply what they’ve learned both inside and outside the classroom.
The 21st Century Makerspace
At the Berkeley Carroll School, an independent school in Brooklyn, New York, the school’s evolving curriculum and growing enrollment required a new STEAM facility. Natural daylight fills the robotics lab, makerspace, and fabrication shop. Sharing a staircase with the library allows students to conduct research with primary and online sources to inform their assignments in the makerspace. The result is an inviting space that allows students to collaborate across disciplines and develop problem-solving skills.
Transparent and Modular
For Germantown Academy, a private preK-12 school in Pennsylvania, the Beard Center for Innovation offers students and faculty a flexible learning space comprised of two areas: an Innovation Lab and a Makerspace. Moveable partitions, custom-designed by 1100 Architect, allow multiple configurations to accommodate individual study, small group collaboration, and larger events such as lectures and robotics competitions. By stressing transparency, the design creates spaces that visually communicate with one another and provoke curiosity.
Transformative Adjacencies
The renovation of the library at the Brooklyn Friends School modernized the previous space into a naturally lit and open environment that supported both collaborative study and individual inquiry. The makerspace is equipped with 3D printers, computers, and other materials for hands-on learning. The updated layout features separate areas for the Lower and Middle Schools, divided into a classroom with sliding glass doors and modular furniture that allow the entire space to be easily reconfigured into one large room.