Ideal Kwartzlab
We were asked to provide this wish list to local funding organizations as a starting point for discussions.
Kwartzlab is currently 3000 sq.ft. I think ideally we'd like to be a bit bigger, particularly as we grow membership and acquire more tools. Members need secure, 24 hour access to the space.
Ideally we have a shop floor with concrete floors, garage door access, dust collection, proper ventilation, electrical for welding and heavy equipment and a sink for washing up. The shop would be physically separated from the rest of the space to cut down in dust and noise.
We'd love to have a full kitchen attached to the lounge. Not to mention accessible bathrooms with hot water.
Our main workroom currently doubles as presentation and socializing space. That has pluses and minuses, but it might be good to have a separate presentation area. Potentially, that's something we could share with other groups, along with the kitchen, lounge and bathrooms.
The workroom, the heart of the lab, would be well laid out for workshops and tutorials, which can be reconfigured for different activities. There'd be stations for soldering, sewing, and working with other specialized tools not suited for the shop, like the vinyl cutter.
Finally, some members have expressed interest in having access to a semi-private "back yard" area where we could do things that we really shouldn't be doing indoors. Like firing off rockets (even if they're just the compressed air or water kinds). Parking for members and for events is important as well.
All that's probably getting up into the 5-10k sq.ft range. Possibly more if we're talking about driving a car into the shop.
