Larissa KT

• Project: Imperial College Advacnced Hackspace (ICAH)
• Role: Hackspace Manager, Human Centred Designer, Producer
• Sponsor: EPSRC, Imperial College London
• Team: In House
• Credits: Aran Dasan, Audrey Gaulard, Mirna McTighe, Eifion Nightingale, Aksat Shah

Objective:

In January 2014 I was approached to set up a making space at Imperial College London. Not just any space, but one where people could create their ideas. It was funded as part of an Impact Grant from the EPSRC. With a limited budget and a three year timeline an impact generating community needed to be built.

In three years we achieved the following:

	Jan 2014	Jan 2015	Jan 2016	Aug 2016
Members	0	300	1500	3000+
Spaces	0	1 wall of a room in Design Engineering with a bench and 3D printers. Access to ICRobotics Lab.	Hub and spoke model. With main space in Design Engineering, and access to making in ICRobotics, IDEAs Lab, BioEngineering, and Chemical Engineering	Dedicated 400sqm facility in White City+ Hub and spoke model
Facilities	0	3D printing, Laser cutting, Electronics Lab	3D Printing, Laser Cutting, Hand tools, Machine workshop, Electronics Lab	3D Printing, Laser Cutting, Hand tools, Machine workshop, Electronics Lab, Synthetic Biology Lab, Welding, CNC Routing and Milling
Hackathons	0	2	5	6
Team	2	4	6	8

Understand:

We started out by mapping out the whole stakeholder landscape of the university and which of the groups would be complimentary to this type of initiative. As the hackspace was about breaking down the natural silos that occur within this kind of institution, it was important to introduce opportunities for different university members to mingle, collaborate and have a space to experiment.

Imagine

We designed opportunities for connection, starting with a hackathon. This would identify members of the community which were already interested in making. We would then go on to provide the facilities for making, and the opportunities to grow the community.

Hackathons

Making Spaces

Fellowships