Wadman Enclosure and Nature

Thesis

   A makerspace is an area where creativity and collaboration are nurtured.  One important thing I took away from ADX was that a makerspace has limits in what it can provide to the community.  Rather than spreading itself thin trying to accommodate for every activity, the space should try to do a few complimentary activities really well.  The makerspace movement that has modestly started in certain areas of the country seems analogous to the Arts and Crafts movement a century ago.  People are once again re-evaluating whether our experience should really be so overwhelmed with poor quality manufactured goods.  People are not attempting to abandon every convenience, but including objects with some humanity in their lives.

Attachment Quality

As a public space, community approval is one of the foremost goals of a makerspace.  Being a place of quality production offers the chance for a very tactile connection to the surrounding homes and businesses.  With the culture of Portland, buying furniture or ceramics from a local makerspace entrepreneur would be quality and also be a great public relations point to advertise for a business.

Unfortunately this information is quite out-of-date (1996), but it’s important to consider the wealth of the community.  It would be great to find an up-to-date graphic like this.  What sort of membership fees will people be able and willing to pay?  The median income of Portland for 2008 to 2012 was $51,000.  Keeping upfront costs low may mean adding facilities over time.  In this way, the space can react to the community better, another lesson learned from ADX which added facilities over time.  Here is a link to more recent information, some of it related to wealth.

 http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/41/4159000.html

Nature and Enclosure

Often these two aspects compliment and affect each other.

This is generally how I made my measurements.