Fabville Design Lab
Fabville is a fabrication space within the new Somerville High School in Somerville, MA aiming to complement the collection of professional, semi-professional, and artist-focused spaces already available in and around Somerville. During the day FabVille is used by SHS students as a classroom for engineering students, and as a destination for other class projects. After school FabVille transitions into a community space granting access to all residents, and encouraging them to learn about and use all the technology that is available. Access to FabVille is free to community members during open hours, making it unique in New England.
With a focus on education, design, and entrepreneurship, the Somerville Fab Lab is focused on engaging people in the creative process of design and prototyping, using its tools and resources to support, rather than drive, that creative process. This means, unlike many such spaces, we are not focusing on supporting small businesses or simply providing tools for small-scale manufacturing but instead on making available a design and entrepreneurial mindset and approach which can be meaningfully engaged with computation and fabrication equipment.