MADE Makerspace Barcelona

Organization Background

At the time of the author’s visit, MADE Makerspace was located in the second floor of the repurposed Lehmann Factory building in the central L’Eixample neighborhood in Barcelona, Spain. The space occupied 187 square meters (2,013 ft²) in a multi-use building that showed preliminary signs of dilapidation, with crumbling walls and floors in need of repair. Approaching the space from the street there is a tunnel running under the building leading into an open plaza surrounded by a block of mixed two and three-story buildings. A tall smokestack on one side of the courtyard provides a peek into the industrial past of the site. As shown in Figure 1, the front of the space was a simple door with MADE across the top and a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader and no windows. Since the visit to MADE in February of 2017, MADE Makerspace has moved to a new bigger location in the Sants district of Barcelona. Will Blevins, a scientist and maker from Rochester, New York, provided a tour and spoke about the space. Blevins is a current doctoral student in evolutionary genomics at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Blevins has been a member of the space for many years; he freely admits he has many (up to 12) on-going projects in the space. Blevins noted that at the time of the visit, MADE was looking for a new space because the current landlord had significantly raised the rent — the membership felt it was too steep of an increase to stay.

Figure 1.

Front of MADE Barcelona

Entering from the main door there is a larger space occupied by desks and shelves, with all manner of electronics and computer parts occupying the nooks and crannies. In the main hallway members have created a touchscreen arcade/greeting kiosk. This kiosk allows members and visitors to look up current projects and members of the space. Just about every inch of wall in the MADE Makerspace is occupied either by a maker project or piece of equipment as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

MADE main area

Off the crowded main area is a small woodworking studio with a table saw and a belt sander, and a myriad of other woodworking tools. As shown in Figure 3, being surrounded by residences requires some modifications of how and when members can use the equipment; in this case, the woodshop is closed down at seven in the evening to accommodate residents living nearby.

Figure 3.

Woodshop notice

Moving further into the space there is a storage area with all manner of electronics and materials, including used printer and computer parts. A small office is located between the storage area and the back room; this office is available to members for an additional membership fee. The back room is another crowded area with desks and shelves surrounding the walls. Here members can set up and rent a space and bring in their making equipment and supplies. Exiting from the back room there is a long hall that leads back to the entry and main space. Figure 4 is an image of a member project in the main hallway.

Figure 4.

Member project

The overall equipment list is provided in Table 1.