NOVA Labs

Organization Background

Located in the somewhat crowded but very affluent northern Virginia community of Reston, sits the NOVA (northern Virginia) Labs’ community-based makerspace. The main makerspace is housed in a commercial brick building amongst a number of different businesses. A secondary space is dedicated to youth and their NOVA Labs educational robotics initiative. NOVA Labs started in 2011 with 14 founding members and opened the first physical location in 2012. The current site, which opened in 2014, has 10,500 ft² (976 m²) of space. At the time of the visit, an estimated 100 members were paying dues with 500 to 800 participants visiting per month. Approximately one-third of the space is used as an open work area and classroom space. The other portions of the space are studio areas and a few business incubator areas.

Once through the front doors, the space has a reception/check-in station where members can scan their RFID membership cards. Called the ‘Orange Bay’, the front space is open with tables and work areas as seen in Figure 1. Along the outside of the space are small project areas for project storage, crafter's guild, electronics station, kitchen area and a set of couches.

Figure 1.

The workroom area of NOVA Labs

Farther into the space is a classroom area partitioned off by glass doors. The classroom can accommodate up to 50 people and has dividers, allowing for the creation of smaller spaces. Fred Briggs, a NOVA Labs member, small business owner, and instructor in the space, noted that much of the equipment and even architectural elements of the space were not purchased but donated. Briggs stated:

Just in front of the classroom space is a small dedicated 3D print area that was made by members of the space, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

The 3D print area

A long hallway leads deeper into the area, past incubator spaces and workshops. The space is purposefully closed off from visitors and the classroom as a way to ensure safety and enforce that members are trained prior to entering the workshops.

The incubator spaces are available to rent for Key members when available. As explained by Marybeth Haneline, the current president of NOVA Labs, the incubators are small businesses that Nova Labs is helping to get started. Small Batch Assembly is one such space, which is operated by Bob Coggeshall. According to Haneline, he's called SudoBob and he's a bit of a legend, because he co-developed the Unix SUDO program. Coggeshall runs Small Batch Assembly, which creates custom circuit boards.

Specific workshops include the digital fabrication lab, woodshop, and metal shop. The digital fabrication shop is a restricted access area, and members must be trained on the equipment to enter the room. It contains a 100 watt laser cutter along with an interesting piece of equipment called a thermoformer. Haneline commented that one of the more popular projects is creating products using molds. Members make molds using either the 3D printer, laser cutter, or CNC router (Computer Numerical Control) to create the molds. As shown in Figure 3, the thermoformer heats plastic to a temperature that allows material to easily be formed into a specific shape by being placed in a mold.

Figure 3.

The thermoformer