KTH Central Makerspace – Implementation
The project involves establishing a central makerspace to help unify the existing valuable – but fragmented – makerspaces, provide clear access and support, and create a coherent, visible and welcoming community hub for KTH's culture of making across the university and in external collaborations.
Project context
KTH's existing makerspaces are valuable but fragmented. KTH has many physical, digital and mixed/hybrid experimental environments; ranging from small spaces dedicated to research, via more traditional lab environments, to large creative experimental hubs. However, many primarily support education within specific courses or programmes. Each operates largely within its own school or department.
The compelling work taking place across these spaces is rarely showcased, and access barriers may be high, especially for outside curriculum activities. Students and teachers often struggle to know what facilities exist and how to access them.
KTH lacks a clearly identifiable central makerspace to create a coherent, visible presence for KTH's culture of making across the university and in external collaborations. Such a central makerspace can act as a visible and welcoming community hub.
Each school makerspace develops its own profile adapted to the school’s areas of research and education. A central makerspace could therefore focus on cross-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary making. Additionally, as a central hub, the central makerspace can help introduce new makers to the practices and methodologies in makerspaces. A potential area is a living lab for sustainability, where sustainability and inclusion are designed in from day one rather than retrofitted. A central makerspace could also facilitate cooperation and sharing of resources and best-practices within the network.
Such a central space has the opportunity to provide support to the specialised makerspaces at the schools. Examples of such support could be teacher training courses and workshops, joint communication to students, or a shared booking system. An inventory of the schools’ desires and needs as to support should be performed and a largest common denominator identified (done in project 2608-KTH *).
* This project can be regarded as the continuation of Strategic direction for experimental environments (makerspaces) at KTH (2408-KTH) and is as such strongly interconnected with the project KTH Makerspace Network – establishment and cooperation (2608-KTH) .
Purpose (outcome)
The purpose of the project is to create a central makerspace at the KTH Library (KTHB) to help:
- increase the visibility of, and support to, the specialised makerspaces adapted to the schools’ areas of research and education;
- provide the shared infrastructure needed to support access to high-quality, project-based learning at KTH.
The impact goals are:
- Increased visibility, showcasing the specialised makerspaces and their work
- Easier to know of and locate KTH’s makerspaces for users (students, teachers, researchers etc)
- Reduced redundancy (reduced burden) for specialised makerspaces to each implement shared / subject matter-independent making activities
- Reduced redundancy (reduced burden) for specialised makerspaces to each implement basic support services (exactly which these are will be defined via an inventory done in project 2608-KTH .
Project results (output)
The project will deliver the following concrete results:
- Strategic concept for the what and the how of the central makerspace (the five pillar concept)
- A physically implemented central makerspace: location, core equipment and digital infrastructure, key staff, etc.
- Central makerspace function:
- firstly focusing on shared/general (subject matter-independent) making such as a Living lab for sustainability. Models/routines developed for the central makerspace will be freely shared as base for adaptation by all specialised makerspaces.
- secondly, since machinery does not require the highest level of security training, the central makerspace can act as a basic training ground (low bar to enter) for users.
- thirdly, the central makerspace is a resource for teacher training, integrating maker elements into their courses;
- User onboarding package (introduction and training to any type of user; students, teachers, researchers etc)
- Teacher training package and pedagogical support for including hands-on project-based work which takes full advantage of the makerspaces into existing courses.
- Formalised partnerships with KTH Innovation, industry, municipalities, and cultural organisations.
Time plan
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2027-01-01
Projektdokumentation
If you have a KTH ID, you can read the documents when logged in:
- Poster (English): Poster_FrU26vt_2525-KTH_CentralMakermiljö.pdf
- Project directive (mainly English): Projektdirektiv_FrU25_2525-KTH_Central-makermiljo.pdf