Pharos
Winter and Spring Quarter, 2017
Advisor: Margarida Yin
First Place in Best of Show Competition, March, 2017.
Advisor: Margarida Yin
First Place in Best of Show Competition, March, 2017.
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Pharos aims to serve as a beacon for creativity and creation in the heart of the dynamic city of Chicago. The Innovation Base will be an access point for tools, technology and resources for a variety of different groups. It’s a Makerspace at the scale of a city. The goal of the base is to provide creative opportunities for groups that may not have access to creative tools.
The workshops in the center provide for a variety of different needs. Open shop space includes woodworking tools like saws, planers, sanding equipment and workspace. The shop also includes a separated metal factory with plenty of space for welding large or small scale projects. The lab spaces include a material research facility, a computer lab equipped with several soft wares, a plastics lab, and electronics research facility. The next workshop space is the Makerspace. It includes a variety of different tools for computer aided design and CNC milling. The tools include 3D printers, 3D milling machines and laser cutting machines. Large studios allow for collaborative thinking and efficient workflow.
An auditorium located in the center of the building allows for learning to take place at all hours of the day. Leading design speakers can come to the center to share their ideas and inspire new ways of thinking. The center is essentially an incubator for young ideas and developing products. Not only can the base serve as a facility of making, but it can also serve a purpose of teaching. Several classrooms are located throughout the base to allow for older members to teach tutorials to new members who might be just starting out. The beacons are like miniature exposition spaces that shine out to the community like a lighthouse for creatives trying to find their way.
