Connected is another important word if it comes to DesignLab. Students, teachers, researchers, business owners. All of them can be and are connected through and in the lab.
Interact!
‘I first came here for a presentation and I liked the environment a lot, so afterwards I was here almost every day. And now I work here,’ smiles Jorge Papanikolaou, one of the members of the DreamTeam, as he walks around taking photos of one of the lectures currently taking place. ‘I chose to spend time here, because here you can really interact with people, get distracted and just play table tennis and then focus on your work.’
‘You can really easily interact with people from other studies here,’ agrees another DreamTeam member Jos Varvik, who now has some time to sit behind the main information desk, but already knows he will need to be on his feet soon, helping people to find and use the local facilities. ‘This is also the place where you can physically work on your projects and construct your prototype,’ he points to the workshop rooms, where you can find 3D printers or a laser cutter and other high-tech as well as low-tech equipment. ‘After a short training, everyone is free to use it,’ adds Varvik.
Right now, nobody seems to be 3D printing anything, but there are a plenty of people around, hard at work. RoboTeam is using the local floor space and cameras to test their robots; some people are sitting in groups, discussing various projects and drawing onto the borrowed whiteboards, while others are solitarily staring into their laptops. There aren’t many of those who are alone, though. ‘DesignLab is all about collaboration,’ explains Jos Varvik. ‘If you are here, you should be ready to give and receive feedback.’
‘Matchmaking’
DesignLab even serves as a ‘matchmaking agency’. ‘This is the place to connect with people from completely different areas – students, researchers, businesses, NGO’s, government organizations -, so you can bring your visions together, connect technology and society,’ says Flavia Carvalho de Souza, DesignLab’s First Line Support. ‘If you want to work on a project and need other people’s help, you can come here and put up a “collaboration flag” on your table, signaling you’d like some input. Or you can contact us and we will find the right people for you.’ And before this staff member runs off to check on several meetings downstairs, in a more private section of DesignLab, she adds: ‘In other buildings and labs, you get people mainly from one department or faculty. This is a neutral territory, everyone is welcome.’
Socializing is indeed one of the main things the lab has to offer. But there is a lot more. Education for one. Many courses and workshops are regularly organized in the various rooms of DesignLab. Whether it’s an interactive session in the Classroom of the Future, a lecture in the Ideate space or a short explanation given by a DreamTeam member, the universal language spoken here is English. ‘We didn’t expect it, but DesignLab became an international hub,’ says Miriam Iliohan, the lab’s Project Manager and co-founder. ‘It’s like a home away from home for internationals here at the UT.’ Simply, one space to connect them all.
You can read more stories about DesignLab in the special DesignLab Science2Design4Society
