I wasn’t aware that anyone was disappointed in a ping pong table that gets used on a daily basis.
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Oh I’ve read it, I just don’t quite see the disappointment. Classes may not be happening, but the table is certainly being used frequently. Funds were donated directly for the purpose of buying the table. It’s not like if it weren’t for table tennis we’d somehow have a state of the art computer lab classroom in the pillar room now.
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The 3d fab room is way too small for the popularity that it has. Perhaps Pillar or Fortress would be better allocated to being a new and improved 3d fab lab.
I don’t remember the square footage but what about moving both arts and 3d
fab into the room and using something like a temporary divider to separate
the spaces? I seem to remember that the room is pretty large but I don’t
know if that would actually be an upgrade if they both were there.
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That would be a lateral change; the combined spaces currently have 658 s.f., versus 660 s.f. in the pillar room. You’d probably lose the extra footage in the wall.
My opinion, move 3d to fab move fab to the fortress. Fab would have more
room for tables, printers, and other stuff. Take part of hands on and make
it a computer lab or use part of the fortress fab as a computer lab.
Tables always could be moved at the exit room for big events.
??? 3D Fab is one entity.
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Do you mean arts, not fab?
Did we establish what committee is running the pillar room? (Would assume classroom, but do they want it?) It sounds like there will have to be a board meeting agenda item to vote on shuffling arts into pillar, someone want to get @Haley_Moore to agree and write up a problem / solution formatted agenda item and post it under new business?
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About a month ago I discussed with arts and 3d fab about splitting the pillar room, but if I remember correctly arts would rather trade/shuffle with electronics. Electronics likes their room as is, so I didn’t push the issue.
My initial idea was to move 3d fab and arts to the pillar room, and move electronics to the arts room. We could then use the former electronics room as a classroom (its larger than our old Monroe classroom) and use the former 3d fab as a meeting or small classroom. This would increase the usable space for 3d and arts while maintaining 3 decent size classrooms.
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What’s the square footage of each room? We are finally getting electronics in shape but the relationship of the benches has people sitting on top of each other. Let me work up a floorplan w/ benches and we may be interested.
I kinda of concerned about the temp in Arts & 3D Fab this summer.
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I don’t think you understand how 501©(3) works… we’re an educational establishment. We have to be able to justify EVERYTHING to the IRS. A ping-pong table that has had NO classes will be a problem.
The floor plan has the square footage of each room in the Space:
I tried to link directly to it earlier, but, for some reason, the link won’t work:
Here’s the PDF:
I’m not sure if there have been any formal classes, but I see people teaching other people ping pong nearly every week.
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The rooms are roughly the same sq ft. but I was interested if the slightly longer main walls would fit the electronics benches better. Not sure that it would be worth the effort but wanted to have an open mind about a possible re-arrangement based on need.
3D Fab is definitely needing more space but not sure a 3 room shuffle is the solution.
Our challenge is that we have too many similar sized rooms and a couple that are not utilized as best they could. The AV room (15) is too small for it’s purpose and the conference room (14) next to it is used infrequently.
I would combine rooms 2 & 3 for 3D Fab. Make the pillar room (21) Creative Arts. And combine rooms 14 & 15 for AV and meeting room.
The above would on require taking down 2 walls.
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I want to clarify that the floor plan I linked actually has the room dimensions, from which one can calculate the square footage of each room.
Also, though the heat from the sunlight seems oppressive to me, one advantage the current A&C room has is lots of sunlight. I think that bright sunlight might benefit people who are trying to sew or work on small items. A possible way of dealing with the heat would be heat-reflecting film or shades that are transparent to visible light. I think someone has discussed this with the landlord, but nothing came of it.
The heat shouldn’t be that bad, at least I don’t recall it being a problem when we first moved in. We had the A/C on heat only up until about 2 weeks ago, so if it was before that time the A/C wasn’t cooling at all.
My 2c: Let’s focus upon room utilization and move beyond the ping pong issue. No DMS funds were used to acquire the ping pong table. It was purchased by approximately 20 or so members who contributed their own money. I rarely (if ever) play ping pong but nevertheless contributed $50 towards its acquisition because it gets Makers on their feet and moving around which is good for getting the creative juices flowing. It is also a good opportunity for making connections with others. The table is not a permanent fixture and folds up and away when not in use. As far as the “class” aspect is concerned, it seems this is being fulfilled as a one-on-one opportunity. i.e. Learning by doing. Several non-ping-pongers have subsequently become ping-pongers. If it is only a matter of scheduling a formal event to call it a class… perhaps a monthly “ping pong night” should be established and call it done. Though honestly it seems better suited taking a lower profile as-is.
I don’t believe we need urination classes to use the bathrooms nor vaping classes to teach people how to inhale correctly but these are things which people do in the course of living their lives at DMS. A certain aspect of recreation is necessary and present on every university campus across the country. I respect what Robert is doing by aligning our ambitions with IRS requirements and ensuring we don’t break the rules (among many other tasks)… which is why I am going to vote for his continued presence on the board. But really… let’s drop the ping pong issue. Many of our members pooled their resources to create this amenity and use it often. It folds away when not in use and classes always take first priority.
So… back to pillar room business at hand. I always thought it would be nice to have all of the print devices in one room: wide format, vinyl cutter, 3D printers. Which indeed lends itself to arty/3D endeavors going on in there. If it was designated as a computer lab, the pillar blocks visibility to some degree and would restrict access to the amenities inside during those classes. Would the current arts room suffice? If the whole room was turned 90 degrees it would be possible to sit 3 or 4 abreast with a presenter at one end of the room without obstruction.
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I enjoy using the Lecture Hall in general, but the noise from the surrounding areas is a problem. Sometimes, it even drowns out my own voice, and it always competes when I’m recording. This is also a problem in the Pillar Room. The Film group Meetup in the Pillar Room had to re-record several times when they were trying to shoot video profiles, every time someone went through the Woodshop door. The two solutions that I see possible are either to improve the sound deadening in the rooms, or get rooms that are farther away (such as the current A&C Room).
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