makerspace

noun

mak·​er·​space ˈmā-kər-ˌspās 

variants or less commonly maker space

plural makerspaces also maker spaces

: a communal public workshop in which makers (see maker sense e) can work on small personal projects

Something like this future is already present in the small but growing number of industrial shops called "makerspaces" that have popped up in the United States and around the world. The Columbus Idea Foundry is the country's largest such space, a cavernous converted shoe factory stocked with industrial-age machinery. Several hundred members pay a monthly fee to use its arsenal of machines to make gifts and jewelry; weld, finish, and paint; play with plasma cutters and work an angle grinder; or operate a lathe with a machinist.

—Derek Thompson

The maker space, which opened last year, houses equipment and tools like laser cutters, 3D printers, a woodworking shop and more for members to utilize to create or repair items.

—Colin Slark

Examples of makerspace in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The second floor houses an art room, makerspace, technology lab and ideas gallery. —Edward Keegan, Chicago Tribune, 22 Sep. 2024

Anybody associated with the team has access to programs like cybersecurity programming, an in-house media studio, technology makerspace and the volumetric capture scale — the only Sony powered publicly accessible studio in the U.S. that can create 3D capture for simulation purposes. —Lauren Ferrer, Sun Sentinel, 20 July 2024

Other services formerly available at Irvington, such as the tool collection, makerspace and 3-D printer will be relocated to other libraries. —Kyle Martin, The Mercury News, 17 July 2024

In Discovery World's makerspace, visitors can make and take home their own creations. —Amy Schwabe, Journal Sentinel, 17 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

maker + -space (in workspace "space for working, working memory on a computer")

First Known Use

2009, in the meaning defined above