New prototyping workshop opens at IdeaSquare

IdeaSquare, the innovation space at CERN, has created a new workshop for the CERN community and visiting students. Named 'The Forge', the workshop is designed to support rapid prototyping from idea to iteration, and opened for bookings at the start of this year.

Constructed with assistance from the Site and Civil Engineering (SCE) Department, the new workshop brings the former 3D Printer Studio and two containers together to create one collaborative space. Featuring a large central worktable for ambitious builds and a modular peg wall for flexible set-ups, it offers the space and tools needed for experimental and inventive work. With easily accessible 3D printers and interactive smartboards, users can quickly build and experiment with prototypes.

"We started the process about a year ago when I was a visiting student here at IdeaSquare," said Nick Lindsay, designer of the workshop. "It was missing a larger area to work together, which was limiting for visiting student groups."

Most of these groups are made up of master's students from a variety of different disciplines participating in the IdeaSquare Planet programme. This programme asks them to imagine what problems a new society started from scratch on an exoplanet would encounter, before applying their solutions to real-world scenarios.

"IdeaSquare's educational programmes offer students a unique opportunity to work alongside CERN scientists and engineers, an experience 'The Forge' is designed to better facilitate," explained Dina Zimmerman, Prototyping Facilitator at IdeaSquare.

The new workshop will also better serve the CERN community, who have benefitted from the free prototyping spaces provided by IdeaSquare since 2014. Over 200 CERN personnel from across the Organization use its spaces every year to learn about design-driven methodologies, take part in prototyping workshops and create or test prototypes for their experiments. Examples of prototypes designed there include elements for a Barrel Timing Layer for the High-Luminosity upgrade of the LHC, a Stirling cryo-cooler and a 3D-printed polystyrene-based plastic scintillator for the FASER experiment. Members of the CERN community can sign up for training on the use of the prototyping facilities or machines before booking a slot in the prototyping calendar.

To discover more projects and prototypes developed by members of the CERN community at IdeaSquare, come along to the "Prototyping at CERN" event on 15 April.