The Iowa City Fab Lab has been Making Iowa City better for over a decade. As our community has grown, so have our needs. We have currently maxed out our available rental space at 8000 square feet. While it is packed with tools, machines, and cool people, we need more space! This is why we are raising money to purchase our own space in Iowa City!

We have it narrowed down to a few selections, and now we need to raise money for our down-payment. Purchasing our own building will give us more of everything; more tools, more space, more flexibility, and more control over what we do and how we do it! 

Our biggest innovation with the new space is the STEAM Learning Center. This will be a Youth Fab Lab, connected to but separate from the Iowa City Fab Lab. The STEAM Learning Center will house our popular summer camps, host classes and programming for kids as young as 7, have an after school program, weekend programming, Snow Day pop-up camps, and more. The most exciting new innovation will be our youth memberships! The STEAM Learning Center will allow memberships for kids as young as 13! A space designed for (and with) our youngest generation. We are planning to have everything the adult Fab Lab offers, but toned down a bit for safety. Woodshop, yes.. But without the bandsaw or planer. The STEAM Learning Center will have a classroom, study area, computer lab, woodshop, Fabric/craft area, ceramics, laser cutting, 3D printing, electronics/robotics, CNC machine, and more, as well as the staff to teach, maintain, and keep everything safe for everyone!

Don't think we have forgotten about the main Fab Lab. We will have everything the Fab Lab offers now, but more of it! We will also have the space for more! We plan on adding a photo development studio, jewelry studio, longarm quilting machine, Plasma CNC, waterjet cutter, welding, metal working, video/animation studio, recording studio, and hacker space, as well as more rentable studio spaces for artists and makers!

Our goal is to raise $400,000 by March. This will allow us to start the construction and changes needed to host Summer Camps in the new building! $400k is a lot of money, but we have a lot of support! So join us in creating this new, amazing space for Iowa City, and donate today to the Iowa City Fab Lab Building Fund!