In the surprisingly austere and historical environment of Université Laval’s Faculty of Architecture, we discovered the premises of the Fab Lab ÉAUL. In the company of Julie Simoneau, weaving and ceramics teacher at Maison des Métiers d’art de Québec and Samuel Fournier-Lavigne, teacher in charge of the Fab Lab, the ideas were bouncing around!

What becomes possible when Canada’s Fab Labs and their ecosystem act as a collective inter-structure?

• Co-develop hand spinner derivatives and creative activities with young people.
• Boost the potential through the meeting of the minds: all sorts of projects can take place! Opening minds and experimentations, for example, between textile and architecture.
• Access to Fab Labs helps us learn about new possibilities and to imagine new ones.
• Make frontiers permeable (regional, provincial, international… organizational!)
• In design, share the importance to forget about the standard functions of an object, to consider instead the possibilities it holds.
• Invest in human relations to help motivate, network and unite.
• Achieve what teachers wish to transform in their schools that is impossible without the use of laboratory to prototype these ideas and new processes.
• Bring fields together and share experimentation between them; the Lab becomes a common territory.
• The inter-structure can help “forcing” meetings between people. Facilitating exchanges.
• If we simply look at the idea of sharing the tools’ instructions manuals, we can free time that can be used elsewhere, like invite others, reach out to them…
• The creation of collective tools that become our common goods, collective wealth.
• Promote Fab Labs and multi-Fab Labs residencies.
• To express more easily our wishes for the Fab Labs, because talking about can make known their importance and invite co-creative input.

We will pursue our Canadian travels with this central question. Who do you suggest we meet with?

• Winnipeg’s School of architecture: Cast, a research group works on textile casings with concrete and a textile that can freeze with just one watering.
• New school of architecture in Sudbury (Laurentien College and University)
• Mega Fab Lab at the faculty of architecture at Toronto University
• Power Plant – HarbourFront Centre’s diffusion platform

Thank you Julie and Samuel!!