A Delivery Van–Turned–Mobile Classroom for Kids Hits the Streets of Chicago

Chicago Mobile Makers converts a USPS van into a roving "makerspace" for young people to learn new design skills.

Jun 26, 2020 - 23:17
A Delivery Van–Turned–Mobile Classroom for Kids Hits the Streets of Chicago

Chicago Mobile Makers converts a USPS van into a roving "makerspace" for young people to learn new design skills.

Decked out as a sustainable studio, Mobile Makerspace is a roving design workshop serving up coursework to young people across Chicago. The organization’s mission is to empower youth through skill-building, nurturing a more socially, economically, and racially diverse generation of architects and designers.

Since 2017, nonprofit organization Chicago Mobile Makers has offered free and low-cost design programming to young people, teaching architecture, fabrication, and construction in partnership with museums and local institutions. Now, that programming is being delivered straight to Chicago neighborhoods from the back of a cleverly redesigned USPS van. 

Decked out as a sustainable studio, Mobile Makerspace is a roving design workshop serving up coursework to young people across Chicago. The organization’s mission is to empower youth through skill-building, nurturing a more socially, economically, and racially diverse generation of architects and designers.

Decked out as a sustainable studio, Mobile Makerspace is a roving design workshop serving up coursework to young people across Chicago. The organization’s mission is to empower youth through skill-building, nurturing a more socially, economically, and racially diverse generation of architects and designers.

Photo by Tom Harris

Mobile Makerspace is a 108-square-foot classroom, gallery, tool shed, and design studio-on-wheels. Four rooftop solar panels provide ample renewable energy to power tools, laptops, and even larger machinery like a laser cutter and 3D printer. A hinged door at the van’s rear swings open for classes to spill out onto neighborhood sidewalks and streets. 

"The idea is that we won’t need students to come to us, because that creates another barrier," says architect and Chicago Mobile Makers founder Maya Bird-Murphy, who dreamed up the truck’s concept five years back while still a graduate student. "If we bring learning to them, it makes it very accessible."  

The hinged door, which doubles as a whiteboard to sketch up ideas, opens to the street and sidewalks.

The hinged door, which doubles as a whiteboard to sketch up ideas, opens to the street and sidewalks. 

Photo by Tom Harris

Tail lights and a safety handle recall Mobile Makerspace’s previous life as a mail truck. The interiors are fitted for a range of design coursework.

Tail lights and a safety handle recall Mobile Makerspace’s previous life as a mail truck. The interiors are fitted for a range of design coursework. 

Photo by Tom Harris

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