Fabrication Workshop Designer

We’re Powderhouse, a small, educational research and design group in Somerville. We’re creating a tuition-free, independent high school, and as part of that work, we’re looking to refresh our workshop in Davis Square, Somerville.

That space is ~1,800 square feet split across two floors. We have experience with design and fabrication (and educational programming), and are looking for some support re-designing and re-equipping our space during summer 2023.

We’re looking for someone who can take lead on equipping, designing, and organizing the parts of our workshop devoted to fabrication, electronics, arts & crafts, and similar, and give input on how we setup the rest of the space insofar as they relate to design and fabrication.

We’ll work with you to:

• Agree on a rough layout of the space,
• Agree on a bill of materials (including new equipment, supplies, etc.),
• Source and purchase the equipment.

Your job will be to:

• Help us develop the layout and full bill of materials (including organizational equipment and systems),
• Receive and set up equipment,
• Help us to lightly document the tools that require a bit more introduction (this can involve just sourcing YouTube videos, or it can mean making the documentation yourself),
• And re-organize our supplies and set up shelving and other organizational tools to help us keep things supplied and organized.

• You have significant experience designing and making things,
• You have strong opinions about how to organize and set things up for ease of use,
• You are very organized and detail-oriented,
• And of course, you are reliable, easy to collaborate with, and all that other stuff that makes projects go smoothly.

We’re looking to finish this project by mid-August. This means we’d like to finalize layouts, design, and tool/material ordering by mid- or late July and then set up the space in late July or early August, with the whole job being complete no later than August 10th.

Our current expectation is that design, sourcing, and documentation will take 20–30 hours of work, and setting up and organizing the space will take another 30–40 hours of work. This does not need to be done all at once, but could be. We will be around to provide support with research, moving, and whatever else, but are asking you to take the lead.

Currently, we expect the entire job will take 50–70 hours. We’re prepared to pay $1,800 (half up-front, half upon completion), and if the total time invested exceeds 80 hours, after discussing the scope remaining, we will pay$25/h to finish the job.

Additionally, if you’re interested, we can offer free access to the workshop for your own personal projects after 5PM and on weekends, subject to our scheduling of educational programming, community events, and similar.

If you refer us to someone we end up hiring, we’ll pay a $250 referral fee.

If you’re interested in this role or have any questions, please email us at jobs@powderhouse.org or text us at 617.616.8653 with a description of your experience designing and building and a suggestion of when we might be able to meet to chat about the role more.