What is Fabville?

Fabville is a fabrication space located within the new Somerville High School in Somerville, MA. Its mission is to complement the collection of professional, semi-professional, and artist-focused spaces already available in and around Somerville. During the day, FabVille is used by SHS students as a classroom for engineering students and as a destination for other class projects. In the afternoons, FabVille transitions into a community space managed by Artisans Asylum, where all are welcome to come and learn about and use all available technology free of charge. This makes it a unique space in New England.

The Somerville Fab Lab strongly focuses on education, design, and entrepreneurship. Its goal is to engage people in the creative process of design and prototyping, using the available tools and resources to support the creative process. Unlike many similar spaces, the Somerville Fab Lab is not simply focused on supporting small businesses or providing tools for small-scale manufacturing. Instead, it provides a design, entrepreneurial mindset, and approach that can be meaningfully engaged with computation and fabrication equipment.

FabVille Open Shop Schedule:

Tuesday: 4 PM to 9 PM

Wednesday: 4 PM to 9 PM

Thursday: 4 PM to 9 PM

Open Shop is an unstructured time where anyone in the community can come and work on their projects independently. The Lab Manager is available to help you run machines and answer questions during this time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at contact@fabville.org.

HOW TO GET HERE

The Fabville Fabrication Laboratory is housed at Somerville High School in a newly designed Engineering classroom B032, which offers a dynamic co-working space comprised of daytime high school classes and afterschool programs for students and adults.

Enter through either of the two entrances. When you get to an entrance, TEXT: (617) 702-2299 and we will let you in. When texting, please let us know whether you are at the front or back door.

HIGHLAND AVE ENTRANCE

Enter the main Somerville High School entrance on Highland Ave near the Somerville Central Library. You should see our sign in the window on the right side of the doors. Text our number, and you will be let inside. Once you enter, take the stairs on the right into the basement. FabVille is at the bottom of the staircase on the left.

MEDFORD ST. ENTRANCE

Our Medford St. entrance is West of the corner of Medford St. and Walnut St, behind the High School and the Somerville Central Library. Walk into the loading dock, and you should see a set of doors and a FabVille sign. Text our number, and we will let you into Fabville.

Who is Artisans Asylum?

Artisans Asylum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit community space for making. We are a 52,000 sqft fabrication wonderland where imagination comes alive. Our brand-new facility in Allston/Brighton is available and accessible to anyone in the community who has the desire to learn, teach, and grow. We foster the conditions for freedom of thought, collaboration, and agency necessary for anyone to build the things they’re passionate about. Artisans’ provides nearly 1200 members with access to 170 personal studios, 15 shared workshops, and open spaces for collaboration.

At Artisans Asylum, we empower individuals to learn and grow in a supportive, collaborative, and hands-on environment. Our instructors deliver informative programming to students of all ages, creating an approachable learning experience that fosters growth, curiosity, and a love for design.

We at Artisans Asylum are honored and excited to work with the amazing community and run the shop the 3rd year in a row.