The Bar

The Hackspace
1

Hi All

We are currently in the process of changing over member’s storage and we expect to have the Bar clear and available for using as potentially something else for the space.

A few ideas have been put forward but as always all ideas are welcome. The decision on how to proceed will be done via a member vote at a future members meeting. Aim is to hold the vote at the same time as the voting for The Cave.

The Bar can be considered to have two halves, left and right of the entrance gap. The RIGHT half (nearest electronics) has been proposed as a ‘reception’ area where printers/servers/filing cabinet & paperwork will be kept. The proposals listed below are for the LEFT half.

Ideas so far

  1. Kitchen/Drinks Bar
    For preparing food/drinks & snackspace, existing post expanding on this: Kitchen? 🍕
    (Also proposed for The Cave)

  2. Continuation of Member’s Storage
    Demolish Bar and continue the shelving all the way round

  3. Computer 'Lab’
    Workspace with computers for members to use

  4. ’Leisure’ Space
    Space with sofa’s, books, games etc for members to relax

3

I’m happy for any of those three options

4

We can do leisure corner with comfy sofas, plants, novels books and arcades games. You know place where you can sit for 15 min and relax.

2 Likes
5

The space seems more conducive for this idea with the kitchen and computers. But how do we suppress the noise? Supply ear defenders?? Some storage could go where the kitchen is now.

6

Just thinking we may struggle with the depth of the bar getting the sofas in.

It would be nice to have snackspace (food) and slackspace (rest) near eachother as they’re non-project areas of the space for some “time out”.

That would mean keeping the “classroom”/front room for snack/slack space.

For the bar though, we could build up adding walls and maybe windows on top of the heavy concrete bartop to create a separated work space or demolish it totally and make more space.

The bartop is extremely heavy and is reinforced concrete so it would need someone capable of cutting that up!

7

I really like the leisure corner idea, though I’d probably suggest getting rid of the bar to make the most use out of the space for that area. Put ‘arcade’/computers/books in the alcoves and the sofa’s in the open space, with the bar gone it would open up the area quite a lot.

As for demolishing the bar that’s not too difficult, the SDS drill with chisels breaks it up quite easily so it would simply be a job of turning it in to rubble and taking to the tip.

8
Do we demolish the LEFT side Bar
  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

9

I’m all for demolishing the bar (on the left side) for more space.

I would exercise caution in the sense of making sure we have enough space for members storage in the future.
Not sure if we’re going to have shelves in the middle of the room for example or just against the walls. Or how many shelves will be free once everything is moved to the new shelves.

Although I’m sure we can adapt over time if we start to run out of shelves

3 Likes
10

Another thing to consider, I think there’s some wood panelling on that side of the bar, so maybe think about what that could be used for (since it looks pretty).

Also if it is to be demolished don’t leave it looking a mess (like what happened with the green room area).

11

The wood panelling was part of Brittan’s radio display, IIRC he has stated that if we don’t need it then he will take it back with him. Believe that’s between the board and himself to agree upon.

The demolishing work would be done in one go, and all the rubble waste would be bagged and taken to the tip. Aim would be to limit disruption to the area as much as possible and make it open and clean. Only thing I hadn’t considered is the green floor paint stops at the bricks, so might want to continue it up to the rear walls. As for member storage we have loads of shelves left so we won’t runout any time soon. For now intend to continue along the corridor wall to the fire exit.

Green room became a bit complicated. First we wanted to wait for the old electrics to be made safe before pushing further towards the toilet, then the flood happened, then I had to rebuild the member storage. Hopefully we can get a couple people working on it during the hack the space weekend (New Year hack the space days (2/3 Jan))

12

@FoodNoTear do you have an idea for what the bar could be used for if we kept it?

Demolishing the bar can’t be un-done so want to address all objections before we proceed

1 Like
13

My concern is that it’s a backing for the the storage space and would mean that storage space would have to be altered so IT could function

14

I believe the old members storage is being removed, and completely relocated to the new shelves, as such the old bar near to the fire door will be redundant, and no longer serve a useful purpose?

15

My understanding is thats the old storage space that’s eventually going away anyways in favour of the metal shelving that’s currently being put together.

So I think it’s already in a state of being altered.

1 Like