La Manivelle is a tool and equipment lending cooperative with values of sharing, autonomy and resource conservation. It works like a library, but you can borrow objects and tools.
Le Grand Atelier is an independent public DIY centre where you can come to repair, create and tinker. You can work on wood, metal, sewing, bicycle mechanics and electronics under the supervision and with the advice of professionals. There is a permanence from Tuesday to Friday from noon to 6pm.
The association Matériuum offers the public and professionals reused materials from the cultural and construction sectors. It thus makes it possible to prolong the life of these materials before incineration or recycling, thanks to their collection and their valorization. It also promotes reuse among its partners through workshops, awareness-raising workshops, studies, exhibitions.
The association Onl'Fait is a Fab Lab that provides technical, technological and human resources to repair, develop, design a prototype or even a product. A meeting place, it promotes an ecological, citizen and sustainable approach to science, technology and consumption etc.
Sipy is an association that has been organising clothes and accessories exchanges since April 2016 in Geneva. It promotes exchange as a mean of responsible and sustainable consumption.
The cooperative offers spaces for cultural production, exchange and dissemination at affordable prices. It aims not only to make buildings available in transitional areas but also to integrate projects and spaces dedicated to these practices into the heart of new urban neighborhoods.
The three levels of the building, with more than 1,200 m2 of floor space, hosts different complementary spaces that together form a coherent ecosystem.
Among these 1200m2, four spaces stand out: The Fabrique (400m2), the Ressourcerie (450m2), the Mezzanine and the Polyvalente.
The different spaces are complementary. For example, the users of the Fabrique will be encouraged to buy materials from the Ressourcerie, while the actors of the Ressourcerie will be able to take advantage of the various tools of the Fabrique to process their materials and organize courses or workshops.
Located on the lower ground floor, it offers construction and furnishing materials (panels, joists, doors, metal, glass, lighting, shelving, etc.) recovered and stored by the association Matériuum. It also integrates the library of objects and tools of the cooperative La Manivelle. Users of the Fabrique are encouraged to buy from it, while the Ressourcerie's actors are able to use the Fabrique's various tools to process their materials and organise courses or workshops.
This space combines the Fab Lab On l'Fait and Le Grand Atelier and offers the skills and equipment necessary for manual construction (wood, metal, mechanical, etc.), or digital construction (3D printer, laser cutter, vinyl cutter, CNC, digital sewing machine, etc.). Users can develop their projects, either independently or with assistance, and find advice and support in their implementation. It is also possible to follow courses and seminars dedicated to the creation of specific objects, techniques or the use of particular machines.
The 65 m2 multi-purpose space is available for rental on a one-off or regular basis. It is equipped with a kitchen and has the necessary facilities for various uses: meetings, courses, events, etc.
The building houses over 130 m2 (on the second floor) of work spaces for craftsmen, artists or associations developing activities related to the project. Composed of members of the Ressources Urbaines cooperative, this space completes the system and contribute to potential synergies with the site's ecosystem.
The association ZIC2 (Zone Inter Créative et Collaborative), created in 2019, was born from the will of Geneva actors to federate around a place and especially around a common project. Faced with the same need for space and sharing the desire to create a place of aggregation, the project was initiated in the summer of 2018 with the opportunity to invest together in a building, owned by the City of Geneva, in the Zone industrielle des Charmilles (ZIC).
The ZIC2 umbrella association currently comprises five structures: Le Grand Atelier, La Manivelle, Matériuum, Onl'Fait and Sipy. The project is also associated with the Ressources Urbaines cooperative, which offers its expertise and support in terms of structuring and coordination, and represents the central contact for the project in terms of the administrative management of the building and the management of the renovation work.
This opportunity to come together in one place will allow each structure to reinforce the other and will see the emergence of synergies that suggest new perspectives for development and innovation. This new dynamic will encourage collaborations and partnerships while ensuring better visibility.
The opportunity to gather in a common place will allow to reinforce mutually and to observe the emergence of new synergies of development and innovation. Its new dynamic will increase the collaborations with partners and to have a clear understanding of the project.
The aim of the Collaborative Manufacture project is to offer the population of Geneva an ecosystem with a new dynamic in order to respond differently to the needs of individuals, craftsmen and companies, as well as to the evolution of our consumption habits (over-consumption of cheap objects), or our relationship to production (dissolution of manual work, loss of know-how and dexterity).
Furthermore, the Manufacture intends to demonstrate through a concrete example that other economic models are possible and viable. It will also be a tool for raising awareness of environmental issues while demonstrating that other alternatives are possible for the public, the professional and entrepreneurial world, public and cultural institutions and the school and educational environment.
MACO is essentially characterised by four values:
Creativity: Experimentation with new production models and tools (digital, open source, collaboration)
Noting the deleterious impacts of our current modes of consumption and production on the environmental (management of resources and waste), societal (loss of certain jobs, disappearance of certain professions) and even existential (upheaval of our relationship with objects, knowledge and creation) levels, the project therefore proposes to encourage:
The gathering and collaboration of these actors in a single place will allow the development of new services and products that will favour the emergence and promotion of new economic models. Moreover, this leap in the development of the structures will make it possible to validate their actions with an even larger public and will thus guarantee the sustainability and development of their activities. This will lead to the professionalization of these structures, which still operate partly
As a place for sharing, the project encourages and facilitates social exchanges, fights against isolation and strengthens the links between the actors of a local community. Do it yourself! is a worldwide movement in which everyone can find their place and fulfil themselves from a personal development point of view through action, creation, mutual aid and the satisfaction that comes with it. The Manufacture also responds to the growing demand of the population to reappropriate technologies, production and consumption systems and become direct actors in them.
The Collaborative Manufacture, through its role of mediation with the industrial zone, will also stimulate exchanges between the various economic activities and will contribute to their visibility to the public.on a voluntary basis. In addition to creating jobs, the project also intends to become a center for training and professional integration.
It also offers people the opportunity to grow collectively and to develop common emulation through doing together, while promoting creativity in a friendly and welcoming environment. The project will therefore have a considerable impact on social cohesion by bringing together a diverse public in a collective action dynamic.
Moreover, also conceived as an inclusive platform, the Manufacture also intends to welcome, accompany and train people who are excluded or on the fringes of the world of work. To this end, it is planned to develop partnerships and collaborations with institutions and players in the field of training and social integration.
In the logic of the circular economy, the project fights against the waste of raw materials and promotes innovative alternatives in terms of sustainable economy. In addition, the site offers a tool for promoting, raising awareness and understanding the transition. It is federated around the desire to provide concrete answers to overconsumption.
The Collaborative Manufacture is an exemplary eco-responsible space at all levels of development and operation. It recovers and recycles used materials and allows for the pooling rather than the purchase of the tools necessary for manufacturing. Bringing together different structures encourages the sharing and therefore the saving of material, immaterial and human resources.
This endeavour will promote these practices more widely not only to the public but also to the professional world and to various institutions. By strengthening their legitimacy, it will also offer a chance to change production and manufacturing habits at the institutional level.
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