Mapplus
Where are we located?
Route de Crochy 20, CH-1024 Écublens, Switzerland (Ouest lausannois, m1 Crochy)
The overall map of the new space is shown to the right, with the new Hackuarium located primary in two rooms (marked with our little purple open science octopus logo).
The biolab is located in a south facing room of over 22m2, with three windows and a linoleum floor.
We also have a so-called 'inner sanctum' without windows, that is mainly for electronics and chemistry work, but can also be used for some biology studies, especially higher resolution microscopy (also with a Raspberry Pi camera on the old Zeiss scope, and with the option to try the OpenFlexure :) and bioluminescence studies, but growth of cultures is not allowed in this space.
(there is a carpet!)
There are also other Hackuarium 'assets' around the corner from the biolab, shown as purple rectangles on the map and including the sterile hood and the ultracentrifuge. A closet also contains a great deal of consumables and other labware. (We welcome project ideas that will use some of this! :)
In November 2021 hopes to get one more space (esp for biomaterials, art and the kids' club) were growing, as AELER is planning to leave, and their back room even has a hole for attaching the special fume hood... (Fingers crossed that it works! Seems we at least need more of our members to pay their abonnements regularly, even though we have a policy of not asking about these, except once a year ! =P )
To note once more: this building is really only a provisional space, as it is destined for destruction in the next 3-5 years!
We will continue to look for a more permanent space, while developing our community further and promoting Open Science!
Our biolab, with controlled P1 access, and the 'inner sanctum' for electronics and imagerie and more are already facilitating project experiments, even the #coronadetective project, with more fun in the pipeline with our coop colleagues, like Sam and Raffael from Octanis, who were also early members of Hackuarium. In fact, Octanis was 'born' as a Hackuarium project, luckily for everyone... They had been giving the old Hackuarium bioreactor project new life, and providing expertise for the new openflexure epifluorescence build in the first years in Ecublens, before a certain corona virus started spreading. (Now Octanis is also a small company, in addition to keeping the association active in Ecublens, with a branch in Zurich too.) Hackuarium lost them from Renens early, when they set up the Microverse and an EPFL site, but are so lucky to be back together now... :)