The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us. This new paradigm, known simply as Industry 4.0, reimagines how we make things by changing our relationship to production through digital and advanced fabrication technologies, artificial intelligence, and smart and green machines. But it is also marked by a hybrid approach to space-making. Yesterday’s factory architecture is being transformed away from the one-factory-per-company model toward neo-cottage industries set within a new industrial commons…
Designed by SOM, the 94,000-square-foot former window and door factory now houses the umbrella UI Labs, with its Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) and the City Lab. As a public-private partnership, UI Labs is part of a network of 14 institutes around the country under the aegis of Manufacturing USA, cosponsored by three federal agencies—the Departments of Commerce, Defense, and Energy—to “secure America’s future through manufacturing innovation, education, and collaboration.”