The Local Exchange is a student/community center that contains a free-cycling space and flea market, as well as modular, plug-in workshops for local makers to use. It aims to strengthen/build community by creating spaces of exchange in various ways, It centers local ingenuity, makes resources more available, and connects people to each other.

The space is created out of a modular system, where individual workshop spaces slot into the fairly simple platform structure. The individual units also contain shelving systems that open up to the central circulation space, so people who are walking through can browse and look at what the makers are making. The purpose of the modular system is so that this concept can be repeated across grounds, or at any site, with ease. The simplicity of the form provides easy navigation, and its openness creates a very flexible space that can hold myriad activities. The ground floor, in its openness, provides space not only for a flea market, but also for music events and other kinds of gatherings.

This structure is clad in polycarbonate, allowing onlookers to see abstracted figures working inside, providing both a shade of privacy, as well as offering diffuse light ideal for the artists inside.

2021