About Me
Tom Pupo is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Moonlighter FabLab. For over 9 years, it has provided an open and accessible space for developing and testing new projects that bridge academic inquiry and economic opportunity.
Moonlighter FabLab empowers makers to shape a better future through:
EDUCATION | Opportunities to learn in the the STEAM Learning Center.
ACCESS | Democratized access to state of the art digital fabrication technologies, tools, and spaces to create at the FabLab.
COLLABORATION | Community projects that solve local challenges.
OUTREACH | Through the annual Maker Faire Miami and other activations and events.
The organization leverages design and technology to address the pressing needs in our community. The fabrication lab is a central platform that supports experimentation in both learning and doing, and to create a pipeline from education to professional practice in which creativity and innovation is harnessed to solve local and global challenges. Positioned as Miami-Dade County's leading maker-centered learning environment, Moonlighter FabLab's reputation is preceded by its designation as:
- A regional hub of Maker Ed, which is a learning model that is transforming the educational experience for
children by harnessing the potential of making;
- A registered MIT/FabFoundation Lab, a global network of field fab labs developed by MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms.
- Global Chapter of Sphero/littleBits Electronics, the world's leading maker of open-source electronic blocks that snap together like Lego bricks fostering infinite circuitry creations;
- A member of the Urban Manufacturing Alliance, a national coalition of experts, advocates and practitioners committed to building manufacturing economies fit for the 21st Century, and that create important pathways for the middle class,
- A Global Maker Camp Affiliate, a nationwide summer camp community that has enriched the lives of over a million campers since it started in 2012,
- A member of the Nation of Makers Non-Profit Network, and
- A member of the international Make: Community Non-Profit network.
Moonlighter STEAM programs have impacted over 15,000 students, delivered programs to over 35 schools, and reached over 35,000 families through community outreach events.
Tom has also served as a professor at the FIU Honors College, FIU College of Architecture and the Arts, and The Idea Center at MDC. These programs use placemaking as a means of affecting positive social change in public spaces while serving as a real-world technical education platform for emerging student designers and engineers. Tom earned his Masters in Architecture from Florida International University where his research focused on the social, economic and cultural impacts of the convergence of design, technology, and digital fabrication.
Projects
Magna-Tiles Studio at Museum of Discovery and Science
In Partnership With:
Museum of Discovery and Science
MAGNA-TILES Corporation
The MAGNA-TILES studio is a collaboration between The Museum of Discovery and Science, MAGNA-TILES, and Moonlighter FabLab with the goal of inspiring thousands of makers of all ages through meaningful play at the intersection of art, science, and math! Moonlighter FabLab designed and built the environmental and interactive elements and installed with assistance from Museum Exhibits Staff.
Designed and built elements include:
- Giant backlit MAGNA-TILES on the ceiling and wall
- Wall graphics
- Hands-on interactive exhibits
- Color wheel made from real MAGNA-TILES
- Light shadow box Activity
- MAGNA-TILES History Display
- Ferrofluid Activity
- Magnetic maze Activities
- Giant magnetic MAGNTA-TILE castle
In this permanent exhibition, over 10,000 tiles and dozens of interactive exhibit activities will provide thousands of children the chance to build new ideas and nurture their joy of making.
Oasis-Wellness Plaza at MDC Wolfson Campus
Collaborators:
Moonlighter FabLab
The Idea Center MDC
Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus
Designed and Fabricated by:
AIR Residency Cohort 2
With Generous Support From:
The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation CreARTE Grant
The Miami Foundation
Lyft
Special Thanks to Industry Mentors:
The StreetPlans Collaborative
Dover, Kohl, & Partners
REEF Technologies
MHCP Colab
Studio James Brazil
Lyft Micromobility
This project was designed and built in the Fall of 2021 by the second cohort of community makers in the Reimagining Cities Program at the Idea Center Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus. Each student was supported by a year-long residency at Moonlighter FabLab sponsored by The Jorge M. Perez Family Foundation creARTE grant, The Miami Foundation, and LYFT. The makers were introduced to Tactical Urbanism and Digital Fabrication to shape better public spaces for people.
The designers set out to create a space that promotes wellness, health and safety, and community in a post-covid era. The project includes a plaza for safely gathering and hosting wellness programs, surrounded by an undulating ribbon-like structure of wood that serves as seating, lounging, shade structures, and planters with Florida native species. Adjacent to the plaza, the cohort also created a novel design for e-scooter parking, promoting last-mile micromobility options in the dense urban setting and connecting this new amenity on the urban campus with the greater Downtown Miami community.
Gather Playground at Brickell City Center
Collaborators:
Moonlighter
AMLgMATD
Brickell City Centre
Swire Properties
Gather Playground was a special commission by Swire Properties to transform an open plaza in Brickell City Centre into a play space for kids and the young at heart! The design creates different activity zones using various sizes of modular hexagonal geometry to define the type of play. Horizontally extruded hexagons allowed children to crawl through, and climb the sides. Vertically extruded hexagon clusters provided a place to hop, balance and sit. All of these elements are nested around a woven vinyl canopy designed and fabricated by AMLgMATD. After all of the play, staring up at the sun rays filtering through a kaleidoscope of colors warms the heart and kindles joy.
This placemaking project carved out a space for the community in a dense urban development: a bright jewel that encourages people to gather. Connecting the residents of the building, workers on break from their offices, visitors of the shops, and the greater Brickell neighborhood in a place completed dedicated to play and relaxation.
Living Benches for Downtown Development Authority
Collaborators:
Downtown Development Authority
Mario The Maker
Moonlighter FabLab
Designed and Fabricated By:
Moonlighter Makes
Living Benches are mobile built elements that bring shade, vegetation, and seating to different parts of the city. Made using durable, highly recyclable materials. These units are sustainable throughout their life cycle. Using solar cells to power its drip irrigation system and LED lighting with smart sensors that track when to activate these electronic systems. They are currently growing Coral Honeysuckle, a Florida native vine that thrives in our climate and attracts hummingbirds! The benches debuted during Super Bowl Weekend in Downtown Miami as a pilot.
Abrazo Plaza at College North Metromover Station
Collaborators:
The Idea Center at Miami Dade College
Makers Lab MDC
Museum of Art and Design
Moonlighter FabLab
Designed and Fabricated By:
Cohort 1 Students of the Re-Imagining Cities Program
Abrazo transforms an underutilized plaza into a place for MDC students and downtowners to convene. This public space pop-up is the culmination of the collective efforts from students in Re-Imagining Cities, an intensive 8-week program by Moonlighter in partnership with the Idea Center at Miami Dade College. The students researched, designed, prototyped, and built their ideas in full scale! Using digital fabrication technologies and low-cost materials, the intervention has created a destination between the MetroMover station entrance, Downtown Miami, and the Miami Dade College campus.
Avenue 3 Parklette
Collaborators:
The Streetplans Collaborative
Miami Downtown Development Authority
The Miami Foundation
Designed + Fabricated by:
Moonlighter Makes
The parklet was designed to extend the restaurant seating for Freshealthy, a tenant of Avenue 3. Its planters provide protection to the people sitting in the parklet and help bring some vegetation to the dense urban street.
Avenue 3 Miami is both a community-driven movement and future pedestrian-oriented street. Avenue 3 aims to catalyze grassroots transformation in Miami's urban core. Organized by a group of passionate Downtown residents and businesses who want to affect positive change through three central initiatives: streetscape transformation, homeless outreach, and crime prevention to create a safe and vibrant signature street for Downtown Miami.
Curie Shelf
An exploration in using mass-produced bakery roller pins as a column for a cnc-milled shelf by milling the exact curvature of the pin and gravity to hold the pieces together.
Torus Vase
A product design prototype featured on Makerbot as an exploration of new geometries unlocked by 3D printing. The toroidal form allows for the stems of the flowers to be showcased as well.
Floating Votive
An exploration in the infill percentage of 3D printed forms to allow the capability to float in water.
Copyright 2024 Thomas Pupo - Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial
Source code hosted at fabcloud/fabacademy/2024/thomas-pupo