Completed in December 2020, NextFab North Philadelphia is located in a renovated former industrial food warehouse at 1800 North American Street, in a neighborhood currently in the midst of a revitalization and building boom. The converted warehouse space boasts more than 30,000 square feet of workshop space, co-working spaces, individual studio spaces for local businesses, a restaurant and storage areas for members’ materials and work. The unique space offers the tools, training, and individual workshop spaces for a wide-variety of makers including metalworking, woodworking, textile making, jewelry making, electronics, laser cutting and engraving and 3D printing and manufacturing.

W.S. Cumby worked in partnership with InHabit Architects to complete the construction in a flexible process that constantly evolved to meet the unique and varied needs of NextFab and its specialty tenants as they were acquired.

The NextFab Member space is accessible through a custom retractable door and consists of individual, trade-specific workshop rooms surrounding a centralized collection of workstations. Workshop rooms include Electronics, Textiles, Lasers, Jewelry, a Paint Booth, and Woodwork and Metal shops. Two expansive wooden pergolas were constructed indoors above the Jewelry workshop and additional woodshop work areas.

New HVAC, Lighting, Fire Protection, Life Safety and Security systems were installed throughout the renovated space.

An open loft area was constructed above the package room, offering views down into the workshop and lounge areas. Custom stairs and railings were also installed around the perimeter of the loft.

In the north end of the building, private, individual studios were constructed that can be rented out by local artists and businesses. Current tenants include The Neon Museum of Philadelphia and Keystone Bike Shop as well as an architectural salvage shop and The Resource Exchange Shop.

W.S. Cumby also performed the preliminary fit-out work for the on-site restaurant space for the site, which was then taken over by the current tenant, Sor Ynez, a popular Mexican restaurant.