Repair Café a Power of Social Interaction

"The repair cafe teaches people how to fix things, save money, and contribute to a community that values sharing crafts, knowledge, and creative abilities."

On March 17, we visited the repair cafe with our teachers Ms. Belinda Mitchell and Clare Seek, located at the cascades shopping center on commercial road, Portsmouth. One of the most well-known cities in the UK is Portsmouth. The city's primary natural features include trees, rivers, open spaces, and historic structures. I adore the domestic green space in the city, which includes backyards, gardens, open fields, public parks, and urban parks. The people are brought together in that area for their typical activities. This, in my opinion, creates an engaging communal place for the resiliency of the Portsmouth community.

One of the social event venues is the repair café, which supports helpful volunteers. Bring your broken appliances, rusty tools, worn-out bicycles, and holey jumpers to our free event so that we can fix them and keep them operating. Come and join us to get knowledge about money management, repair, and community sharing of talents. Our site location is in the Cascades Shopping Centre, commercial road, Portsmouth. 

Photograph of the Site Visit Discussion

Overview of Repair Cafe: 

Runs two projects in Portsmouth at the moment. Repair Café Portsmouth has run as a monthly pop-up for the past 5 years at Buckland URC. Clare Seek discussed the Repair Café, environmental sustainability, and her own experience with fixing things. She talked about considering the advantages of reusing products rather than purchasing new ones, including lowering waste, saving money, and developing new skills. She expressed her interest in the kinds of products that might be fixed at a repair café as well as the knowledge and equipment needed to do so.

Repair Café activities are frequently conducted in public spaces like community centers, and libraries, and they are organized by volunteers who are concerned about sustainability and repair. The events are open to everyone, and participants are encouraged to bring their broken items, along with the necessary replacement parts and tools if they have them.

                                                            

                                                         Existing Site visit Video

Repair Café is a community-based initiative that aims to promote repair and reuse instead of throwing away items that can still be fixed. It is a workshop where volunteers with different repair skills offer their services to help people repair their broken items, such as clothing, electrical, toys, jewelry, bikes, general small appliances, and more. The repair services are usually offered for free, although some Repair Cafés may ask for a small donation to cover the cost of materials and tools.

                                            

                                             Repair Cafe Previous Activity Picture Video

The Repair cafe site elements:

At the repair cafe existing site visited, I can understand a few pieces of information which are:

Major Element: Besides the site, there is a commercial building situated in the Cascades Shopping Centre, commercial road, Portsmouth. There is a front market circulation long lobby. The repair cafe proposal is Strange shape, Pillars, and Light (needs to be good for repair)

Space: The repair cafe site's total area is 119.61 meters square and the site is an irregular shape. The front side has a glass partition.

                                                           

                                                         Site Proposed section Sketch

Material: The repair cafe's existing site has different types of materials such as floor tiles, wall tiles, stone, steel shelf furniture, glass, gypsum ceiling, concrete structural elements, etc. We can use climate-friendly materials basically found materials which are wood, colorful paint, bicycle materials used for different lighting, etc.

                                                        Various types of Materials 

The repair café is a crucial instrument for helping with the climate. There is no need to produce this product anew if you fix it and use it again. Then, no more manufacturing is needed. Recycled goods thereby aid the environment without causing any issues.

Safety: The site is fully enclosed by a glass partition and brick wall. Provide a proper  Fire extinguishing system and Fire exit.

                                                                Fire Safe sample

A repair cafe's aims and advantages include:

Reducing waste: The Repair Café promotes the repair and reuse of objects as opposed to their disposal. This helps to conserve natural resources by cutting down on the quantity of garbage that ends up in landfills.

Saving money: Fixing products can sometimes be more cost-effective than purchasing new ones, particularly when it comes to more pricey items like electronics and appliances. People have access to free or inexpensive repairs at the Repair Café, which can ultimately help them save money.

Community development: The Repair Café is a grassroots organization that brings people together to exchange information and skills. It offers a venue for people to meet others who share their passion for mending and reusing things and promotes community service.

Promoting sustainability: The Repair Café encourages individuals to consider how their actions may affect the environment in order to promote sustainable behaviors. People may lessen their carbon footprint and contribute to the creation of a more sustainable future by repairing and reusing products.

Skills preservation: The Repair Café aids in the retention of age-old repair techniques that could otherwise be lost. It gives older generations the chance to teach younger generations what they know and guarantees that important skills are not lost.