The MRU

Daily 9-5 

Visit our Maker Space: The Mobile Resource Unit (MRU)

Open daily hosting workshops, tool-lending, repair, solar projects, and art support.

Come by and meet members of the Renewable Artists Team (RAT) and Green Theme Camp Community (GTCC) and Burner Leadership Achieving Sustainable Theme Camps (BLAST) 

In 2016, Burners Without Borders created its first-ever mobile maker space called the Mobile Resource Unit (MRU). The MRU is a 20-foot refurbished shipping container filled with basic tools, advanced manufacturing equipment, and supplies for making prototypes and art that can be easily shipped into areas of need, such as disaster relief zones, impoverished neighborhoods, or refugee camps.

The MRU provides the following support to communities in need: 

(1) acts as a tool lending library and a place to repair machinery parts to build infrastructure or art, 

(2) provides opportunities for skill-sharing and learning, and 

(3) creates a maker space for engaging in self-expression, art, and other “Cultural Relief” activities. 

With the right tools, technology, knowledge, and manpower, recovery of infrastructure and cultural connection can happen more quickly, and can also pave the way for self-perpetuating development in areas where it is greatly needed.

MISSION: The purpose of the MRU (Mobile Resource Unit) is to support camps and projects on the playa with technical and mechanical needs. This is done through the sharing of resources (both physical and skill-based) and by providing a climate-controlled space for project leads to gather and regroup while accessing the available resources. As BRC moves towards its sustainability goals, the MRU will be a place to support solar logistics with resources and meeting space as well. It would seem that solar and classroom use are primary objectives at Fly Ranch as well. On playa, the MRU (ideally) serves as a welcoming space to interface with community members and help connect people to resources and learning through the sharing of tools and skills. The goals of the MRU on playa as well as the goals of the MRU at Fly Ranch are in relative alignment (tools, workspace, logistical and technical support).