There’s a maker’s paradise at the heart of San Francisco

In an old pier on San Francisco’s Embarcadero, Autodesk—the design software company—invites artists, tinkerers, engineers, and makers to “design and build the future.” The company hosts a group it calls the “artists in residence” each year to build whatever they feel like in its workshop. At their disposal is just about any manufacturing tool any maker could hope for, from massive industrial 3D printers, to computer-controlled milling machines, woodworking tools, metalworking tools, and even a kitchen.