New Robotics Lab design needs your input

[Peter Randall]

Now that we have finally shipped our bot, I need to design a new robotics lab. Our school is building a new Science & Technology Center and Robotics is getting its own dedicated classroom & workshop. We have about 1500 sq ft to work with and need to cover FRC, VEX and Lego in the same space. At this point it is an empty room 30 x 50 with 12 ft ceiling. Having spent the last six weeks living in your lab and/or borrowed workspace, what would you like to have in your dream shop? What works and what doesn't work? How would you divide the space between workshop and class room / robot corral. We need to work with lower school kids in the class room so I think we need to lock the power tools in a separate workshop, but I am open to suggestions based on experience. While we do have a budget, at this point it costs nothing to dream, So assuming that the sky's the limit:

What layout ?
What tools ?
What kind of storage?
What built in systems (air, vacuum, power) ?
Cabinets, shelves, closets?
Floor covering - workshop and classroom
Overhead systems (unistrut, power, lighting)?
Robot corral (FIRST standard playing surface surrounded by sidewalls)

Thanks for your input