A1) Plan, plan, plan! 🙂 http://worlds-of-learning.com/2016/05/13/themed-making/

A2) If you haven’t already, I would highly recommend reading Seymour Papert’s “Mindstorms,” which among other topics, describes the culture of Logo Environments, which could be considered almost a blueprint for makerspaces.

Also high on the list for background information would be Invent to Learn, which bridges Papert’s theories in context with the Maker Movement and current educational considerations.

As for logistics, MakerEd.org has a free, no-nonsense guide about this topic here: http://makered.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Makerspace-Playbook-Feb-2013.pdf

For matching the space to its users, I would also check out the article below on establishing a common vision for makerspaces, which is based on a Tufts University paper on the same topic.

Article: http://gettingsmart.com/2015/06/building-a-common-school-vision-for-your-makerspace/

Paper : https://sites.tufts.edu/makerspaceresources/files/2016/07/Meehan-2014-A-Card-Sorting-Task-to-Establish-Community-Values-in-Designing-Makerspaces.pdf

A3) The most important thing is to define what you want the purpose and goals of your Makerspace to be. Creating a physical space is not as important as creating the opportunities for the tinkering, exploration of materials and ideas, the prototyping of ideas, the sharing of passions. Start small and grow out from the student energy and experience.