RIT Builds an Idea Supercollider
Making and creating have long been a part of RIT's DNA. So has the drive to innovate.
With a $120 million investment, Rochester Institute of Technology is opening a dynamic, state-of-the-art complex that will centralize the university's multidisciplinary focus on creativity and innovation.
RIT’s SHED–the Student Hall for Exploration and Development–is an idea supercollider, where students can accelerate their creative concepts and innovations in dedicated makerspaces and performing arts studios and theatres. Students will have free rein to create, imagine, and build through inspired learning, making, and performing.
RIT’s new Student Hall for Exploration and Development.
RIT’s new Student Hall for Exploration and Development.
"The SHED will be where prospective students and their parents will stop by and, in minutes, say, 'Oh, this is RIT,'" said RIT President David C. Munson Jr. "There's no other university with this type of integrated facility. The SHED will allow students to think laterally, be creative, and apply what they've learned in the classroom. This facility will help our students change the world."
The objective is to create an idea supercollider where students can accelerate their creative concepts and innovations through charismatic collaboration and exploration.
Where Disciplines Collide
RIT has always championed interdisciplinary exploration across its nine colleges. By capturing that atmosphere into one dynamic physical space, such collaboration will happen more frequently than ever. The SHED advances RIT's historic, campus-wide philosophy of multidisciplinary learning. At the same time, it acknowledges and celebrates RIT's innovative spirit.
"We make novel, useful, and fun things. Often those things are physical, but sometimes not," says Munson. "The heart of our making lies at the intersection of technology, the arts, and design, and then radiates outward into our other disciplines, like business, the health sciences, and the liberal arts. That's RIT, and it's what differentiates us from other universities nationwide."
Innovation on Display
RIT designed the SHED to be an immersive experience that mirrors its successful Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival. This annual event welcomes more than 30,000 people to campus each spring. Visitors experience RIT's vibrancy and ingenuity through student-led exhibitions, interactive presentations, hands-on demonstrations, performing arts, and research projects.
"There's no other university with this type of integrated facility. The SHED will allow students to think laterally, be creative, and apply what they've learned in the classroom."
"Our students are always designing, building, and producing things. Yet most of it is hidden from view," says Munson. "Part of the idea for the SHED was to get all of this making out in front of people. The architecture is very transparent, with a lot of glass. You can stand in one place and see what RIT is all about."
Although RIT is primarily known for its strength in STEM, graduating thousands of students yearly, doing so at the intersection of technology, the arts, and design is unique. By creating a space for multiple disciplines to interact, RIT sets the stage for creative collisions and the future of innovation.
The SHED’s interactive indoor/outdoor spaces.
The SHED’s interactive indoor/outdoor spaces.
What's inside the SHED?
The SHED will open its doors this fall and offer more than 120,000 square feet of innovative opportunities. It will also extend RIT's library and student union, which connect to the SHED.
That's just the start:
Sklarsky Glass Box Theater
Sklarsky Glass Box Theater
The SHED’s Premier Makerspace
The SHED’s Premier Makerspace
The Atrium: The four-story atrium is the core of the building and one of the highest-profile public spaces. All members of the RIT community, visitors, and prospective students will spend time in an impressive space flooded with natural light and lively activity.
Premier Makerspace: This hands-on, collaborative workspace is the heart of the SHED. It is the largest continuous makerspace in the building. It will house multiple shops for paint, metal- and wood-working, and computer numerical control (CNC) machining, in addition to a giant open workspace. The space will be loud, dirty, and full of students making, learning, exploring, and sharing while using a multitude of tools and materials.
Sklarsky Glass Box Theater: Part black-box theater and part exhibit space will seat up to 180 people for experimental performances and various exhibits. This flexible space includes multi-level viewpoints, retractable floor-level seating, and automated blinds to provide daylight and blackout modes, making it the perfect space for a variety of activities.
Brooks H. Bower Maker Showcase: This is the "Gateway to Making" at RIT and includes a flexible configuration to serve multiple purposes. The showcase will highlight the inspiring hands-on work of RIT's student clubs and teams, and host guest makers-in-residence for exhibitions and experiential learning opportunities.
Active Learning Spaces: Instructional space will add 27 new classroom spaces with over 1,500 additional seats, including 22 standard-size classrooms with seating for 30 to 60 students, and five extra-large classrooms, each seating over 140. The new classrooms will feature cutting-edge video technology to increase accessibility, large format projection screens, and flexible furniture, allowing endless configurations for group work, lectures, symposiums, and special events.
The RIT ASL and Deaf Studies Community Center: Providing a place for students, faculty, and staff to gather, interact, and learn about Deaf culture and heritage, as well as American Sign Language (ASL). The center will offer a state-of-the-art classroom for teaching and learning, offices, and a lounge area that promotes open and transparent access to communication and interaction among Deaf and hearing peers and colleagues.
Textiles and Electronics Makerspace: The Textiles and Electronics Makerspace focus will be exploring and developing new ideas in wearable technology and other design innovations.
Expressive Communications Center and Writing Commons: The Expressive Communications Center offers an engaging, active learning environment to help students shape their lives, professions, and society by developing their ability to express themselves clearly, confidently, and eloquently through public presentations and with groups and teams. Students will receive training and have opportunities for feedback-based practice from expert tutors. The Writing Commons will include a staff of faculty writing consultants with expertise in STEM and humanities disciplines and undergraduate and graduate student tutors that will provide individual and group feedback and guidance on academic and professional writing at all stages of the writing process.
Project Team Spaces: Multiple large and small project team spaces bring together multiple competitive student teams in a common location. Mobile tool carts and a wide variety of hand tools will be available to students to use in these workshop-style spaces to design, manufacture, test their creations, and prepare for competition. The convergence of diverse teams in these shared spaces will provide new opportunities for creativity, collaboration, and innovation across disciplines.
Performing Arts Practice Rooms: Multiple individual rehearsal spaces provide an ideal acoustic environment for solo instrument practice.
Dance Studio: A dance studio allows for movement classes, ensemble rehearsals, lectures, and presentations.
Dance Lounge: A space for performers to gather for various activities and meetings, socialization, and relaxation.
Flexible Classrooms: Designed for various configurations, multiple flexible classrooms throughout the SHED will provide ideal student-centered, collaborative learning environments.
Peer Inside the SHED
Curious about the SHED? Take a virtual tour and see how RIT designed the facility to inspire innovation, creativity, collaboration, expression, and performance.
This content was paid for and created by Rochester Institute of Technology. The editorial staff of The Chronicle had no role in its preparation. Find out more about paid content.
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