The Rochester Institute of Technology has transformed its campus in an effort to spark innovation and inspire imagination.

“A first-year student, they're really focused on the thing, [and that is] studying,” RIT President David Munson said. “But we want them to come in here and see all the other things they can become involved in, especially with other students.”

Now being able to showcase campus maker spaces under one roof, RIT has introduced SHED – the Student Hall for Exploration and Development.

“We wanted to have a facility for all of our students,” Munson said. “It's a making facility. It's full of shop equipment. Students can come in, design [and] build anything. We wanted to have that right in the center of our campus, and we wanted transparency. So this is all glass and steel.”

The three-story atrium consists of studios for engineering, digital making, virtual reality and multiple studios for music creation and rehearsal.

“Students can literally design and build anything,” Munson said. “We have multiple levels of maker spaces on the lowest level. It's the heavy-duty floor, mounted shop equipment. As you go up further in the building, it's robotics, it's electronics, it's textiles, it's other things. But students from any discipline can come here and literally build anything.”

Creating foot traffic of over 15,000 individuals, the SHED has become a space of not only active classrooms, but aims to generate inspiration during one’s leisure time.

“I love using all the different types of printers at the maker space and like what was once the construct had,” mechanical engineering technology student Jordan Williams said. “It's just a lot of fun, like designing stuff and all of the programs that it uses. So like a 3D model and then just to see it come to life.”

Making and creating have long been a rooted part of RIT, having the SHED now able to accelerate one’s creativity through collaboration and celebrating RIT’s innovative spirit.

“I come here a lot to do homework and stuff like that because it's just, I don't know what it is, but it's like a very focused energy in here,” Williams said. “It really helps to show like you can do, like you can make the things that you want to make here. They are the resources.”