IDeATe Collaborative Making Facility

IDeATe operates out of a collaborative making facility in Hunt Library. It includes collaborative classrooms, the IDeATe Lending Office, labs dedicated to fabrication and physical computing, and a black box studio.

The facility supports students and faculty working together across disciplines in maker experiences that combine arts and technology. These types of collaborative, learning-through-making experiences are a key part of the residential experience at Carnegie Mellon, where experts from diverse areas with curious, open minds meet to develop the next great ideas. Students involved in such experiences have the opportunity to expand their innovation skills and cognitive versatility. Through these experiences students are also prepared to address the growing demand for collaborative professionals in the creative industries, such as social media, game design, and responsive environments. The placement of the facility in the Hunt library aims to signify the evolution of the library into a mediated learning commons, where students can evolve diverse media literacy and their ability to learn and communicate through new media.

The facility is open throughout the day to allow for making and learning to happen any time the inspiration strikes. The classrooms are accessible to all students. The maker labs are accessible to all students who complete introductory courses that provide the necessary training for using the equipment. 

The IDeATe facilities are an open creative resource to our IDeATe students dedicated to facilitating work in physical computing, fabrication, and media project development, discovery, and research and are located on the first floor and A-level of Hunt Library at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh Campus.  Each space includes a variety of equipment, as appropriate to each, including laser cutters, 3D printers, hand tools, electronics components and related tools, computers, motion capture system, sound equipment, sewing machines, and many more items.

When students enroll in an IDeATe course, that course will provide training on the space-specific equipment.  Once a student has completed an IDeATe course, access to the IDeATe common spaces continues throughout their time at CMU.  Some lab access may be limited to the duration of a course and/or be dependent on completion of all safety and training requirements.  All IDeATe students have borrowing and purchasing access to IDeATe Lending.

Non-IDeATe Carnegie Mellon University students and staff are able to request access to IDeATe spaces, please explain your needs and use to help@ideate.cmu.edu. Requests are subject to review and approval.

All members of the IDeATe community are asked to please treat with respect and compassion your fellow students, their work, and the lab spaces themselves.  Our IDeATe labs are shared spaces. Always clean up after completing your work, and try to leave the lab in better condition than you found it.

Safety and responsibility are the top priorities at all times.  Be familiar with equipment use and safety procedures.  Know where the emergency exits and fire extinguishers are located.