The Making Center, a spacious studio bringing together creative tools from around the university, offers students unprecedented opportunities to acquire industry-ready skills, transform how products are made, and upend conventional notions of supply chains, local production, mass customization, and craft. Sharing this 26,000 square-foot space, students from all Parsons programs explore cutting-edge and traditional making technologies together.
The center is located in the basement and on the second and third floors of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at 66 Fifth Avenue and 2 West 13th Street. Architectural details revealed in the renovation, such as vaulted ceilings, wood floors, and brick walls, surround a new generation of creators with evidence of makers past. Designed by Rice+Lipka Architects, the open plan joins floors on several adjacent buildings, providing ample space for equipment and abundant natural light from the avenue, street, and adjoining courtyard.
Inside, degree-seeking students from throughout The New School, faculty, technicians, and industry mentors will prototype new concepts with peers and the Making Center team. The dynamic interdisciplinary environment will enable students to advance on their path to becoming makers, innovators, and entrepreneurs who will challenge the status quo.
The Making Center anchors the network of integrated campus resources, enabling students to bring new materials, techniques, and partners into their making practices. At Parsons, making of all kinds — forming new objects, ideas, systems, partnerships — is an essential part of becoming an artist or designer. Accordingly, we’re developing new interdisciplinary courses, workshops, and other project-based learning experiences to make full use of the space and state-of-the-art making equipment — including tools never before available on campus. Housed at the center are new 3D-printing technologies, a complete ceramics “wet lab,” updated printmaking facilities including a large-scale photo printer, and white boards, pin-up areas, and configurable work spaces for developing and sharing ideas. (For a complete list of available campus tools, including those in other university buildings, visit the Student Facilities webpage or the Parsons Making Center Resources website.) The Making Center reaffirms Parsons' leadership in a world where making is increasingly valued as a powerful problem-solving endeavor.
For the most up-to-date information on Making Center facilities, access, and hours, visit our Making Center Resources website using the link below.
The New School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.