What is the SHED
The SHED at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a multi‑use building that brings together technology, design, the arts, and active learning — all under one roof. It opened in fall 2023 and represents RIT’s largest campus construction project in decades.
The full facility spans about 209,000 gross square feet, combining new construction and extensive renovation of existing buildings (including the former Wallace Library), making it one of the most ambitious campus‑wide developments in RIT’s history.
What’s Inside: Spaces, Features, and Opportunities
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Makerspaces & Workshops: The SHED includes multiple makerspaces over several floors — woodworking, metal‑working, 3D printing, laser cutting, electronics, textiles, and more. These spaces support classwork, club projects, personal creative efforts, and RIT’s many competitive student teams (like robotics, rocketry, and vehicle‑design groups).
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Performing Arts & Creative Studios: There are music and dance studios, rehearsal rooms, and a flexible 185‑seat glass‑box theater (named the Sklarsky Glass Box Theater) — a venue capable of hosting performances, rehearsals, and events. The building’s design emphasizes glass and transparency to showcase student creativity throughout.
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Flexible, Tech‑Enabled Classrooms: SHED added 27 new classrooms across RIT’s campus (22 standard and five large/extra‑large rooms), outfitted with modern AV technology and flexible furniture for group work, lectures, active learning, and collaborative projects.
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Open, Collaborative, Light‑Filled Design: A soaring atrium and extensive glass walls flood the SHED with natural light. This creates a welcoming, transparent atmosphere where students cross paths, collaborate, showcase projects, or just hang out — turning the building into a campus “living room.”
Why the SHED Matters: For Students, Creativity & Campus Culture
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A Unifying Hub for Diverse Interests: Many RIT students are passionate across multiple fields — engineering, art, design, performance, making. The SHED brings those interests together, allowing students to combine technical, creative, and artistic pursuits, build prototypes, rehearse performances, and learn collaboratively.
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Supporting Innovation & Entrepreneurship: With accessible maker tools and collaborative spaces, students can turn ideas into physical reality — prototypes, art, functional devices, performance productions. The SHED helps facilitate the kind of cross‑disciplinary innovation that could lead to startups, creative projects, or research breakthroughs.
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Showcasing What RIT Stands For: The SHED serves as a flagship for RIT’s identity — blending art, design, technology, and hands‑on making. For prospective students (and their families) visiting campus, it provides a vivid sense of what makes RIT distinctive — a place where imagination meets practical creation.
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Flexible Learning for Modern Education: The new classrooms are purpose-built for active learning, group collaboration, and hybrid teaching (in many cases with integrated AV/Zoom‑room style capabilities). This helps the institution adapt to modern pedagogy and evolving student needs.
In Short
The SHED isn’t simply another building — it’s a living, breathing creative ecosystem. By weaving together maker labs, performance studios, classrooms, and collaborative spaces under one transparent, light‑filled structure, RIT built a dynamic hub where technology, art, design, and learning intersect. For students who want to experiment, build, perform, create — or do all of these in combination — the SHED offers the tools, the space, and the energy to make those ambitions real.
