When UNC-Chapel Hill students want to make a physical object for a class or research project, many quickly look for places around campus where they can go to get started: a design studio, lab or makerspace. But what if they didn’t have to go anywhere? What if Carolina brought a maker environment to students right where they live?
That’s exactly what happened at the recent opening of Blue, a full-scale, 3,000-square-foot makerspace embedded on the ground floor of Carmichael Residence Hall in the heart of the Carolina campus. It’s the first space of its kind located inside a UNC residence hall and the fourth makerspace to open as part of the Be a Maker (BeAM) network since 2016.
“We have a simple goal, which is to make sure that Carolina is a place where innovators thrive,” said Judith Cone, vice chancellor for innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development. “The University wants to provide makerspaces like this because ideas come from all over campus, and we’re committed to helping people make their ideas real through the tangible process of making and doing. Whether students, faculty or staff are building a physical product, a technology or a company, we want to support them wherever they are on their journey. Our goal is to help them figure out where those concepts might go.”
Blue itself was born from a short conversation that emerged into a partnership between BeAM, Carolina Housing and the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Kenan-Flagler Business School. The partnership aims to expand on the already vibrant making culture on Carolina’s campus by creating a collaborative residential community for more than 400 students living in Carmichael. Without ever leaving their dorm, students will have immediate access to physical and virtual tools that they can use to design and make physical objects for education, research, entrepreneurship and recreation.
| UNC-CH