The Foundry
The University of Texas at Austin
The Foundry is located on the 3rd level of the Doty Fine Arts Library. A 4000 SF Creative Commons/Maker Space with a focus on digital technologies, the Foundry is filled with the latest in creative technology and is available to all University of Texas at Austin students.
The traditionally “quiet” library has been transformed into a vibrant student activity center.
Included in the space are four open Maker studios including Fiber Arts, Video Production
and Gaming, Animatronics and Fab Lab, and an enclosed recording studio. A variety of electronic equipment such as 3D printers, fabric printers, vinyl cutters and animation software allow for free-form, multi-disciplined explorations.
Central to the space is a large modular wall construction that houses a 9 screen video array on one side and a large monitor with bar-height conference table on the other. The massive video wall is used for gaming development and student presentations. Both the furniture and the space itself has been designed to be flexible enough to accommodate both intimate video sessions or large gatherings.
Since the Foundry was designed to meet the diverse needs of a variety of College of Fine Arts departments, the E+M team was challenged with determining how to integrate the requirements and desires of the various stakeholders all in the context of a fully functioning library environment.
Equipment infrastructure requirements and placement had to be carefully considered and AV technology needed to be seamlessly integrated. Additionally, the space was designed so that the function of each maker studio could change in the future if needed. The overall design is modular in nature and flexible enough to adapt and expand in a future phase. The traditionally “quiet” library has been transformed into a vibrant student activity center.
