MDes Studio & Facilities

During your time as a Berkeley MDes student, Jacobs Hall and Bauer Wurster Hall will become your second homes. As a studio-based program, students are immersed in community, collaboration, and hands-on learning. On a given day, you may find yourself testing an augmented reality experience in Jacobs Hall’s makerspace, debating with a leading practitioner in Bauer Wurster Hall, or assembling a prototype drone for medicine delivery at your dedicated personal desk in the MDes Studio.

Jacobs Hall

The Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation serves as an interdisciplinary hub for learning and making at the intersection of design and technology. Jacobs Hall houses the Jacobs Institute, and also serves as the home base for the MDes program and its students. The building hosts cutting edge prototyping and fabrication facilities, modern and flexing teaching studios, and a studio floor dedicated exclusively to MDes students.

: Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, Berkeley Architect – Leddy Maytum Stacy

: Bjoern Hartmann, Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation faculty director, and Iris Koser, senior UX designer at BMW, lead a lunchtime panel and networking event announcing the new Jacobs x BMW Design Research Program on Digital Sustainability at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation in Berkeley, Calif. on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: Lobby at Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: Outdoor patio at Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

MDes Studio

The MDes Studio fosters community, collaboration, and intentional creativity across students’ time in the program. Second and third semester MDes students have dedicated studio desks and full 24/7 access to the MDes Studio, located on the 2nd floor of Jacobs Hall; first semester students have shared hot desks in the MDes Studio. Additionally, there is a private mini fabrication lab with equipment for 3D printing, soldering, hand tools, as well as a dedicated MDes student kitchen.

: MDes students work on projects in the MDes Studio at Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation at Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Friday, March 1, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: MDes students prepare their final thesis presentations in the MDes Studio at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation in Berkeley, Calif. on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: MDes students prepare their final thesis presentations in the MDes Studio at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation in Berkeley, Calif. on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: MDes students collaborate in the MDes Studio at Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation at Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Friday, March 1, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: Maker lab in the MDes Studio at Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation at Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Friday, March 1, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

Jacobs Hall Makerspace

The majority of making at Jacobs takes place in our state-of-the-art Makerspace, located on the first floor of the building. Maker Pass holders have access to our 3D printers, laser-cutters, wood-working equipment, and all of the hand tools and materials needed for prototyping.

: Wood shop at Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: Design specialist Cody Glen, right, works with a FabLight metal laser cutter in Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation’s metal shop at Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Friday, March 1, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: ShopBot in the wood shop at Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: 3D printers in Makerspace at Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: Wood shop at Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: 3D printer at Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

: Soft Lab for fabrics at Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Hall in Berkeley, Calif. on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

Bauer Wurster Hall

Bauer Wurster Hall is an expansive and historic building that serves as home to the College of Environmental Design and offers additional resources to the MDes cohorts, including a robust library and extensive traditional and digital fabrication labs.

: 2023 MDes Orientation at UC Berkeley’s Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation in Berkeley, Calif. on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. (Photo by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)