Self-Guided Tour

Tour In-Person, Any Time

Welcome to the Student Innovation Center. Thank you for your interest in learning more about this amazing space.

This self-guided tour script will walk you through all five levels of this building dedicated to inspiring innovation.

Please refrain from entering the Makerspaces on your self-guided tour. Visitors must be accompanied by a member of the Student Innovation Center Staff to meet safety protocols for those spaces.

Student Innovation Center Overview

The Student Innovation center is open to all Iowa State students, faculty, and staff regardless of skill level, major, or college affiliation and is designed to inspire innovation through experimentation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and free exchange of ideas in an inclusive environment.

There are five floors with over 146,000 square feet of sustainable design which achieved a LEED Gold Certification.

The eight Makerspaces are free to use and open to all students, faculty, and staff (anyone with an iastate.edu email address) once they’ve completed the required safety training.

The required safety training includes online videos in Canvas and hands-on training in the Makerspace with the selected piece or pieces of equipment. Once trained on a piece of equipment, you can use that equipment anytime the Makerspace is open.

Each of the Iowa State Undergraduate Colleges have spaces within the building showcasing their unique approaches to innovation. From interactive teaching spaces to captivating art installations, each college decides how to represent innovation within those spaces.

Several large-scale events happen in the building each year to encourage the exploration of creativity, showcase innovative projects, and remind us all how much fun innovation can be.

Students can reserve study rooms online through the website or via the room panels outside the door to each room.

Let’s Begin Your Tour

When you entered the building, you passed through the vestibules which contain the artwork titled Interface.  These pleated dichroic glass walls transform your surroundings, reflecting and reconfiguring your view. The shifting, fragmented reflections were designed to create a dynamic and ever-changing experience.

The artist, Catherine Widgery, also designed the suspended copper screens found in the interior courtyard on the second level.  These screens echo the building’s facade and the entryway artwork and form a canopy visible from multiple vantage points. Embedded LED lights respond in real-time to wind speed and direction, creating a lively, interactive display.

These works of art mark the largest public art commission ever awarded to a female artist in Iowa State University’s history

Stepatorium (just inside the east entrance to the building):

Speakers and presentations are hosted in the Stepatorium and multipurpose space.

Throughout the building, there are plenty of open collaborative spaces for students to study and hangout.

Behind the Stepatorium you will find Innovate 1858, a student-operated retail space managed by the Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management Department. This unique space provides students with an exceptional experiential learning opportunity as students earn class credit while gaining hands-on experience through paid positions, blending academics with real-world application.

The products featured in the store are sourced, designed, or created by current and former Iowa State students, showcasing the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of our campus community.

Moving down the hallway on the right toward the elevators:

On your right, you will find the Innovation Supply Station, where students can purchase materials to use in the Makerspaces within the building, including wood, metal sheets, filament, thread, and canvas. Our items are sold as cost so that students have access to the supplies they need to be able to complete their creations for class or for fun.

When you’ve reached the end of the hall:

You’ll find the Letterpress Studio (Room 1222) and the Paint and Finishing Shop tucked into the northwest corner of the building.

The Letterpress Studio is a collaborative space operated in partnership with the College of Design and where individuals have the opportunity to learn the art of setting type and letterpress printing, crafting their own custom posters.

This space serves as a living historical museum, blending traditional printing techniques with modern creativity to inspire innovative design. It’s a hands-on experience that bridges the past and present in a truly unique way.

The Paint and Finishing Shop provides ample table and workspace for large projects and has a well-ventilated paint booth.

Walk past the elevators to find the entrance of the 1211 Metal and Wood Shop:

Walk back to the elevators and take them to the 4^th floor:

The 4^th floor is where you will find Sparks Café a student run café that is run by the Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Department.  Students make daily business decisions regarding inventory, food safety, marketing and learn all about running a café.

Just past Sparks Café at the end of the hall you will find the Launch Pad.  This is a premier conference room that overhangs the lawn below.  Students can utilize this space to study, when it isn’t being used for high-level meetings, workshops, showcases, and retreats.

Feel free to check out the views if the room is available.

Walking back to the elevators you will find:

The two College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) collaborative meeting rooms.  The members of the CALS Pathways Program utilize these spaces to showcase their skills and earn digital badges.  CALS is also home to the Iowa State Creamery which offers hands-on dairy food sciences training to students and entrepreneurs, and the ice cream and cheese produced is sold all over campus, including Sparks Café.

On the walls you will see CALS Innovation Inspiration Artwork titled “Harvest of Knowledge: Innovation and Inspiration,” which features a six-panel mural stretching over 75 feet!  Around the corner and hanging from the ceiling you will find “SWARM,” each of the bees and pollen pieces were printed here in the Student Innovation Center using the 3D Resin Printers.

The remainder of the fourth floor houses College of Design classrooms, many of which host capstone courses that immerse students in prototyping and hands-on learning experiences.

Take the stairwell on your right (north west corner of the building) down one floor to the third floor:

Directly across from the elevators, you will find space dedicated to the College of Business and the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship. Pappajohn has an impressive portfolio of entrepreneurial resources and programs. A few of them include pitch competitions, the Food Insecurity Challenge, the Entrepreneur Club, and CYstarters, an 11-week summer accelerator program.

As you walk around the corner, you will be greeted by stunning views of the rooftop prairie, which stands apart from typical green roofs that feature shallow-rooted sedum. Instead, the prairie is planted with native grasses, requiring deeper soil to thrive. The design also efficiently captures and treats rainwater, contributing to sustainable building practices.

You’ll also find the Classroom in the Round – an open, student-focused teaching environment designed to foster interaction and collaboration. Its circular layout allows students to easily see and engage with one another, creating a dynamic learning experience.  This classroom, like all other university classrooms is managed by University Room Scheduling.

The rest of the third floor features additional reservable study rooms, a satellite space for Women in Science and Engineering (Room 3135), and, coming in Fall 2025, an exciting new AI Makerspace.

Take the stairs in the south west corner to the second floor and walk past the University Classroom toward the elevators and to Room 2222:

The Electronics, Textiles, and 3D Printing Makerspace (Room 2222) is one of the most popular spaces in the building!  This Makerspace is a creative, hands-on learning environment where students can turn their ideas into reality. It’s equipped with a wide range of tools and technologies—like 3D printers, laser cutters, and sewing machines— that support class projects, personal creations, and collaborative work. 

Discover textile innovation using advanced embroidery machines, industrial sewing equipment, and long-arm quilting systems. Experiment with precision prototyping through three laser engravers, dedicated soldering stations, and a diverse array of 3D printers—including Uniformation, FormLabs, Bambu, and Ultimaker models. 

Students design and embroider t-shirts, jackets, and other soft goods, laser-engrave water bottles, notebooks, and phone cases, or 3D-print items such as phone stands, plant holders, and custom dice. 

Whether you’re prototyping an invention, customizing clothing, or just exploring new skills, the Makerspace provides the resources and guidance to make it happen. 

Follow the hallway toward the east side windows to start to make a loop around the perimeter of 2^nd floor:

You’ll walk past 2260 a flexible learning space on your way to our Digital Modeling and Visualization Lab (Room 2261).  This space, like the rest of our makerspaces, offers training on how to use the equipment and software, including 3D scanners, VR and AR headsets, motion sensors, and digital modeling.  Students have created all kinds of things including taking full body scans of themselves and then 3D printed little figurines.

Continue around the railing that overlooks the Stepatorium:

Here you’ll find the spaces for our Scientific Illustration and Visualization majors (Room 2103).  This is a distinctive major offered at Iowa State, combining the strengths of both the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Design and exemplifies the spirit of innovation by blending diverse skills and areas of expertise to create meaningful visual representations of scientific concepts.

On the left before reaching the stair case you’ll find:

Printing Services (Room 2114) is here to assist with any printing needs or questions you may have. Their busiest period is during career fair seasons when resume printing is in high demand.

Beyond Printing Services, you’ll find the Student Innovation Center administrative offices. Stop by anytime for assistance or to connect with our staff for any questions or support you may need.

Walk down the Stepatorium and take the set of stairs under the ring lights to the basement:

Here you can peek through the windows to see the Heavy Metal Makerspace.  This Makerspace is utilized by student clubs including Baja SAE, PRISUM Solar Car, SAE Aero, Robotics, SAE Clean Snowmobile, Cardinal Space Mining, and Formula SAE. Students build their vehicles from scratch and gain a ton of valuable experience.  Many of the clubs have won competitions and get to travel around the country to compete.

Just behind the staircase you will find the Digital Media Studio (Room 0140).  This Makerspace includes a large studio with a big white cyclorama (or infinity screen) which can be turned into a full broadcast studio with fully customizable lights, a green screen, or could be used as a photo studio for headshots or product photography.

This Concludes Your Self-Guided Tour  

Give yourself a high-five and have a great rest of your day.