University of Chicago Opens Media Arts, Data and Design Center

The University of Chicago opened the Media Arts, Data and Design (MADD) Center in February of 2019. Designed by Payette, the 20,000-sf facility provides students, faculty, staff, and community partners with a collaborative space for exploration and innovation in virtual and augmented reality, data visualization, digital fabrication, and video gaming. Located in the John Crerar Library, the MADD Center houses five resource labs: 

• The Computer Science Instructional Lab offers hardware and software for training and education.
• The Hack Arts Lab accommodates open-access digital fabrication, prototyping, and visualization activities.
• The Weston Game Lab provides resources for the study, play, and development of analog, electronic, virtual, and online games.
• The Research Computing Center Visualization Lab features new data visualization technologies.
• The UChicago Library’s GIS Hub enables geospatial research and learning activities by providing access to geographical information systems software and hardware.