MAGIC is a dedicated environment for the construction, experimentation, and playful design of digital media, and one facet of that is obviously the facilities and resources that serve to enable such activity. The core facility of the center is located in Student Innovation Hall, a multi-million dollar LEED Platinum certified building that is centrally located in the heart of the academic campus, and a key initiative of the Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President for Research. As a part of the MAGIC Center’s formation, the building was completely remodeled with one key design criteria: collaboration. Too often, universities focus on hardware or software resources, without a similar focus on community, workflow, design process, or multi-disciplinary collaborative function. In the process of addressing these elements within the center, we focused on 4 major elements, each of which has a structural component within the physical space: immersion, experimentation, production, and mentorship. In addition, two other key factors support and underpin these components: infrastructure and presence.
