Opening Jacobs Hall

November 1, 2015

This article appeared in Berkeley Engineer magazine, Fall 2015

“Educating leaders, creating knowledge, serving society — that’s Berkeley, that’s engineering, that’s Jacobs Hall and the Jacobs Institute — and it’s going to be fantastic,” said David Dornfeld, the newly appointed faculty director of the Jacobs Institute. (Photos by Noah Berger)

Days before the start of the fall semester, the Berkeley Engineering community held a public celebration to mark the opening of Jacobs Hall, headquarters of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation.

This semester, more than 1,300 students are taking classes or participating in other activities in Jacobs Hall. The capabilities of the new building offer faculty the opportunity to develop new courses. This fall, 22 courses are being taught in Jacobs Hall, including a freshman seminar called “How It’s Made” and a competition course called “The Challenge Lab,” in which students create innovative products serving a social cause.

Jacobs Hall offers 24,000 square feet of studios and maker spaces for classes and projects in digital design, prototyping, fabrication and manufacturing. The $25 million building was funded entirely by philanthropy.