At Boston College’s makerspaces, we believe anyone can be a maker. All students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to expand upon their ideas, learn new skills, and collaborate with others. Take our orientation to access laser cutters, sewing machines, 3D printers, a state-of-the-art woodshop, and more!
Why Make and
Prototype?
"Why Make?" is a question you get to answer! For some, making is an outlet for creativity. For others, making is a gesture of giving back. At The Hatchery Makerspaces, you get to define what making means.
What is a Makerspace?
A makerspace is a place that encourages people to bring their ideas into reality, equipping them with tools and equipment such as 3D printers or sewing machines.
Who is 'The Hatchery' for?
A makerspace is more than a place to make: it's a community. Makerspaces are great environments to work collaboratively, share ideas, and learn together, regardless of skill level or experience.
Facilities
The Hatchery Makerspace
Community Makerspace
Begin your maker journey at The Hatchery Makerspace, located on the second floor of 245 Beacon Street, where you can explore 3D printing, sewing and embroidery, vinyl cutting, laser cutting, garment printing, and electronics engineering, and more.
The Hatchery Prototyping Studio
The Hatchery
Prototyping Studio
Accomodates Credit-Bearing Courses
Credit-Bearing Courses
Whether you’re taking an academic course, or joining in on an event, The Prototyping Studio at The Hatchery hosts making in many varieties. Journey to the third floor of 245 Beacon Street and discover more about making at Boston College (and remember to check out the woodshop, too).
Maker Spotlight
From Thought to Thing
Will Gotanda
Human Centered Engineering '25
Bringing an idea into existence can take weeks or even months. For Will Gotanda, MCAS ‘25, every second spent designing and fabricating is crucial.
Working alongside artist and BC professor Cathy Della Lucia, Will has utilized The Hatchery’s tools and equipment to help construct intricate, alien-like sculptures.
Working alongside artist and BC professor Cathy Della Lucia, Will has utilized The Hatchery’s tools and equipment to help construct intricate, alien-like sculptures.
“Yellow Light Brawl”, pictured above, features over 350 individual blades of flexible artificial red “grass”. To accomplish this, Will designed molds for the grass forms, 3D printed the molds in resin using our Formlabs Form 3+ printers, and injected the templates with expanding silicone.
“When working on the sculptures, I have used a combination of fabrication techniques including 3D printing, laser cutting, woodworking, mold making, and metalworking,” Will told The Hatchery. “The process would definitely not have gone as smoothly or been as effective without the makerspaces.”
