Welcome

Please note that the Masks and Personal Protective Equipment – Safety Glasses, Closed Toe Shoes, etc. are required in all Academic Facilities*

Please click the links below to visit the individual pages for each facility.

The CCS Academic Facilities are ready for you to get to work!  

All shops are open on the first day of class for student use. Open shop for students,  faculty and staff will need to be scheduled in advance through the AVC Patron Portal.  The Web Checkout Patron Portal reservation system allows you to reserve seats in  Academic Facilities through the shops and studios icon. You must sign up for a seat in  advance on Web Check out, manually sign-in/check-in upon arrival with your CCS ID,  and sign out/check out upon leaving with your student ID.  

Social Distancing protocols have been eliminated at this time but Masks and Personal  Protective Equipment to include safety glasses and closed toe shoes are required in  all Academic Facilities. 

The Academic Facilities Hours

Ford Campus – Kresge-Ford Building B side 

B109 Metalshop 
B107 Foundry  
B104 Blacksmithing (Crafts)  
B112 Wood Shop 
(in B112) Spray booth 
B207B Laser cutter  

Taubman Campus 

T1113 Model shop 
T1111 Digital Fabrication 
T1110 Spray Booth 
T1114 Laser cutter  

Monday-Friday – 8:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. 
Saturday – 12 noon – 7 p.m. 
Sunday -12 noon – 7 p.m. 

Digital Fabrication Lab (Taubman) – Monday – Friday 9 a.m. – 4p.m. only 
Ford Laser cutter 
Taubman Laser cutter 
*90 minute maximum reserve time, please. 

Monday -Friday 9a.m. – 9p.m. 
Saturday & Sunday 12:30 – 6:30p.m. 

The Academic Facilities page has more detailed information regarding each shop.  This can be found on the Access Manager page under the Campus Offices tab. 

Equipment requirements or what to wear: Due to Covid -19 shared use safety  equipment is not allowed. This includes safety glasses, leather gloves, welding  jackets, etc. We do have sanitizing wipes for Welding Masks and ear muffs as well as  disposable hearing protection. Sanitizer is literally available everywhere (seriously…). 

  • Face Masks are required in all Academic Facilities. 
  • Safety glasses are required in all Academic Facilities.  
  • Closed-toe shoes are required in all Academic Facilities. 
  • Long sleeve shirts and pants are required in the Metalshop areas. Please do  not wear skirts or skin revealing clothing. Wear fire resistant natural fibers like  cotton, denim, silk, and wool, this includes face masks, scarves, bandanas and  hijabs. 
  • Leather boots or sturdy closed toe shoes are required in the Metalshop areas – shoes must be made of natural fibers and will protect feet from heavy objects,  hot metal, cutting sparks, etc. 
  • Reminder: No sandals or open toed shoes please in any shop, ever. • H20 in a closed container. Please stay hydrated and healthy! 

Materials 

  • Bring what you think you will need. 
  • Wood shop resale items are still available for purchase through the bookstore.
  • Metalshop, Foundry and Model shop items are still available for purchase with  your one card/ student ID in those shops. 

Thanks, and we look forward to working with you soon! – The Academic Facilities Team.

How do you sign up on the patron portal?

You must sign up on the CCS AVC web checkout patron portal – you can do this  on your phone, tablet or computer anytime. The WebCheckout Patron Portal  reservation system allows you to reserve seats in shops, studios, and labs. You can  access the reservation system from your computer by clicking on the “AVC Patron  Portal” icon in the CCS Access Manager page. You may also access the Patron Portal  from a browser on your phone or tablet by going to ccs.webcheckout.net/patron. 

Log onto the WebCheckout Patron Portal using your CCS login ID and password. If  you cannot log in, call the AVC 313-664-7647 and the amazing AVC Team will correct  any login information errors so that you can have access. You may reserve and cancel  reservations using this system in real time.

About Academic Facilities

Academic Facilities currently includes the  Metalshop & Foundry , Model Shop &Digital Fabrication Lab (CNC / rapid prototyping, laser cutting) and Woodshop. These are a group of individually budgeted & managed shops that operate under the academic facilities umbrella. The Director reports to the Vice President of Administration and Finance at the College. There is a direct line of communication with Academic Affairs and an informal lateral reporting structure with the technical staff for the departments of Art Practice, Craft and Material Studies and Foundation.

Academic facilities maintain consistent open shop hours to facilitate the needs of the students, faculty & staff. These hours are posted at the beginning of each semester and are aligned with the building hours posted by Campus Safety.

Currently the educational structure for students to be able to work in all of the shops is to complete the Foundation course DFN 116 – 3D Design Techniques.  Limited access to the Model shop & Digital Fabrication Lab and the Wood shop is to complete DFN132 – Process and Making. Students who pass these courses with a C/2.0 or better are allowed access to the corresponding shops during their curricular tenure at the college. This provides for entry-level access and does not mean students can use every shop or every tool in the shop. Department specific courses are offered that build on these basic skills. Permission to use certain tools must be obtained from the Individual shop Manager(s).

The digital fabrication lab, foundry, metalshop, model shop, and wood shop are not instructional facilities. All faculty are responsible for teaching their students the tools and techniques they expect their students to use in the construction of finished projects.

Faculty must notify the shop managers if they wish to instruct their classes in any of the shops at the beginning of each semester. An Academic Project form is required with a copy of the course syllabus, a complete timeline, roster and support materials. These forms are necessary for any class project that needs to utilize the shop and will help us to schedule, communicate, and facilitate more effectively. These documents need to be turned in to the Department Chair and the appropriate Academic Facility Manager at the same time syllabi are due. The reasons for this are:

  1. Overall student experience, safety, and health precautions.
  2. Time lines & scheduled appointments to let the shop be better prepared for your class and identify potential overload. There are classes that are scheduled in the shops and shop classrooms that have priority for work space and equipment.
  3. Identify potential training, supplies, equipment, staff & budget needs.
  4. Faculty Training. A Faculty members personal understanding of how to use the shop equipment does not mean they are teaching consistent and proper safety techniques to students or know the limitations and requirements of the individual facilities.
  5. Open shop time is required for students who have course work in the shop for their curricular requirements. This open work time is at a premium with the current number of scheduled courses in the Ford Campus Academic Facilities.

Classes that wish to be held in the classroom within any Academic Facility; the foundry, metalshop, model shop or wood shop for the entire semester need to be scheduled appropriately through Colleague.  The curriculum, course content and learning outcomes for these courses will need to be developed and approved with the Director of Academic Facilities and the appropriate shop Manager to ensure that proper operation and safety protocols are included and competency is benchmarked.

If faculty are not capable to teach the techniques needed to complete an assigned project, the project should be modified to accommodate the skills of the instructor, or the instructor should give themselves ample time to learn the skills they wish to pass on to the student. Shop technicians and work-study are not necessarily qualified to teach faculty and students how to use equipment. Nor are they allowed to complete work for students or faculty during working hours.

A Mandatory Safety Orientation for each individual shop area is required for all faculty and staff of the college that would like to use the shops in their course curriculum or to utilize the shops in any capacity. There is at least one orientation session at the beginning of each semester. Contact the appropriate shop manager for scheduling.

Forms are required for: Academic projects, Individual projects, & Independent student projects. Hold Harmless Waivers are required for any visiting artist and anyone that is going to be in the shop in any capacity that is not enrolled or currently employed by the college; as they are not covered by any liability insurance.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation and we look forward to working with you!