As the long-awaited focal point for the college’s diverse disciplines, Massachusetts College of Art and Design’s new Design and Media Center is attracting a good deal of attention. When it formally opened Tuesday, in a ceremony including Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, the three-story, 40,000 square-foot space on Huntington Avenue became the centerpiece of MassArt’s push into interdisciplinary art and design.

“Most of our other facilities are under the domain of individual departments,’’ said Ken Strickland, interim president of MassArt. “So this is the first space that is open for real, true interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study.’’

The center, designed by New York-based architect Susan T. Rodriguez of the firm Ennead Architects, is the culmination of $40.4 million vision, augmented by a commitment from the Baker Administration’s capital investment arm, the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance.

While it will house a professional lighting studio, a refurbished wood shop, and an audio recording and editing studio, Strickland said, the Design and Media Center will also host a number of project rooms specifically meant for nothing specific. Faculty can coordinate to combine otherwise unrelated classes, fostering new ways of thinking among MassArt’s nearly 2,000 enrolled students.

“One of the things we’re starting with is a ‘sustainability incubator,’ which is a space that is going to be available to them, 24/7, through the entire spring term,’’ Strickland said. “Four different classes will be using the space, and instructors from each of those individual classes will be working collectively to share the education experience among the four different classes.’’

Strickland noted that the upcoming spring term will serve as a beta test, of sorts, in which the college will liberally experiment with just what a shared space like the DMC can offer. Glass sculptor Dan Clayman will be doing an in-residence stint with both glasswork and architecture students. New York’s Bread and Puppet Theater will have its own 10-day tenure come February.

“A lot of times you have to present the opportunity before people can come up with ways to use it,’’ Strickland said.

Now that the new space is open, Strickland said he sees no reason why Boston and the rest of Massachusetts can’t benefit from its fruits.

“We’re not GE, but we are contributors to contemporary culture,’’ Strickland said. “The idea that art and design touches everybody’s life every single day gives us an opportunity to herald that.’’

Joe Incollingo can be reached at joe.incollingo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jk_inco.