Surrounded by team rooms devoted to research and projects, a welcoming, large space known as ‘The Connection’ features informal areas to cross paths on the way to coffee and refreshments, and extensive whiteboards and writable glass to facilitate instant exchange of ideas. Seminars, classes and teams operating in the space are able to draw on an extensive social science data infrastructure backed up by a 21st century help desk, the Connection Bar, providing assistance with data access, data management and social science methods. This combination of space and research infrastructure is intended as an incubator for social science research by faculty and students at Duke.