Envisioning a Bright, Bold Future UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN TAUBMAN COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING
the case for support
Dean’s Message Our disciplines — architecture and urban planning — are by nature optimistic, ones that foresee a better future. Our students are preparing for careers designing and developing beautiful and resilient buildings, cities, regions, and systems. Our faculty teach and research new ways of addressing environmental challenges; creating systems and buildings that stimulate and reinforce positive behaviors for health and safety, schools that nurture learning and creativity, and cities that equitably support diverse populations. Architects and planners possess some of the best tools to help in solving society’s most pressing and complex problems — including those of the environment, housing, transportation, and infrastructure. That optimism is vital in a world that is rapidly, even radically changing. Technological and environmental changes paired with economic forces are significantly altering the world, including the construction of buildings and systems. Planners and architects alike are increasingly required to respond to a manifold variety of economic, social, political, legal, ecological, aesthetic, and cultural forces.
institutions: our architecture and planning schools. At critical points in the history of our disciplines, the academy has given us crucial perspectives with which to measure and evaluate the impact of our fields upon the world. Academia provides a forum independent of the demands of the professions and as such it has the potential to advance the fields in extraordinary ways. Today, that new perspective is more important than ever. This shared endeavor will require new approaches to pedagogy and cultural engagement — changes already underway here at the Taubman College. There is no better place to implement a new, interdisciplinary model than the University of Michigan, home to 100 programs consistently ranked in the top ten in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report. We have already launched powerful collaborations with our campus partners in the arts, humanities, engineering, business, medicine, and environmental and social sciences. And we are committed to stepping outside the boundaries of our campus as well, by teaming up with the professions, not only to share knowledge but also to involve them as important partners and stakeholders.
Environmental, economic, and societal crises have exposed the limits of conventional notions of specialization in every field, and many disciplines are moving toward an interdisciplinary model of research and education. Projects at all scales require the input of many players and various types of expertise. Crossing the boundaries of various disciplines may be the only way to address the complex challenges of our time.
We invite our alumni and friends to join us at this critical stage in the history of our professions. Help us envision a bright, bold future, where collaboration is paramount and where new ideas and original perspectives flourish so the next generation of architects and planners can effectively and positively shape the world.
It is critical that we equip our students to anticipate and thoughtfully plan for and respond to changing conditions.
Please join us!
Therefore we are committed to becoming the leader in interdisciplinary education and research, and to serving as a catalyst for fundamental change. Let us chart a course for the future of our disciplines. These changes need to begin “at home” with our own academic
2 | 2015 Taubman College Campaign Case Statement
Monica Ponce de Leon Dean and Eliel Saarinen Collegiate Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning
the case for support
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Things Student Support Makes Possible
ACCESS So all admitted students are able to enroll regardless of income
Student Support Taubman College is a leader in the teaching and research of architecture and urban planning because of its state-of-the-art facilities and its faculty. However, diverse, passionate students are just as important to the quality of an institution as its teachers and its facilities. Gifts like yours are helping to make Michigan an institution of individuals as diverse and varied as the fields of architecture and planning. Our aim, as a public institution, is to maintain access to higher education for those of ability regardless of economic considerations. Our alumni are our greatest allies in this mission.
AFFORDABILITY So that students do not have a heavy loan burden when they graduate
QUALITY So that U-M can compete for the best students in the world; financial support for these students makes them more likely to attend Michigan
Help us build scholarship resources: • Endowments provide perpetual funding for scholarships. These can be built over time or created as part of an estate plan. • Annual scholarships help students today. Gifts for annual scholarships are awarded during the year in which they are received. • During the Victors for Michigan campaign, our goal is to raise an additional $2.5 million for student support.
“It is through scholarships that young architecture students find fellowship and support from alumni. I cannot stress enough the impact your scholarship has made by recognizing and supporting my hard work. Taubman College challenges me on a daily basis — it challenges me in a way that pushes me to create my best work, to have important conversations about my education, and the future.” — Brooke Dexter, Architecture ’16
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STUDENT EXPERIENCE So that students, once enrolled, can afford rich educational experiences inside and outside the classroom
DIVERSITY So that the student body reflects the world and students of different backgrounds can learn from one another
Expanded Horizons Expanded Horizons is a one-credit intensive field study organized each fall by and for graduate planning students. They travel to a city for an extended weekend where they tour major urban development sites and programs, meet with planning professionals, and engage in a service project with a local agency.
Scholarships Scholarships help students financially, allowing them to focus on schoolwork and reducing the number of loans they must repay after graduation. Scholarships also act as an affirmation of their efforts, giving students the drive and confidence to excel.
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the case for support
Working Across Disciplines Looking beyond the expertise of our faculty and engaging partners across campus and beyond, the college has been actively reframing its pedagogy and research agendas within a larger body of knowledge. Through these efforts our students are learning the professional skills they will need to engage in collaborative problem-solving.
How we are engaging other disciplines: • Our professors are currently piloting cross-disciplinary teaching methods providing a more structured approach to our interdisciplinary offerings and an increase in the number of courses that are paired with studios.
“The interdisciplinary nature of Research on the City allows students the opportunity to see how the field of architecture can begin to relate and adapt itself to other disciplines in the real world. By moving to working modes and thinking processes outside of our own, it allows the students to begin to position themselves in a greater collaborative fabric.” — Dustin Murphy, Architecture ’15
• The Experts in Studio program integrates professional expertise from a variety of fields, including urbanism, economics, politics, infrastructure, engineering, and building sciences. These scholars, designers, or practitioners spend up to a week conducting workshops in their field. • Research on the City, provides funding for teams of interdisciplinary faculty to research problems at an urban scale. • Taubman College is a founding member of the Momentum Center along with the Schools of Public Health, Medicine, and Kinesiology to conduct research and generate solutions for the childhood obesity epidemic. • Planned building improvements will support interdisciplinary research and teaching by providing studios and capstone spaces that function as places where students can work collaboratively supported by teams of faculty.
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“Confronting injustice in America's urban cities requires a deeper understanding of how structural inequalities persist in policy and decision-making. Students like me are able to apply concepts and practices from several disciplines to engage in meaningful research that can have a broad impact in the communities that planners serve.” — Gabriel Jones, Urban Planning and Environmental Policy ’17
Research on the City Research on the City is a seed grant program that engages teams of interdisciplinary faculty to explore solutions to complex urban problems from planning for consequences of rising sea levels on waterfront communities to investigating the resiliency of community development corporations.
Research Through Making Assistant Professor Sean Vance teamed with colleagues in Kinesiology and Art & Design to research ways to use responsive surfaces to combat childhood obesity. “DROP KICK PUSH PULL� encourages physical activity, collects data, and provides users instant feedback.
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the case for support
Sending Our Students into the World and Bringing the World to Our Students INTO THE WORLD: We aspire to produce not only the best educated practitioners, but global citizens who will address projects and communities with sensitivity and professionalism. Hands-on, real world experiences and opportunities to expand cultural perspectives, are important complements to their classroom and studio work. BRINGING THE WORLD: Through our lecture series and conferences we bring a national and international slate of speakers to campus. These visitors discuss their work and their vision and often spend time in reviews and seminars, directly interacting with students.
“I will always remember the experience of realizing my own biases in Ghana. Moving forward as a professional and global citizen, my interactions with the students, faculty and citizens of Ghana will remind me to be open to learning, understanding, and appreciating other cultures and to be careful of assumptions about even seemingly simple or small cultural differences.” — Cyrus Morshidi, Architecture ’14
How we can do it and do it better: • Incorporating meaningful study travel components into our regular course work, in addition to our international spring travel course offerings, provides greater numbers of students exposure to a variety of cultural experiences. • Expanding students’ opportunities for internships where they can work in a professional setting and learn more about their fields. For urban planners, this means a much expanded effort to place them in organizations addressing housing, transportation, economic development, neighborhood sustainability, and social justice challenges. The goal is to assure that all students who desire it, have relevant summer internships. • Lectures and conferences bringing provocative thinkers, academics and practitioners to campus, representing a range of perspectives — from recognized leaders to the emerging voices of our disciplines.
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“My participation last summer in Taubman College’s summer course, Inundation 2: Bangkok/Jakarta, furthered my interest in exploring the intersection of social equity and architecture around the world. I am excited to further my understanding of architecture’s agency and my role within this diverse and complex field.” — Linnea Cook, Architecture ’15
Into the World Michigan architecture students building a bridge in Santa Rita, Archidona, Ecaudor in the Andean Amazon. Providing our students exposure to a variety of cultural experiences is increasingly a priority for both the architecture and urban planning programs. Taubman College aspires to produce not only the best educated architects and urban planners, but global citizens who will address projects with sensitivity.
Bringing the World “Detroit is No Dry Bones,” an exhibition of “re-photography” of Detroit by Chilean-born, New York-based documentarian Camilo José Vergara, was displayed at the college’s downtown Ann Arbor gallery. As part of the exhibition, Vergara participated in a panel discussion with faculty from the college and across campus. Events like this are part of a robust schedule of lectures, seminars, and exhibitions during the academic year.
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the case for support
Technology The digital revolution has had a significant impact on the way we design and construct buildings. Taubman College, a leader in anticipating these changes, has played a vital role in developing curricular changes that allow our graduates to remain at the forefront of technological advances.
• Taubman College has the most progressive digital fabrication lab in the country. It is the largest, best equipped, and most accessible to students among schools of architecture in the United States and abroad. • The Spatial and Numeric Data (SAND) Services lab provides advanced computers and software to help students and researchers work with spatial and numeric data and access. These analysis techniques provide a powerful tool to augment our knowledge concerning the configuration of space and its associated relationships with building and land use. • Taking technology out of the curriculum and into students’ hands: In order to fully leverage current technologies, we are continuing to provide training and exposure to technology outside the classroom through workshops and web tutorials. These offerings provide students the necessary tools for proficiency without sacrificing core course content. • Begun in 2009, Research Through Making provides seed funds for research predicated on making. Many of these projects have gone on to win national awards (P/A Awards, R+D Awards, ACSA Awards, AIA awards, etc.) and be published, presented and exhibited throughout the world. Research Through Making is one of the most innovative architecture research programs in the country. It provides important funding that allows students to work with faculty on innovative research projects, bring that knowledge back to the classroom and into their futures as designers.
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“I love how technology holds the potential to radically shift the social dynamics between people. The emerging technologies in today’s cities are creating new problems for planners, yet simultaneously presenting new ways to create deeper connections among communities and greater openness between citizens and their government. I chose Michigan because of the school’s support of my exploration in this intersection of planning, design, and human-computer interaction. — Rachel Jaffe, Urban Planning and Information ’17
FABLab Taubman College’s digital FABLab operates numerous computernumerical controlled (CNC) machines, allowing students and faculty to work with virtually any material.
SAND Lab Created using data and resources available in the Spatial and Numeric Data Services (SAND) Lab, this analysis was produced by Assistant Professor María Arquero de Alarcón for her research on networked urbanisms.
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the case for support
Diversity We define diversity according to a wide set of criteria — race, gender, financial need, geography, disability, commitment to service to diverse and disadvantaged communities, firstgeneration college graduate status, and more. We work not only to increase the diversity of our community, but also to build a more welcoming and supportive environment for students once they arrive at Taubman College.
Current initiatives designed to develop potential: • Since 2006 ArcPlus has provided an after-school architectural exploration and mentoring program designed for Detroit high school students providing an opportunity for students to learn about and explore the possibilities of a career as an architect. • ArcStart is a pre-architecture program designed to introduce students to a studio experience. The program hosts 30 students as a summer residential program at U-M’s Taubman College. • ArcPrep is an academic pipeline program aimed at increasing accessibility to the architectural profession for low-income and under-represented minorities. Students from high schools in Detroit may participate in a semester-long, studio-based course for high school credit focused on architecture and including robust assignments in mathematics and visual arts. • In addition, we continue to increase the diversity of speakers in our lecture series, conferences, and symposia, as well as among visiting critics and professionals.
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“Before enrolling in graduate school, I spent eight years, along with a Taubman alum and two U-M professors, building the Martin Luther King Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Six months after the memorial’s dedication, I had a stroke. I couldn’t speak, read, write, walk, or talk. I’m lucky enough to resume the intentions I had before, though my perspective and abilities have changed. I have a limp and need a cane, I type with one hand, my designs are entirely digital — no sketching or modeling. I want to improve the integration of disabled-friendly systems to generate a design for compliance. We, as architects, can do better.” — Mieko Preston, Architecture ’17
Symposia and Social Justice The Urban and Regional Planning Program hosted “Planning in a ‘Post-Racial’ Society (?): New Directions and Challenges” aimed at exploring the role of the urban planner in a supposedly “post-racial” society. Nationally recognized scholars and practitioners examined how planning is engaging critical debates about race, ethnicity, and poverty.
Michigan Architecture Prep Monica Ponce de Leon, along with U-M President Mark S. Schlissel, welcomed ArcPrep students and families, supporters and community members to the opening of the Michigan Research Studio. The space is home to Michigan Architecture Prep (ArcPrep), which will introduce high school juniors from Detroit Public Schools to the multi-faceted discipline of architecture.
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the case for support
The Building To create a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to learning and research requires new and renovated facilities. Our goal is to create a welcoming place for learning, collaborating, and displaying the unique attributes of an education in design and planning. We need to better accommodate the increased enrollment that has occurred over the past 35 years. These new and improved spaces will foster a learning and research environment that can accommodate ever-changing pedagogical and research practices.
The building renovation/addition will: • Create a prominent entrance, a proper front door and reception area. • Provide one large space for college-wide events. • Integrate faculty offices, classrooms, and studios/capstone spaces to create more collaborative relationships among students and faculty. • Erase boundaries between architecture and planning by creating more collaborative spaces for co-teaching and more production spaces.
How you can partner with us: • To help underwrite the planned building addition and improvements there are opportunities to name key spaces.
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“The new building will strengthen the school by enhancing student experiences and work. One of the most amazing things about this school is the resources, both physical and academic, which allow for such a wide range of work to happen. Through this work, I know my classmates and I will leave this place having each solved our own set of problems, ready to apply our solutions to the world.” — Jayme Van Oot, Architecture, Real Estate Certificate ’15
Addition Entrance With an entrance on Bonisteel Boulevard, Taubman College will have better access to the rest of North Campus.
Taubman College Commons A new Commons provides a space for the entire college community to gather for important events and milestones.
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University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning 2000 Bonisteel Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2069
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Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning is part of the U-M’s historic $4 billion Victors for Michigan Campaign, a university-wide effort to prepare tomorrow’s leaders and address our world’s complex problems. To learn more: www.taubmancollege.umich.edu
Cover Image: “The Stratus Project” by Associate Professor Geoffrey Thün and Assistant Professor Kathy Velikov, funded by the Research Through Making program
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