Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning
Research

Genetically Engineered Architecture
by Assistant Professor of Architecture Peter von Buelow

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Like other architecture and planning schools—but unlike the great preponderance of other UM units—we define research broadly for the majority of our faculty to include public (i.e., exhibited or competition-winning) professional practice and other creative work. Roughly a third of our faculty engage in conventional scholarship, including funded research—the coin of the realm in major research university. Despite dramatic progress in funded research, we remain behind some of the more research-oriented schools of architecture and urban planning.

TCAUP research has a rich and diverse history, originating in 1943 with the research and development of a structural systems for prefabricated housing. By 1949, building research had grown to the point where a formal organization, the Architectural Research Laboratory (ARL), was created and the ARL building was erected on central campus using Unistrut, a building system developed by one of our graduates. The scope and diversity of research continued to grow during the 1960's and 1970's with contract research addressing a wide range of technical, environmental, and human issues. After lagging for some years due to diminished faculty interest and fewer sources of support, funded research in architecture—and especially in urban planning—has begun to rebound. We hope to exceed $2M/year in the near future.

A number of our faculty are highly productive and have won a number of prestigious research grants. The College is well supplied with unusually generous research laboratory space, including the high bay space, equipped with infrastructure and a variety of fabrication and testing equipment. Facilities also include specialized labs in environmental technology (artificial sky, acoustics lab, lighting lab), a joint planning-architecture lab for spatial analysis (GIS, space syntax) and another for emergent technologies such a digital fabrication. Several years ago, the College added a full-time grants and contracts administrator position to assist faculty in identifying potential funding sources, submitting applications and administering grants and contracts. It has proven to be a good investment, one on which we will continue to capitalize. Since adding this position, the average annual total for funded awards has risen from $200K to nearly $2M.

In subsequent sections focusing on individual programs, we elaborate on program goals and how these intersect with research challenges and opportunities. Foremost among them is the fact that the relatively modest research funding in architecture and planning translates into fewer research assistantships (GSRAs) to help our graduate students underwrite their tuition and living expenses.