In architecture, research and creative practice are often constructed as opposites. The perceived tension between design and research is indicative of age-old anxieties within the field of architecture as it seeks to understand its nature as an "applied art."

Through a unique grant program at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, researchers challenge that perception. Research Through Making, a competitive grant for faculty now in its fourth year, provides seed funding for a yearlong investigation into the application of design to research. The results of their study are demonstrated in the installations in this exhibition which will end this coming Sunday, April 21st.

"The broad reach of this year's projects – which include considering architecture as an experiment in domesticity, experimenting with structures that are composed to decompose, and articulating urban emptiness – speaks to both the creativity and intellectual rigor that our faculty bring to the fundamental link between design and research," adds Taubman College Dean Monica Ponce de Leon. "This grant gives our faculty the opportunity to move beyond the traditional approach to architectural research."

This year's projects from five teams of Taubman College faculty include:

• Electroform(alism): Masters, substrates and the rules of attraction - Jean-Louis Farges and Anya Sirota
• Making Nothing - McLain Clutter and Kyle Reynolds
• (DE)COMPOSING TERRITORY: Enclosure as a material negotiation between DIY bioplastics + a large-scale site in Detroit - Meredith Miller
• Crease, Fold, Pour: Advancing Flexible Formwork with Digital Fabrication and Origami Folding - Maciej Kaczynski
• Platform for Architecture & Makin' It, A Situation Comedy - John McMorrough, Julia McMorrough

The exhibition will be open for its final weekend this Thursday – Sunday from 3:00p.m. – 7:00p.m. at the Taubman College Liberty Research Annex located at 305 W. Liberty Street.

Electroform(alism): Masters, substrates and the rules of attraction

Making Nothing

(DE)COMPOSING TERRITORY: Enclosure as a negotiation between bioplastics + environments

Crease, Fold, Pour: Advancing Flexible Formwork with Digital Fabrication and Origami Folding

Platform for Architecture & Makin' It, A Situation Comedy

This year's judges were: Eva Franch i Gilabert, Director, Storefront for Art and Architecture; Michael Meredith, Principal, MOS; Assistant Professor, Princeton School of Architecture; Joe Valerio, Principal, Valerio Dewalt Train Associates.

For more information including details of past Research Through Making projects, visit the Research Through Making page.