Historically, research and creative practice have been constructed as "opposites." This is not an unusual struggle in architecture schools, particularly in the context of a research university. This perceived tension between design and research is indicative of age-old anxieties within the architecture field to understand its nature as an "applied art." Design can be a purely creative activity not unlike creative practices in music and art. In other cases, design can be a purely problem solving activity, not unlike research in engineering and industrial production.

In its fifth year, University of Michigan Taubman College's Research Through Making (RTM) Program provides seed funding for faculty research, worked on by faculty, students and interdisciplinary experts. The exhibition presents tangible results of their collaborative work.
This year's projects:

"City of Nights: Detroit Illuminated": Karl Daubmann, Osman Kahn (UM Art and Design) and Catie Newell
"PneuSystems": Kathy Velikov, Geoffrey Thun, and Santinder Singh Baveja (UM College of Engineering)
"Displace": Wes McGee, Catie Newell, and Brandon Weiner (UM library)
"Carbon Fiber Architecture": Glenn Wilcox and Anca Trandafirescu
"Knit Architectures": Sean Ahlquist, Wes McGee, Anthony Waas (UM Engineering), and Georg Essl (UM Engineering)