Cloud/Bank is a temporary installation designed for Exhibit Columbus, a 2017 exhibition and conference in Columbus, Indiana, by Architecture Lecturer Michael (Mick) Kennedy and a team of Taubman College M.Arch. students: Bob Allsop, Sophie Anstreicher, Scott Chriss, Chiao-Chun Chung, Julia Dallas, Kelly Gregory, Karl Heckman, Rachael Henry, Troy Huckendubler, Onur Kamburoglu, Panquat Kyesmu, Jenny Lee, Sarah Munchow, Kelsey Reynolds, Dan Smith, Tyler Whitney, Paco Wu, Shujie Xie, Jon Yates, and Yunsen Zhong. The project’s goal is to embody and communicate the historic legacy of the distributed networks of design and fabrication of both industry and agriculture in the Great Lakes / Midwest Region.

Cloud/Bank features advanced manufacturing techniques in architectural design that are unique to Taubman College. The students worked on parts of the project at the College’s FABLab. The project leverages a robotic fabrication technique developed by Assistant Professor and FabLab Director Wes McGee. The process utilizes a six-axis industrial robot augmented with a servo-controlled wire bending system to form three-dimensional shapes out of standardized steel rods.

U-M is one of five universities selected to participate in Exhibit Columbus, along with Ball State University College of Architecture and Planning; The Ohio State University Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture; University of Cincinnati School of Architecture and Interior Design; and the University of Kentucky College of Design, School of Architecture. Each university received $10,000 to support the cost of materials, fabrication and installation of the project.

Exhibit Columbus is an annual exploration of architecture, art, design, and community in Columbus, Indiana. This year's exhibition included outdoor installations by five Miller Prize-winning architecture firms, five international design studios, and six Midwestern architecture and design schools. In Columbus, Cloud/Bank was located near Central Middle School, designed by Perkins + Will, and Lincoln Signature Academy, designed by Gunnar Birkerts & Associates. Following the exhibition in Columbus, Cloud/Bank will be on view in the Liberty Research Annex Gallery through February 11, 2018.