Unbuilt Michigan: The University That Never Was

Retired University of Michigan planner and SCUP charter member, Fred Mayer, has written an interesting article for the Ann Arbor Observer about campus projects that almost- or might-have-been-but-weren't-built at the University of Michigan (PDF). That publication does not post its own articles on line but has agreed to let SCUP share this one. Enjoy! (We're sure that Fred would enjoy hearing from you about this: fmayer@umich.edu.)

The U-M is almost always in the midst of a building boom. Year in and year out, Michigan has one of the most active programs of building renovation and new construction of all American universities.

This program is very carefully managed to ensure that substantial architectural design work is not undertaken until there is a strong likelihood that a project will actually be built. But despite these precautions, some projects never make it to the construction phase. Most of these unsuccessful projects are quickly forgotten.

Because most never progressed beyond preliminary stages, there is often little documentation remaining,and they are difficult to reconstruct. This article focuses on those for which design drawings survive. For more recent projects, it also draws on my own knowledge gained during thirty-seven years as the university planner.