Taubman College Meredith Miller Wins Graham Foundation Grant
Assistant Professor Meredith Miller wins a 2015 Graham Foundation Research Grant for her proposal; Bioplastics! and Architecture’s Many Natures.
A critical reflection on architecture, material production, and environmentalism, this project will pair research on the territories implicated in manufacturing biopolymers with design experiments using bioplastic components cooked from everyday ingredients. Bioplastics! and Architecture’s Many Natures positions two scales of research on bioplastics to formulate an approach to design practice that can navigate a post-natural contemporary condition. As a territorial investigation, the project surveys the landscapes, techniques, and significances of plant-based polymer manufacturing in the Midwest; through material research, the project tests the design potential of various biopolymers cooked from everyday ingredients. Results will continue to be documented in a bioplastics design cookbook by Miller. 
Meredith Miller, self-published bioplastics cookbook, 2013. Courtesy of the author.
Founded in 1956, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts makes project-based grants to individuals and organizations and produces public programs to foster the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society.
For more information: http://grahamfoundation.org/grantees/5293-bioplastics-architecture-s-many-natures
