The Liberty Research Annex is an open plan facility rented by Taubman College. It provides space for students and faculty to collaboratively take on full scale material assemblies, installations, and group projects. Faculty offices are located in the space to foster interaction between research and making. Additionally, the facility contains 3 gallery/exhibition spaces that are available for the Taubman College community to reserve.
Access
- 305 W. Liberty Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
- Building is locked and accessible only via keyfob access
- Certain times of the year there are public exhibition hours when the door will be unlocked for public viewing access
Space Scheduling
The following general guidelines apply to space at the Liberty Research Annex.
- Pending projected availability, reservation requests for all spaces will be accepted up to 12 months in advance for the Taubman Community.
- Space can only be reserved for events that support the academic missions of the University of Michigan. Priority is given to architecture exhibitions.
- Space cannot be reserved for personal events.
- There are 3 areas that can be reserved:
- North Gallery: This is the main gallery space on the north side of the building.
- West Gallery: This is the small gallery space located in the aisle between the main entrance and the North Gallery.
- Conference area: This is the small conference area that is situated between the North and West Gallery spaces.
- To reserve space, the Events + Room Scheduling form must be filled out. All requests will be reviewed by Taubman Facilities and the Associate Dean for Research and Creative Practice.
- Check the “LRA: Conference Space(s) / Gallery” Google calendar prior to requesting space to see what is available.
- LRA faculty may reserve the conference space, if available, for day to day meetings on their own. No need to fill out the form.
- The event organizer must stay for the entire duration to ensure all guests are out of the building and the doors are locked and secured.
Exhibition Use
With all Taubman College spaces, leave the space better than you found it. If you have any questions about the space please contact Taubman Facilities (taubmanfacilities@umich.edu).
Exhibition use
- The exhibition coordinator will be responsible for the entirety of the set-up and tear-down of their exhibition. This includes cleaning the space and returning it to its original condition when the exhibition is complete. Taubman Facilities and Taubman IT are not responsible for preparing the space, setting-up or tearing down exhibition materials.
- The exhibition coordinator must pay for all/any equipment or furnishings out of their own budget.
Storage
Public spaces are not long or short term storage spaces. Any item left in public spaces, including circulation corridors, are subject to removal. This includes items with “Do Not Remove” signage.
Please reference this Taubman College Exhibition and Prototype Storage Guidelines document for additional information.
Event Use
With a shared building, we all need to do our part to be good stewards of the common spaces, especially with added work of events. As such, the expectations for events include clean up.
Please note: Event clean up includes furniture break down and trash removal by the event organizers. Custodial and Grounds staff are only responsible for regular trash levels. If your event adds to the receptacles, pull the trash bag, take it to a dumpster outside of the building and replace the plastic liner in the receptacle.
The volume of any event taking place in common areas during weekdays should not disrupt our faculty, staff, and students’ ability to work and conduct meetings. This includes any construction and setup noise along with sound checks that need to be conducted pre-event by musicians, DJs, etc
Safety & Security
- Taubman Facilities will need the name and contact information for the event organizer.
- The event organizer must stay for the entire duration to ensure all guests are out of the building and the doors are locked and secured.
- A key fob will be needed to enter the building. Work with Taubman Facilities to obtain a key.
- The event organizer is responsible for ensuring that event vendors and guests do not touch any faculty workspaces, material assemblies, installations, and group projects and are liable for preventing damage to work caused before, during and after the scheduled event.
Catering
The Event Organizer is responsible for arranging catering, greeting caterer upon arrival, and ensuring food waste has been removed from the premises at the conclusion of the event.
If you need to order food for events, the University offers an extensive list of preferred catering vendors that can deliver food using your approved short code. Some of Taubman College’s preferred vendors who are familiar with our building for food deliveries are:
- Breakfast: Afternoon Delight, Panera Bread, and Great Harvest
- Lunch: Jerusalem Garden, Great Harvest, Produce Station, and Pizza House
- Full-Service Catering – Cost Saving Options: EAT, Zingerman’s Catering, Produce Station, and The Original Cottage Inn
- Full Service Catering – Formal Options: Katherine’s Catering, Forte Belanger
Alcohol Policy for Taubman Events
If you are planning to serve alcohol at a Taubman College event, contact the Operations Manager (Laura Wilson, lmwil@umich.edu) to obtain approval for the alcoholic beverages prior to detailed planning for your event and before purchasing any alcoholic beverages.
The Event Planner Must:
- Purchase alcohol specifically for the individual event.
- If alcohol purchased for the specific event is not consumed, it cannot be stored in any University of Michigan building and held for future events. Any overage must be removed from the premises immediately following the event.
- The department/group planning the event must pay for the event alcohol.
- Have the event approved by the Operations Manager.
- Have a designated Taubman College faculty or staff from the hosting department attend and monitor the event.
- Collect a list of attendee names and affiliation (faculty, staff, student, alumni, guest) for submission with post-event expense reconciliation.
The Event Must:
- Be private, by invitation only, with no registration fee or cash bar.
- Be held in an area separated from general public access.
- Only licensed servers can serve the alcohol.
- Invite guests of legal drinking age. Alcohol should not be served when undergraduate students are in attendance. An exception can be made if the undergraduate guests comprise less than 30% of the total number of guests with prior approval of the Operations Manager.
Limits
- Expenses for alcoholic beverages are limited to $20 per person, per event, including tax and tip*.
- *The amount to tip is at the discretion of the unit, though generally 15-20% is typical.
- The alcoholic beverages expense must be separated from other expenses including venue deposit/rental, linens and decorations, equipment rental, bartender or wait-staff fees, and food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Cleaning expectations:
At the end of your event, please take care of the following:
- Tables & chairs – fold and stack tables & chairs (loaned from facilities dept or rented).
- Power cords – coil and set at the side of the room.
- Tubs – clean out and set at the side of the room.
- Equipment (AV items; Lecterns; white boards; easels) – put at the side of the room.
- Games should be with all pieces and in an organized manner at the side of the room.
- Ensure all trash and remains are removed from the space
- Food
- Food containers
- Decorations
- Signage
- All event trash removal should be emptied into the respective dumpsters outside of the building.
The Taubman Facilities team can support Taubman related events by transporting and setting up event furniture, coordinating trash removal and other event needs.
- Service requests involving standard services for events should be submitted with a minimum of two weeks’ notice by contacting Taubman Facilities at taubmanfacilities@umich.edu. More complex requests require at least three weeks’ notice.
- Equipment, furnishings, and accessories are liable to limited availability. You can find a list of event furniture here. There is no cost to use the items on this list.
- If you need additional furniture or assistance that Taubman can not provide, it is suggested you connect with a local event rental company for assistance.
The Taubman IT support team can assist Taubman related events by loaning out IT equipment. When possible, an IT staff member can assist with setting up the equipment.
- Service requests involving standard services for events should be submitted with a minimum of two weeks’ notice by contacting Taubman IT at taubmancollegeit@umich.edu. More complex requests require at least three weeks’ notice.
- Equipment, furnishings, and accessories are liable to limited availability. You can find a list of IT equipment here. There is no cost to use the items on this list.