The University of Michigan 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 the author's own knowledge gained during 37 years as the university planner.