The Rural Studio Philosophy

"Established in 1993 the Rural Studio came into being as a means to provide
undergraduates with an educational opportunity that is real in itself. The focus of the
Rural Studio is on people and place. Hale County, Alabama is one of the poorest regions
in the United States, with 1400 of its dwellings considered substandard. Working with
the Hale County Department of Human Resources in west Alabama, the students identify
which of the department’s lists of residents they are capable of helping. Before work
begins, students meet, confer and get to know the future inhabitants of their buildings.
One of the primary purposes of the studio is to enable each student to step across a
threshold of misconceived opinions and to design/build with a moral sense of service to
a community. Students leave the comfort of the university classroom to live, study and
work in the classroom of the community. This experience is designed to help the student
of architecture to be more sensitive to the power and promise of what they do and to be
more concerned with the real goodness of their talents rather than abstract good
intentions. The Rural Studio provides a lesson in the kind of singular vision and
inventiveness that comes from designing and building with imagination, resourcefulness
and honesty. The students become architects of their own education. Each academic
year, three studios of fifteen undergraduate students study and work with me and other
staff members on an intensive design/build program. They construct a homestead for a
needy family and undertake a series of community service projects. Project examples
include repairing trailers and leaking roofs, building an open-air pavilion, a new
playground and a chapel. Working directly with the community, the students have the
opportunity to become imbued with an awareness of how to practice democratic and
resourceful design. They become architects of the future with the power to have a life-
changing effect in the present."

--Samuel Mockbee, 1997

 Hay Bale House

The Rural Studio's first design/build project: it utilized unorthodox

inventive design principles, setting the standard that all successiv
by. Recycled wooden beams, clear fiberglass panels and stucco-la
Hay Bale House Click to enlarge
comprise the majority of the structure, which cost a mere $17,00
adjoining smokehouse, the first thesis project, is constructed out
recycled from a nearby silo, old traffic signs, and discarded bottle
has become one of the Studio’s signature projects.

Children's Center

The Children's Center, designed and built by four women students

workers with a local facility to treat traumatized and troubled you
a warm and friendly atmosphere. This structure also complement
Playground, an early work of the Studio, by providing additional r
Children’s
and child care facilities.
Center
Ora Lee’s Chapel

Pushing the boundaries of accepted architectural practices and pr

unique structure is both wholly traditional and avant garde. Indig
clay make up its 18” thick walls and combine with a variety of oth
cypress, steel, and over 100 rear windows from 1962 Chevy Capr
striking blend between organic and non-organic materials. The str
be a contemplative center and the focus of community gatherings

Sanders-Dudley Home
Ora Lee’s Chapel
This home for a family of seven is the largest house built to date
This home uses indigenous red clay walls, the Studio’s trademark
series of French doors recycled from a home in Nashville. The hom
the fall of 1999 and construction was completed in the fall of 2001
Click to enlarge

Sanders-Dudley Home