Rural Studio Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency

by Dean, Andrea Oppenheimer; Chua, Lawrence; Hursley, Timothy; Robinson, Cervin

• ISBN13: 9781568982922
• ISBN10: 1568982925
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press

Summary

For almost ten years, Samuel Mockbee, a recent MacArthur Grant recipient, and his architecture students at Auburn University have been designing and building striking houses and community buildings for impoverished residents of Alabama's Hale County. Using salvaged lumber and bricks, discarded tires, hay and waste cardboard bales, concrete rubble, colored bottles, and old license plates, they create inexpensive buildings that bear the trademark of Mockbee's work, which he describes as "contemporary modernism grounded in Southern culture." In a time of unexampled prosperity, when architectural attention focuses on big, glossy urban projects, the Rural Studio provides an alternative of substance. In addition to being a social welfare venture, the Rural Studio--"Taliesin South" as Mockbee calls it--is also an educational experiment and a prod to the architectural profession to act on its best instincts. In giving students hands-on experience in designing and building something real, it extends their education beyond paper architecture. And in scavenging and reusing a variety of unusual materials, it is a model of sustainable architecture. The work of Rural Studio has struck such a chord-both architecturally and socially--that it has been featured on Oprah, Nightline, and CBS News, as well as in Time and People magazines. The Studio has completed more than a dozen projects, including the Bryant "Hay Bale" House, Harris "Butterfly" House, Yancey Chapel, Akron Chapel, Children's Center, H.E.R.O. Playground, Lewis House, Super Sheds and Pods, Spencer House addition, Farmer's Market, Mason's Bend Community Center, Goat House, and Shannon-Dutley House. These buildings, along with the incredible story of the Rural Studio, the people who live there, and Mockbee and his student architects, are detailed in this colorful book, the first on the subject. "I tell my students, it's got to be warm, dry, and noble"--Samuel Mockbee

Author Biography

Andrea Oppenheimer Dean is former Executive Editor of Architecture Magazine and a published author. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Timothy Hursley is an architectural photographer who regularly contributes to the international press. He lives in Little Rock, AR.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(13)
Mason's Bend	14	(50)
Bryant (Hay Bale) House	16	(16)
Harris (Butterfly) House	32	(16)
Mason's Bend Community Center	48	(16)
Newbern	64	(30)
Supershed and Pods	70	(14)
Newbern Baseball Field	84	(10)
Sawyerville	94	(26)
Yancey Chapel	96	(10)
Goat House	106	(10)
Sanders-Dudley House	116	(4)
Greensboro and Thomaston	120	(18)
Hero Playground	122	(2)
Hero Children's Center	124	(10)
Thomaston Farmer's Market	134	(4)
Akron	138	(40)
Akron Pavilion	140	(4)
Akron Boys and Girls Club	144	(10)
Rural Studio at Work: Interviews with Students, a Teacher, and a Client	154	(8)
In Praise of Shadows: The Rural Mythology of Samuel Mockbee	162	(10)
Lawrence Chua
Photographing Hale County	172	(6)
Cervin Robinson
Project Credits	178	(5)
Bibliography	183