Citizen Architects: An Evening with Rural Studio

The O’More College of Architecture, Art & Design at Belmont University is pleased to host a presentation of the renowned Rural Studio as presented by Rusty Smith, Associate Director of Rural Studio at Auburn University. Rusty will convey the history, present and future of the program as well as its wide-reaching breadth of work, its context, how it is achieved, and lessons along the way. This talk will invite you to reflect on how you think about your practice, in all areas of design, as a student or as a professional. The presentation will be followed by Q&A.

Rural Studio is a design-build program within Auburn University's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture. The Studio is an off-campus program located 150 miles west of the University campus in Hale County, Alabama.

Rural Studio has four main goals by teaching students through context-based learning, that is, actually living in and becoming part of the community and designing and building houses within the community.

1. To give architecture students the opportunity to learn the critical skills of planning, designing and building in a concrete, practical, and socially responsible manner.

2. To form leadership qualities in students by instilling the social ethics of professionalism, volunteerism, individual responsibility and community service.

3. To help communities through partnerships with the state and local governments and to provide suitable and dignified housing.

4. To develop materials, methods and technologies for use in an appropriate, context-based architectural language.

Founded in the Fall of 1993 by Samuel Mockbee FAIA, and D.K. Ruth, the mission of Rural Studio is to enable each participating student to cross the threshold of misconceived opinions to create/design/build and to allow students to put their educational values to work as citizens of a community. Rural Studio seeks solutions to the needs of the community within the community's own context, not from outside it.

Speaker

Rusty Smith is the Associate Director of Rural Studio, Auburn University’s internationally recognized design-build program. Established in 1993 Rural Studio gives architecture students a hands-on educational experience while assisting the underserved communities of Alabama’s rural Black Belt region. The students work in partnership with their neighbors in the local community to define solutions, fundraise, design and ultimately build remarkable projects. In its initial years, the Studio first became known for establishing an ethos of recycling, reusing and remaking. Over the past decade Rural Studio has expanded the scope and complexity of its projects to include the design and construction of community-oriented infrastructure, the development of more broadly-attainable small home affordability solutions, and a comprehensive approach to addressing insecurity issues relative to income, energy, food, health, and education resources. All together, the Studio continually questions what should be built, rather than simply what can be built. Rural Studio has earned a world-renowned reputation not only because of its one-of-a-kind hands-on approach to architectural education, but also in recognition of now more than 200 beautifully designed and constructed projects. Located in the small town of Newbern, Alabama (population: 186), Rural Studio has worked with a broad variety of community partners who together are committed to investing in and reinforcing the collective value of Place. The overarching philosophy of Rural Studio is quite simple: everyone, both rich and poor, deserves the benefit of good, dignified design, or what founder Sambo Mockbee often referred to as “Shelter for the Soul.” To date, Rural Studio has educated more than 900 Citizen Architects. Educated first at Auburn University and then at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Rusty is a nationally recognized teacher and scholar. His honors related to teaching excellence include the receipt of both the American Institute of Architects National Teaching Honor Award and the American Institute of Architecture Students National Teaching Honor Award. Collectively, Rural Studio has garnered numerous recognitions for both teaching and design, including The American Institute of Architects Presidential Citation, The Whitney M. Young Jr. Award for Social Responsibility, and the UNESCO Global Award for Sustainable Architecture.

Ticket proceeds go to Rural Studio

Parking Details: Garage parking