Rural Studio:
Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency
Andrea Oppenheimer Dean , Timothy Hursley

"I tell my students, it's got to be warm, dry, and noble" —Samuel Mockbee

For almost ten years, Samuel Mockbee, a MacArthur Grant recipient, and his architecture students at Auburn University designed and built 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 created inexpensive buildings that bear the trademark of Mockbee's work, which he described 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 called 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.

Samuel Mockbee died in December, 2001, at the age of 57, from complications relating to his long-term illness with leukemia.


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.
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Editorial Reviews

Choice:
"Rural Studio is more than a public service; it is a wake-up call to the profession to renew its sense of purpose. This book presents its subject well in concise, illuminating prose and in stunning color photographs. . . . Anyone who believes architecture should be a thing of joy as well as utility should find RURAL STUDIO a refreshing affirmation indeed." (September 2002)

More than common decency, Architectural Review:
"A timely memorial to Mockbees lifes work." (January 2003)

Buildings Go Up, IzzyGo (Izzydesign.com):
"The books photography and prose is beautiful; the story told is humbling and makes us think more deeply about the spaces we inhabit, the materials we use and how all people deserve decency." (Summer 2002)

Azure (Canada):
"This is the social art of architecture at its A+ best. . . . Throughout RURAL STUDIO we are presented with little dreams coming true in a place of devastating poverty. . . . This eerie landscape of trailer homes, patched-up barns and abandoned cars is presented clearly and sensitively, with the students astonishing buildings threaded through the 186 well-designed pages. . . . Indeed, Sambo Mockbee and his students created a small world of considerable power, and their commitment to human decency and fairness is forever embedded in Hale County." (May/June 2002)

An Architecture of Decency, npr.org:
"The students breathtaking results are now featured in a new book, RURAL STUDIO." (June 22, 2002)

Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency, ArchitectureBoston:
"RURAL STUDIO is at once a poignant memento mori and a celebration." (Summer 2002 )

Holiday Book Review, The San Francisco Chronicle:
"As pure design, the structures are ingenious . . . But what resonates is the notion that architecture ultimately is about society rather than art." (November 17, 2002)

I.D. Magazine:
"This book examines the finished buildings of the Rural Studio, and tells the story of the studio, Mockbee, his students and the residents of Hale County. . . . Utilizing materials that most people would consider trash, Mockbee and his students have constructed buildings stamped with Mockbees self-described trademark contemporary modernism grounded in Southern culture." (May 2002)

In the Sticks: Modern Rural Living:
"Andrea Dean's inspiring, moving book, tracks the journey of the Rural Studio through essays and interviews with the parties involved and is illustrated with beautiful photographs by Timothy Hursley showing buildings occupied by proud users. It should be required reading for every architect." (April 2003)

The Architecture of Decency, BookSense.com:
"RURAL STUDIO is one of those few truly engrossing books, that once opened, draws the reader into a different world. . .Mockbees buildings are not depressing, soul-less public housing, they are light, inspiring buildings that open up the possibilities of public architecture." (May 10, 2002)

MetropolitanHome:
"Fans of the late, great Samuel Mockbee will want to check out. . . RURAL STUDIO, which recounts the story of his social-activist work creating cutting-edge shelters for and with the rural poor of Hale County, Alabama." (September/October 2002)

Interior Design:
"In this timely and moving testimony, Mockbees commitment and lack of pretense are well matched by the graceful clarity of Andrea Oppenheimer Deans words and Timothy Hursleys photographs." (June 2002)

Warm, Dry, and Noble, Yes! A Journal of Positive Futures:
"An architect shows that the poor can have beautiful buildings, that students can learn about service as they learn a profession, and that recycled material can provoke the imagination." (Summer 2002)

The ethics of design: a few architects who have made values part of their practices, Architectural Record:
"Like Mockbee himself, this book impresses with its clear-eyed view of real life and its sense of conviction." (August 2002)

Building Blocks of Change, The Guardian Weekend (U.K.):
"What I find most touching about this work is its real lack of architectural oppression. This is design intended to improve but not change these peoples lives. Inside the homes, it is their choice of furniture, and their choice of lifestyle, that you see, not the high-minded offerings of an architect with good, but inappropriate, intentions. . . . Mockbee once said: An architectural studio needs to be subversive. We have to challenge the status quo in order to allow for a better future. He had a damn good try." (April 20, 2002)

Keeping to the Back Roads, Bluestocking:
"RURAL STUDIO reminds us that real good does come of social ventures and that these assistance programs can be both architecturally and socially sound." (Fall 2002)

Foundations of Decency, Hope:
"The book gracefully grounds the respect that residents of Alabamas Hale County. . . carry for Mockbee, as do his architecture students and colleagues. No wonder he won a MacArthur genius grant in 2000. And no wonder the architectural world paid tribute to the fifty-seven-year-old Mockbee when he died on December 30, 2001 a tree as big as an oak fell, writes Robert Ivy in the February 2002 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD." (May/June 2002)

Metropolis:
"Today, as architecture and design schools search for meaning, connection, and relevance, Mockbees realistic, common-sense approach provides powerful inspiration."

Library Journal:
"This book is a revelation. It displays, for the first time in book form, the accomplishments of one of the most celebrated architectural studios in America, the Rural Studio. . . About a dozen houses, churches, playgrounds, pavilions, and community centers are represented here in elegant photographs by Timothy Hursley, the unofficial photographer of the studio and in concentrated prose by Andrea Oppenheimer Dean. . . . Recommended to studio art as well as architecture programs." (May 1, 2002)

Real Life, San Francisco Chronicle:
"With more than a dozen built structures to its credit, Mockbees experiment is now the subject of a book, RURAL STUDIO. An illuminating introduction, interviews and critique by author Andrea Dean and glossy photographs by Timothy Hursley show how Rural Studio and Mockbee encouraged young architecture students to volunteer their time to build these uniquely affordable homes. . ." (June 22, 2002)

Architectural Alchemy in Rural Alabama, Chicago Tribune:
". . .a cross between an architectural monograph, a social history and a photo-documentary of the life of the Southern poor. . . .[The books pictures] are remarkable in themselves because they show the structures occupied by their owners and users. Theres no styling, as the shelter magazines would do, no carefully placed throw pillows and leafy potted plantsjust the actual detritus of everyday living and the people who live there. . . .RURAL STUDIO bears witness to acts of faith, hope anddare we say iteven love." (February 17, 2002)

Noble Hat Hanging, Publishers Weekly:
"The genius of an architect who made beautiful and functional homes out of inexpensive materials is celebrated in RURAL STUDIO." (April 8, 2002)

Let Us Now Praise Samuel Mockbee. Design for Living, Memphis Magazine:
"[Samuel Mockbees] death, at the age of 57, on December 30, 2001, from complications associated with leukemia, is his familys, his students, architectures loss. Mockbees example to us all, still our gain." (May 2002)

The Work of Genius, AIArchitect:
"RURAL STUDIO is the most definitive analysis yet of Mockbees contributions. . . to rural, dirt-poor Hale County, Alabama. . . . Aesthetically tuned and insightful prose. . .You may have read about Masons Bend Community Center. . . With this book, you feel as if you have experienced it." (July 2002)

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