Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency [Paperback]

Andrea Oppenheimer Dean (Author), Timothy Hursley (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1568982925 | ISBN-13: 978-1568982922 | Publication Date: January 1, 2002 | Edition: 1

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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The genius of an architect who made beautiful and functional homes out of inexpensive materials is celebrated in Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency. The book showcases work Mockbee (1944-2002) undertook in Hale County, Ala., where he recruited architecture students to help design and build free homes for impoverished residents. Andrea Oppenheimer Dean, a former executive editor at Architecture magazine, and photographer Timothy Hursley, an architectural photographer who has been documenting Rural Studio for nine years, present 132 color and 12 b&w photos of the warm, modern homes (which often incorporate recycled and natural materials like tires and hay bales) and discuss them with Mockbee, his students and the home owners. The work has been featured on Oprah, Nightline, CBS News and in Time and People.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From 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, led by Samuel Mockbee of the Auburn University School of Architecture. Mockbee ran this studio for ten years until his tragic death from leukemia last year at the age of 57, a year after winning a MacArthur genius award. His students and associates created some of the most interesting and innovative architecture in the United States by serving the humblest needs of some of the poorest people in the most neglected counties of Alabama and Mississippi. About a dozen houses, churches, playgrounds, pavilions, and community centers are represented here in elegant photographs by Hursley, the unofficial photographer of the studio, and in concentrated prose by Dean, a former executive editor of Architecture magazine. The book includes descriptions of each project, interviews with students and clients, instructive essays on key topics, and a complete bibliography of the Rural Studio. Recommended to studio art as well as architecture programs. Peter Kaufman, Boston Architectural Ctr.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568982925
• ISBN-13: 978-1568982922
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book, but slightly lacking, February 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency (Paperback)

I have been an admirer of the work of the Rural Studio from the start and couldn't wait to get this book... The photos are beautiful and touching, but the book is lacking in drawings (i.e. plans) and text. I was hoping for more about the thoughts and processes that students put into the designs, the role of Sam Mockbee in it all, and some architectural drawings that would more comprehensively showcase the projects

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this book taught me so much, and reminded me of much more, June 13, 2002

By 

Matthew O. Nugent "chaglang" (Somerville, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency (Paperback)

As an architecture student, each reading of this book reminds me why I got into archiecture in the first place; that architecture at its best is ingeneous and beautiful; that architecture is as relevant as its practicioners make it; that there is a greater good to be adressed by all in the field; that shelter is architecture's raison d'etre; that there are more important things in the architectural world than the latest Prada opening.

As a human, it reminds me how to live and create well.

You don't get that from your average architecture book, do ya?

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ETHICAL ARCHITECTURE, December 25, 2002

By 

Bonita L. Davis - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency (Paperback)

In this stunning book the reader is taken to the most impoverished areas of Alabama and witnesses an astounding change in the architectural landscape. Homes that were once inhabitable shacks have been transformed into aesthetic buildings that have been transformed into true homes. Samuel Mockbee, his students, and his organization "Rural Studio" have made this transformation possible.

Rural Studio is a picturesque story of social consciousness taking place through the vehicle of architecture. Mockbee believes in making a difference in the lives of poor people who are in substandard housing. Alternative materials ( such as corrugated cardboard) and the recycling of cast off wood, tin, windshields and other unusual resources are used for construction at an affordable price.

I enjoyed the philosophy that Mockbee instills in his students not by preaching but by having them engage with their clients. His students learn that poor people are like people anywhere with their hopes and dreams. In listening to their clients his students learn how to build functional structures for them that meets the needs of the clients. I was overwhelmed by the before and after pictures of their various projects and was impressed with the use of alternative materials for insulation and windows.

Rural Studio is indeed doing good work and its founder and students are to be commended for their commitment to social change. I must admit that I also have some misgivings about the work. Mockbee's students (at least the ones portrayed in the book) are white upper to middle-class students of architecture who are helping impoverished African-Americans. Why aren't there African-American students in his group? These good works have a smack of paternalism no matter how well intentioned.

It is good to build affordable housing for people. Yet, what about the impoverishment of the community that doesn't allow for the upkeep of the housing? What good is it to build a home only to see it fall into disrepair because the people are unable to pay for its upkeep? These are the haunting questions that were always in the back of my mind.

Rural Studio will not give you the architectural plans of the homes built but shows the transformative spirits that come about when people are treated with dignity and decency. This is a book about relationships and an architecture that moves beyond the functional mode of plain buildings. You will be moved by the projects and people.