The work of Auburn University School of Architecture’s internationally acclaimed Rural Studio will be featured in the exhibition “Rural Studio: Education of a Citizen Architect” opening Sept. 5 at AU’s Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art.

The Rural Studio was established in the fall of 1993 by two Auburn University architecture professors, Dennis K. Ruth and the late Samuel Mockbee, as a way to improve living conditions in rural Alabama and to provide hands-on experience for students. It has so far educated more than 450 citizen architects in the classroom of Hale County, Ala.

Wednesday, Aug. 30 through Saturday, Sept. 2 during regular museum hours, visitors can observe Rural Studio students as they construct the exhibition. This work in progress includes students installing scale models of completed projects, a carpet tile temple and hay bale structures.

The Rural Studio is now under the co-direction of Bruce Lindsey, head of the School of Architecture, and professor Andrew Freear, director in Newbern, as well as the watchful eye of Director Emeritus Dennis K. Ruth.

Mockbee, a recipient of the prestigious McArthur Foundation genius grant and the American Institute of Architecture Gold Medal, died in 2001. In the five years since his death the program has continued to embody his uniquely revolutionary and compassionate vision in the education of young architects by training them to design and build projects with citizens in the communities of West Alabama.

The Rural Studio has been featured in exhibitions in Birmingham, The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in Scottsdale, Ariz. It has been the focus of exhibitions in Barcelona, Vienna and Istanbul. In 2006 it was chosen by the State Department to represent the United States in the Architecture Biennale in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In a departure from typical architectural classroom education, the educational method of the Rural Studio is fundamental and direct. Students build what they design. The Rural Studio challenges students to move into the classroom of the community and to build with a moral purpose. Students work with families and community groups to develop and design the projects.

Students work in teams and are responsible for helping to raise funds, soliciting donated materials, working with professional consultant engineers and visiting architects, and finally building the project. They gain experience in building, but more importantly they realize that there are things that they can do together that cannot be done alone.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Auburn University College of Architecture, Design and Construction and by generous support from InterfaceFLOR. Media sponsors are Opelika-Auburn News and WRBL-TV.

For more information about the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, visit www.jcsm.auburn.edu. Museum hours are Tuesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $4 for senior citizens. Admission is free for college students, AU faculty and staff, children under 18 and members of the museum.

(Note: this article is reprinted from the Auburn University eCommons Newsletter)