THESIS.
The Fifth Year Thesis program at the Rural Studio is currently run by Interim Director David Buege and his assistant, Mark Wise. The thesis program expects students to live in Hale County for a full academic year or until the completion of their community project.
 
The focus of the students’ academic year is the research, design, build and completion of a complex community project. Working in small teams, the students experience the arts and crafts tradition of making architecture, work directly with the community, and have the added dilemma of negotiating designs and procedures with their teammates. Typically the teams are organized in groups of three or four students. The students, formulate sustainable building programs, write grants, make community presentations, and design and build their projects from foundation to roof. Projects have ranged from 40 acre parks, boys & girls clubs to experimental houses of dirt and newspaper.

The thesis projects are a huge commitment but offer a once in a lifetime, life-changing, opportunity to all students who take the chance. The work is focused and intense but physically, intellectually and emotionally rewarding.

Students are expected to have completed all their required courses by the time they come to Hale County. Courses covered in the thesis program at the Rural Studio are Design Studio and Thesis Research but there is also an opportunity to have a three-hour credit Special Problems class.

As with the second years, students are expected to work as a team, be respectful of their teammates, the Rural Studio opportunity, its legacy and most importantly its conscious roll as a neighbor in Hale County.