The reputation of the Auburn University Rural Studio founded by the late Sam Mockbee stands as a benchmark for innovative and exuberant design with a deep social conscience. In this manifesto for the designbuild curriculum in architectural education, Tolya Stonorov reinforces the legacy of pioneers like Mockbee by examining 16 hands-on programs, all of which bridge architecture to the construction process and have a strong sense of community engagement. In so doing, she adeptly demonstrates the value of extricating architecture students from the confines of the studio and immersing them in the act of making.
The Island Design Assembly—led by Jonathan Marvel (Marvel Architects, New York), Stephen Kredell, and John H. McLeod (McLeod Kredell Architects, Middlebury, Vermont)—whisks students (via kayaks) to an island in Maine for an intensive program that partners with rural schools to create small-scale agriculturally oriented projects. If it sounds like fun and games, the account reads more like an episode of Survivor, with windstorms, foraging for seafood, and an all-night design session that ends with ordering materials in the wee hours of the morning for delivery by boat in the afternoon. The delightful results show that “architects can elevate ordinary things like a farm stand or a chicken house or a compost bin into something extraordinary,” says Stonorov.
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