Slideshow: Rural Studio’s Social Designs for Milan and Venice

Borrowing colorful bales of cardboard from a nearby recycling plant, Rural Studio created the installation Forum for the 21st Milan Triennale, which ran from April 2 to September 11. Andrew Freear, director of the Auburn University-based studio, explained that the project existed within the constraints of creating little to no waste; using materials available in close proximity to the exhibition space, thereby minimizing transportation; and addressing the question, “How do architects and designers instigate a responsible attitude towards the resources that we utilize every day?”

For the Venice Architecture Biennale, which kicked off on May 28, Rural Studio designed a theater-like space in which to screen videos of the studio’s work in Hale County, Alabama. The materials used in Theater of the UseFULL — including insulation panels and metal spring-coil beds still wrapped in clear shipping plastic — will be donated to two Venetian organizations after the exhibition concludes in late November. The installation, says Freear, epitomizes the directive under which the Studio has operated since its inception: “to build not what can be built, but what should be built.” –Miriam Sitz