Rural Studio
Andrew Freear.
Director & Wiatt Professor
(United States)
Rural Studio is an off-campus design-build program rooted in Hale County and part of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at Auburn University. Its core mission is the education of its students, coupled with research on sustainable, healthful rural living through housing and the vital systems fostered to ensure communities thrive. The studio is committed to cultivating students who are both local architects and citizens of the world.
To date, Rural Studio has built more than 200 projects and educated more than 1,200 students in the Black Belt. Around four dozen students are invited each year to participate in this context-based service-learning curriculum, living and working alongside neighbors to find solutions together. The program challenges students to consider not what can be built, but what should be built.
Current research focuses on innovative practices in home access and affordability, effective and efficient timber use, small-scale farming, and access to resources such as clean water. Each area is understood as integral to long-term wellbeing and regional sustainability.
