5/3/01
AU'S RURAL STUDIO TO HOLD VALEDICTION CEREMONY FOR STUDENTS
AUBURN -- More than 40 Auburn University students who studied and worked at the College of Architecture, Design and Construction's Rural Studio in West Alabama will participate in a valediction ceremony on Friday and Saturday (May 4-5).
The students -- 33 sophomores and 12 fifth-year thesis students -- will be recognized for their work during the year. As part of the two-day event, students and faculty will showcase their work, then have a pig roast at the Morrisette House in the Newbern, home of the Rural Studio.
AU architecture professors Samuel Mockbee and D.K. Ruth co-founded the Rural Studio in 1993, which brings students from the College of Architecture, Design and Construction to the Rural Studio's base in Newbern., a town about 160 miles from campus in rural Hale County. The county is one of the poorest in the United States, with more than 1,400 substandard dwellings.
Each semester, second-year architecture students leave Auburn and move to Newbern. They are responsible for building a home for a family in need and working with the Hale County Department of Human Resources to select a family. Students then design and build a home, and each semester a new group of students continue the work until the house is finished.
This year's home, the Shannon Dudley house, will be dedicated at 11:15 a.m., on Saturday. The Dudley house, located five miles west of Greensboro at the intersection of Hale County roads 28 and 35, is the fifth charity house built by the Rural Studio.
Fifth year thesis students remain in Hale County for the entire academic year. These students find the funding, resources and clients for their projects, and then design and build their idea, either alone or in small groups.
The festivities will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday, with the opening of the Bodark Theatre in Newbern, an amphitheatre designed by thesis students Lee Cooper and Trinity Davis and built by both AU students and members of the community.
"The Bodark Theater will be a place to show films and hold community plays," said Mockbee.
Saturday will begin with a breakfast reception at the Morrisette House for parents of students, alumni and friends of the Rural Studio. Visitors can view the unusual pods that students live in during their stay at the Rural Studio and see the Cardboard Cottage and the Supershed. In addition, the sophomore students' paper design projects will be on display.
At 10 a.m, visitors can visit the historic Chantilly House, finally undergoing the first phase of planning and restoration. Originally located in Greensboro, Chantilly was moved 10 miles in 1996 to Newbern, where it has sat, mostly untouched, enduring the long process of waiting for the right combination of funding, talent, organization and advocates to champion its rebirth, said Mockbee.
"The original house remains as the center portion of what is now sometimes called a rambling cottage," he said. "Speculation as to the age of the main block is 1830-1840s."
Chris Humphries, a fifth-year student at the Rural Studio, is completing an in-depth research project, including detailed drawings, to return the structure to its original beauty.
Combined with the efforts of the Alabama Historic Commission, Rural Studio faculty, members of the local community, Humphries' work is in two phases.
Phase I includes documentation drawings of the existing spaces and architectural details of Chantilly, plaster material studies and the development of a working knowledge of historic preservation techniques. Phase II will consist of construction documents, bid process, budgeting and a model of the proposed rehabilitation of Chantilly.
From there, visitors can tour the Newbern Playground, designed by Rural Studio interns Nia Rogers and Margaret Sledge. The playground was built by the Rural Studio students and members of the community.
At 11:30 a.m, visitors will gather at the Dudley House, where sophomore students will officially present the Rural Studio's charity house to owner Shannon Dudley and her family. In 1998-99, the Dudley family, with six children, was chosen by the Rural Studio students as clients for a house.
The house includes 1,500 square feet and has three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, a combined kitchen-family room, a den and a dining room.
The family gathering spaces open onto a central courtyard which is bathed in light at sunrise and sunset.
"The house is designed to accommodate the many different needs of such a large family, attempting to give children and parents adequate private space, but at the same time creating rooms that foster family interaction," Mockbee said.
The materials used to build the house include rammed-earth for all exterior walls, a steel roof structure, metal studs and sheet-rock on the interior and an abundance of glass and transparent sheets of poly-carbonate in windows above eight feet and window-walls surrounding the courtyard.
Mockbee said the rammed earth construction is a building technique in which a cement-soil mixture is compacted into forms to create load-bearing walls that harden into what is essentially man-made, engineered rock.
"Rammed earth was chosen for the construction method because of its durability, its natural resistance to fire and tornado and its sense of permanence and security."
Lunch will be at the Akron Boy's and Girl's Club and Play Area, an organization first started by AU architecture student who will dedicate a new building and play area for meetings and activities.
Following lunch, Rep. Earl Hilliard, D-Ala., will officially open the Akron Boy's and Girl's Club with a ribbon-cutting at 1 p.m.
"The project focuses foremost on providing youth with a healthier environment while sparking new interest and pride in the town itself," the congressman said.
Built by fifth year thesis project students Patrick Ryan, Brad Shelton and Craig Peavy, the project also includes a play area designed by Amy Holtz, Andrew Olds and Gabe Comstock. "There is an outside plaza and play area made out of cardboard," Mockbee added.
At 2 p.m., students will showcase a revitalized 50-year-old baseball field in Newbern by thesis students Marnie Bettridge, James Kirkpatrick and Jay Sanders.
They spent their final year of architecture study in Hale County designing a baseball backstop for the Newbern Baseball Club. The club was founded almost 50 years ago and plays on a site that has seen baseball for nearly 100 years, Mockbee said.
"While some would think it a modest project, the students have designed and built a wonderful sculptural backstop that is a unique addition to a beautiful place with a beautiful spirit."
At 4 p.m., students and guests will return to the Morrisette House for the Valediction Ceremony, followed by the annual pig roast feast.
mayl01:AU-ruralstudio
CONTACT: Mockbee, 334/624-4483.