“There’s a perception that design is just part of the culture of cities or urban places. To bridge this misconception, it's important to bring young folks into an isolated rural place, like Newbern, to encounter the many provocative design challenges and opportunities.” (Andrew Freear, Director of Rural Studio).
Rural Studio—a program operated by Auburn University as part of its School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture curriculum—was founded in 1993 by Samuel Mockbee and D.K. Ruth. To date, the program has educated more than 1,200 students in the social responsibilities of architecture while providing a hands-on design-and-build experience. For many students, it is their first experience living and working in a rural community—one where the daily economic struggle impacts all aspects of life.

A key to Rural Studio’s teaching is that students are not parachuted into the area for a short visit. Instead, they live in, and learn from, the community. Building trust and understanding is core to the program. Andrew Freear emphasizes the importance of community to the Rural Studio mission: “We have tried to give local people a voice. For thirty years, we have been doing projects that, very simply, nobody else was doing.” Over the decades, the students have designed and built more than 220 projects, including a firehouse and library for Rural Studio’s hometown of Newbern, Alabama.
Keeping with the ethos of creating dignified, thoughtfully designed buildings at a reasonable cost, in 2004 the Studio started the 20K Project. By building on a body of knowledge gained from each year’s constructions, this project aimed to help provide affordable, wealth-building homes for the community, addressing issues of energy efficiency, health, and resilience—while maintaining high-quality design.
In 2019, the Front Porch Initiative further evolved the 20K premise. Rural Studio faculty and staff now work with national and regional partners to design and build housing that is affordable and that responds to the climatic and social requirements of an area. The Initiative also works to remove barriers that keep people from homeownership.
In recent years, Rural Studio has widened its mission to address rural challenges different from, but adjacent to, housing. These include energy efficiency, locally available materials, healthful eating, and access to wastewater systems. The areas of research build on the Studio’s deep roots in a rural setting, on “living rural” and experiencing challenges firsthand, but also on student projects, which have long been at the core of Rural Studio’s work. At the heart of the program lies a profound humanity. Students from all backgrounds have the opportunity to witness the importance of the work and the impact of thoughtful, sustainable, affordable, and dignified design.