After a long time of waiting and planning, we finished this last tour by finally visiting the city and area around Newbern, Alabama to see some of the amazing architecture that Samuel Mockbee and the Rural Studio built. It's a really fantastic concept that Mockbee started back around '87 - to teach students from the architecture school at Auburn to build beautiful and creative homes for people who were living in the worst conditions of the area - for free - and often using recycled materials like tires, hay, cardboard and carpets as well as local materials (like wood from the Talledega forest) and designs that fit in the environment they are built in. But here's what makes these work: they are truly beautiful structures - aesthetically pleasing and designed for and with the people who will live in them, people who have generally never received any help from the outside community on this scale before.
And they seemed to not even ask for it. The stories are that often people who are approached to receive these houses are often reluctant - mostly because they are afraid to lose what little they do have. After several tries with some of the families, Mockbee or now the new director Andrew, have had to explain that the families will be totally involved with the process of the building and design and they can also get other things they need in the plans like gardens, large front porches, and smokehouses in addition to the homes which are designed to use little energy to disperse the heat and keep them warm. That seems to make it easier for the families to make the choice to work with them. They still have to work on small lots generally right next to the trailers and shacks where they lived but the Rural Studio has done this seamlessly in the houses we saw.
Here's the Butterfly House:
The Carpet House:
Haybale House:
They've since built seven homes (maybe more) for underprivileged families and
also 5 or more large projects for the community around Newbern and their work is truly inspiring to see. I know this is easy to say and hard to do but, in my opinion, I'm amazed that more colleges and business people aren't doing this around the country. It's such a great way to improve the community and make everybody happier and proud. Mockbee's visionary work led him to recieve a Macarthur Grant in 2000 and a trip to Oprah's show.
Sadly, Mockbee passed away in 2002 at the age of 57. However, his work is still being carried on by the Rural Studio at Auburn University and they were very eager to help us find the sites that we could visit and let us tour the grounds of the studio. They are at www.ruralstodio.com - you have to call them and go in person for the map of the sites.
They pointed us to a memorial near the Rural Studio that one of Mockbee's daughter's built for him. She's not an architect but the piece still turned out to be a wonderful and peaceful place to go and meditate where you can listen to things whispered through one side of the concrete that no one else can hear on the other side. Here's a look from inside:
And from the stairs of the birding tower you can look at this cool swamp below:
If you go out to Perry Lakes to see the Birding Tower, keep your eye out for a great BBQ restaurant/gas station called The Idle Inn on the way for a fill up both for your car and your BBQ
needs - the best Pit BBQ sandwiches in the world are there on long road out to Marion, Alabama. (sorry no pic!)
Also, go to Mustang Oil in Newbern for some great food (the catfish po-boy is
not on the menu but it's awesome). Below is the sideways pic of it with sweet potato fries!:
Everybody in the area is friendly and happy to tell stories about Mockbee and the people who have received the houses and we stayed at a great B&B called Blue Shadows that is just a great spot to be for it all - and the first place Mockbee stayed in the area. Ok, here are some more of the pics - the rest are larger and in a folder in the my photos section of my Myspace page - hope you dig 'em and get out to see it sometime yourself!!
Peace - Marty
smokehouse for the Butterfly House made out of stones, bottles and street signs:
The Chapel - a community center type building at Mason's Bend (where most of the houses have been built) with windows made from car glass - my only complaint in all of the Rural Studio works is here, it's a lot smaller than it looks and I wish it could have been made larger and be a bit more useful for everybody but it looks like they tried more for the look than the use on this one - it actually looks a bit scary to hang out in and overrun with tall grass and weeds now - they did say they needed help to maintain it - and they did put up some basketball courts behind it. I think they did a great job with the larger Lions Park in Greensboro - it seems to get a lot of use and it's a huge site - but a little far for these folks to get to - anyways it looks cool and hopefully someday they'll get the funds donated to expand and maintain it:
There's a playground they built behinf the HERO center (which they also built) in Greensboro, the largest city in the area that looks really great and the HERO center helps people find housing and receive aid, too. Here's a view of the fence outside:
and another view inside the Mockbee memorial:
