The Rural Studio in Auburn’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction was recently featured by the Huffington Post for using their expertise to bring practical solutions to real-world housing problems.

In 1993, two Auburn University architecture professors, Dennis K. Ruth and Samuel Mockbee, established the Auburn University Rural Studio within the university's School of Architecture. The Rural Studio, conceived as a method to improve the living conditions in rural Alabama and to include hands-on experience in an architectural pedagogy, began designing and building homes that same fall. Professors Mockbee and Ruth sought funding to begin the studio, and through the years, it has received additional funding that has helped it become what it is today: a vision of a process to make housing and community projects in one of the poorest regions of the nation.

To most, the measure of success of the Rural Studio is in its built projects; in reality, its success is measured by its effect upon the lives of the students, faculty, families, and communities it touches. It is not only the buildings that make the Rural Studio what it is, but also the education the students receive about architecture and about society. Ultimately, it is about "sharing the sweat" with the community.

To read the Huffington Post article, $20,000 Homes Created By Students Could Help Fix Rural America’s Affordable Housing Crisis visit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/17/affordable-housing-rural-studio_n_6698096.html

To learn more about the Rural Studio, check out: http://cadc.auburn.edu/architecture/special-programs/rural-studio