Rural Studio - Auburn University

05/27/2026

The Spring 2026 3rd-year students completed their phase of Mark’s Home, with roof work, external sheathing, and interior framing. They celebrated this work, as well as the fruits of their History and Woodshop projects, at Pig Roast, all work they detail in their blog. Read about the last part of their semester. We hope to see them back in Newbern again soon!

Welcome back to the 3rd-year blog! Buckle up: this is going to be a big end of semester update. Site/Studio: Raise the Roof With the trusses over the house officially in place, we were excited to move on to the next phase of the build: securing the roof sheathing and beginning work on the scissor…...

05/26/2026

Smith Park in Greensboro, AL, is taking shape, with concrete, gravel, and four types of trees placed in “mosaic” style. The 5th-year "leftover" team is working feverishly to plant most of the trees in this season to ensure they thrive. They’re also working on the courtyard, bathrooms, and mock-ups of fencing, designing the fencing to allow easy maintenance. Smart! Visit the blog to the drone-perspective images of the park in its current stage, pictures that give you a bird’s-eye view.

As astronauts were headed for the moon, the Smith Park team was also reaching for the stars—if reaching for the stars means pouring concrete and planting trees! The second half of the spring semester was a productive one for Smith Park. We expanded our horizons beyond just trees and concrete to in...

05/26/2026

05/19/2026

What is the CREED House? The Auburn Creed begins with “I believe,” and the Creed Grants—sponsored by the Auburn Alumni Association fund innovative programs. Rural Studio was awarded one of the inaugural Creed Grants, and is now building the Cost-Effective, Resilient, Energy-Efficient, Equitable, and Durable (CREED) House, also known as Mark's Home. Learn more about the CREED House prototype, a house based on student-led research and development.

Last year Rural Studio was awarded an inaugural Creed Grant through the Auburn Alumni Association. This support is helping to deliver a new housing prototype that brings the Auburn Creed to life through design, research, and service. The Cost-Effective, Resilient, Energy-Efficient, Equitable, and Du...

05/15/2026

Congratulations to our eight 5th-year students on their graduation from Auburn University this month! We’re so proud of y’all!
👏👏👏 Lawson Faulk, McAllister Tucker, Tanner Wallace, Emma Johnson, Mac Harlow, Julia Van Pelt, Kati Warner, Caitlin Ranheim (not pictured)

04/23/2026

The Dining House team has been multi-tasking like pros. They’ve been designing and working on the mock-up, but they’ve also been busy with on-site construction and working with contractors to mitigate drainage issues. Impressively, they milled 4” x 6” pine timbers from trees that stood on site. They’ve now taken care of the underground work (utilities), have completed the first pour, and developed a lighting scheme. They have many details to share; visit the Dining House blog to read and to see pictures. https://ruralstudio.org/lesson-on-multitasking/

04/22/2026

The Deborah’s Home project is progressing nicely. The 5th-year team worked with feedback from a whole series of consultants, a process that, deceptively, sounds easy. It isn’t. Each expert brings an invaluable perspective and raises new questions, factors to consider, or ways of addressing a given challenge. And sometimes solutions lead to fresh challenges. One vital lesson: architecture is not about finding a one “right” solution because there is no single correct answer. After analysis and more feedback, the team received approval to build. Learn more about the process and their work on the pod on the Deborah’s Home blog.

The Deborah’s Home team has worked with a series of consultants, received approval to build, and are working on the Cross-Laminated Timber Pod as well.

04/17/2026

Our 3rd-year students have made excellent progress on Mark’s Home, all while learning to use tools in the Woodshop, learning from visits to regional historical homes and other structures, and making pigments for the History class. They completed the detail-oriented work to ensure that the trusses fit properly, positioned the first one manually, and tapped “Crane Shane” from Stillwater Machine to help install the others. Check out their blog for not only these details but also a peek into their “Pod Dinner” Mondays and the team members’ favorite songs for on-site work. Play list, anyone?

The 3rd-years have been keeping busy the past few weeks. From important moves made on site, to making first cuts done in the woodshop, and creating their own pigments for History class, there’s something new every day! Site: Truss-t Us We have been busy on site as we divided into teams to work on ...

04/15/2026

New blog post alert from the First Congregational Church Hall 5th-year team: Emma, Lawson, McAllister, and Tanner!

The First Congregational Church Hall team has been hard at work! We had an insightful meeting with Andrew Berman, Founder of Andrew Berman Architect. He guided us to critique and define the look of the hall from the outside, as well as to refine a universal point of entry into the First C...

03/27/2026

It's mock-up madness for the Dining House team. The first step in creating the “greatest mock-up” was testing the design and construction of the piers for the new Dining House. Next came the elevated slab, flashing, and framing. The final round of testing focused on the oak cladding salvaged from a past project. The team is moving right along, Onwards and Upwards. Read all about it on their blog!

The last time we saw you, we were gearing up for the greatest mock-up, and boy, do we have updates for you. The first step in creating the “greatest mock-up” was testing the design and construction of the piers for the dining house. The team augured footings and built formwork for four pie...

03/20/2026

Newcomer alert! Cait McCarthy and Jordan Young visited Newbern just before Spring Break, their first time joining Rural Studio Lectures & Workshop series. Cait and Jordan are assistant professors of architecture at Auburn and co-founders of office office in Auburn, AL. We loved having them here and look forward to having them back again soon!