In our final guest-hosted episode, researcher and designer Josh Wasserman, from episode 44 talks to Andrew Freear, Director of Rural Studio which part of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture of Auburn University.

Freear lives in a small rural community in Hale County, West Alabama, where for twenty years he has directed this unique architecture program where students design and build community buildings, homes, and landscape projects for under-resourced local towns and non-profit organization.

Freear explains how the project has evolved over the years, and about the unique experience where the students live and work in-situ and are responsible for all aspects of the design and build process including liaison with community partners, local authorities, and those who will be using or living in the buildings.

About Andrew Freear:

Andrew Freear is the J. Streeter Wiatt Professor and Director of Rural Studio. He was educated at the University of Westminster and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. He has designed and built exhibits for the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Whitney Biennial, the Museum of Modern Art, the Milan Triennale, and the Venice Biennale. His honours include the Ralph Erskine Award, the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, and the Architecture Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Freear was a 2018 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University and in 2020 received the President’s Medal from the Architectural League of New York.

Connect with Rural Studio:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | Rural Studio Farm

Connect with Josh Wasserman on LinkedIn

Key Quotes

• We're here to educate architecture students and help them get a good design education.
• Architecture students get to not only design their projects, but they get to build their projects.
• There's a responsibility to make sure that you are building something that will be here a long time.
• In the late nineties we built a house out of carpet tiles.
• We asked ourselves could we come up with an affordable home that anyone and everybody could afford.
• We bring young folks into a place like this and they bring energy and it breaks down some boundaries. class boundaries, race boundaries, misconceptions about this place.
• We have ambitious students who want to, save the world and you can't come to a place like this and tell people how to live their lives
• I think we should care about the craft of things. We should care about the way things are put together. And from concept to compete completion. It's a richer world if it's that way.

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Read the transcription for this episode at our website