THOM 14 | Fall/Winter 2020

Auburn University's Rural
Studio teaches people to build
on their strengths.
RURAL STUDIO BEGAN IN NEWBERN,
Alabama, in 1993 with a simple
but radical philosophy: Everyone,
rich or poor, deserves the benefit of
good design. Part of the architecture
program at Alabama’s Auburn
University, the studio has grown
from one professor and six students
to an internationally renowned
program that has graduated more
than 1,000 citizen architects and
built more than 200 projects in
rural Alabama, including homes,
parks and civic buildings. I sat down
with Xavier Vendrell, chair of the
graduate program for Rural Studio,
to discuss the studio and what
it has learned about connecting
communities.
Written by Kenny Thompson
Photographed by Timothy Hursley
and Rural Studio
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