Rural Studio’s favorite time of year is always the Halloween Reviews & Newbern Community Pumpkin Carve. Halloween Reviews is the first public review and critique of 5th-year student projects and teams; this year’s reviewers include Emily Taylor Welty from Tulane University’s Small Center, as well as Alex Krumdieck, David Hill, and Ernesto Bilboa from Auburn University School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Planning. Halloween Reviews is also the mid-term review for 3rd-year students.

This year, we also had an extra special lunchtime lecture by our friend and Rural Studio alum Jonathan Tate as part of our 2024-2025 Workshops & Lectures Series. Jonathan Tate is founding principal of the Office of Jonathan Tate (OJT) based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Recent recognition includes AIA National Housing Award (2019 and 2021), American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Prize (2020), and Progressive Architecture Award (2021).

The day is always capped with a Newbern community costume contest and pumpkin-carving competition. Special thanks to The Stable for sponsoring four awards for the competition. Check out these amazing costumes!