The last time you checked in with the Deborah’s Home team, we had just finished the main structure on the Pod Mock-up and wrapped up our first Executive Review. Since then, we’ve been busier than a bee preparing for the renowned Pig Roast, final Executive Review, and graduation. (Yup… it got four degrees hotter in here.)
Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Pod
We finished the entire structure of the CLT Pod back in April. Fast forward to the end of May, and we’ve now sheathed the stick-framed “gaskets” and applied our vapor barrier, Adhero Solitex 3000.
Structure Finished!Cutting the rough opening.Applying the sticky Adhero. Vapor barrier done!
Right now, we’re focused on detailing all the flashing conditions that will eventually carry over into the larger house (Deborah’s Home). The pod continues to act as our full-scale testing ground for exterior insulation details, weatherproofing strategies, and figuring out how to keep these assemblies simple and replicable for the real project.
Deborah’s Home
Now, you might be thinking, “Shouldn’t that mockup be farther along by now?”
Wellllll… slow your roll. We’ve got to keep both the pod and the house moving at the same time! And things have been nonstop around here with the end-of-semester lineup of events.
Starting off strong, we spent all of April preparing for Pig Roast and Executive Review II. For Pig Roast, we went all in with full-scale spray-painted floor plans to help show the scale of the house and the transition between structural systems. Alongside those, we displayed drawings of our floor plans, building sections, and construction details that have been simmering all year long.
It was incredibly exciting to finally share the work with friends, family, and the wider Rural Studio community. Between a full day of presentations, questionable jokes, and comically dramatic walk-throughs, we couldn’t have been prouder of the progress made this year or more grateful for all the people who helped guide us along the way.
After Pig Roast, a quick celebration was definitely due… but then it was right back to work because Executive Review II was drawing nigh. We worked tirelessly to prepare for another successful review alongside Justin Miller, Rusty Smith, Emily McGlohn, Stephen Long, John Marusich, and Andrew Freear. Discussions focused on construction sequencing, environmental impacts on the site, and exploring different CLT manufacturers and their products.
And after surviving the beautiful chaos of Pig Roast and Executive Review, we headed back to Auburn one last time…as students.
Drum roll please…
We graduated college!
A weekend full of celebrations, reunions, and seeing old friends marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. Don’t worry—we’ll still be hanging around Hale County and reporting on our progress.
What has the Dining House crew been up to this spring?
Following the pouring of the footings this winter, the team has since completed a raised slab foundation. Extensive rebar work, earthforming, and underground plumbing have all finished, with little in the way between now and framing. The foundation is now complete with 14 thin concrete piers, 3 feet away from the exterior walls, that will hold 4×6 columns. These uplift columns support the roof overhang and secure it firmly to the foundation, protecting against strong winds. Elsewhere, the Dining House team has explored the timber structure assembly through mockup trials. Rafters, a “sandwiched” assembly of 2x12s with a 2×10 in the middle, sit on a ridge beam, a sandwiched assembly of 2x16s and a 2×14 cut and milled from local lumber.
placing the ridge beam!cutting the angle on the columnsfixing the rafters to the columnsthe mockup with finished rafters in placestanding back to admire the work!
The mockup process has also helped the team refine their craftsmanship. By studying the trial assembly, they’ve learned:
how to cut precise angles accurately,
where precision matters most,
how to improve the final construction process before full framing begins.
It has been invigorating to watch the site transform. What once was a muddy puddle is now definitely beginning to resemble the Dining House. The mock-up provides a sneak peek at what’s to come. As the spring makes way for summer, the master planning around the Dining House is nearing completion, with a new parking lot laid. Major power and water lines are now rerouted. The slab has been stubbed up for electric and plumbing, and the team is connection those lines to existing water and power
This spring, the Dining House crew has made major progress on both construction and site infrastructure:
Foundation work is complete after winter footing pours. The team finished:
the raised slab foundation,
extensive rebar installation,
earthforming,
underground plumbing.
epoxying for the rebarcmu block wall is in and ready to infill!installing rigid insulationinfilling with engineered soilrunning strings and digging for the plumbing + electricchecking our work on pressure testsraking a nice layer of gravel over topchecking electric and placing outlet boxesformwork and wire mesh in place!heart glasses obviously! 😎
They also added 14 thin concrete uplift piers positioned 3 feet outside the walls. These will support 4×6 columns that anchor the roof overhang and help protect the structure from strong winds.
formwork ready for the concrete piersadding a nice finishtaking formwork down!
Overall, the project has moved from a muddy construction site to something that is now clearly taking shape as the future Dining House.
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 trusses over the workshop. Roof sheathing, the wooden layer that sits on top of the roof trusses, protects the interior of the house and supports the metal roofing above. One team cut the sheathing, hoisting it up onto the roof and nailing it into place. It was exciting to watch the roof come together piece by piece.
The common trusses over the house were lifted with the crane; the scissor trusses, on the other hand, were lifted entirely by hand. All 14 trusses were placed onto the laminated veneer lumber (LVL) beams, centered, made plumb, and then braced with diagonal pieces. To reach the tops of the trusses, we harnessed in for the first time, which made the process both safe and memorable. It felt like a big moment for the team, and a sign of how far the project had come.
With the sheathing well on its way to being completed for Pig Roast, our enclosures team started installing doors and windows with the help of Steve Long. This means that the house is now officially dried in, which is a huge milestone that allows us to begin focusing on the interior.
Back in the studio, we spent hours working together to think through how to create the best possible living space for Mark, including the potential for more than one person to live there in the future. We broke into smaller teams and developed two different schemes, then shared our ideas and received helpful feedback that led us to a final decision. After framing interior walls, the space began to feel more complete, and Mark’s house is starting to feel like home!
Yummy sheathing!Tape it down!Planning ahead!Pinup at Mark’s HomeMary Poppins corePutting up walls!
Woodshop: “You’re Sitting Me!”
Our chair work moved along steadily before completion! Each group of 3rd-years worked hard to perfect the craft of each of their chairs, four different designs, successfully completing mock-ups before the real deal. The mock-ups allowed us to practice our techniques for creating the pieces and to figure out how they fit together.
Two groups decided to take on the first chair, known as “Stool 60,” originally designed by Alvar Aalto. What makes this chair so unique is how the stool legs are crafted, using steam to bend the wooden legs to the perfect angle. The second chair, the “Standard Chair,” was designed by Jean Prouvé. On the way to the finished chair, the team successfully completed a mock-up and test fit their mortise and tenon joints. The third chair, appropriately named “Zig Zag Chair,” was designed by Gerrit Rietveld. The team working on this chair faced a few battles: the angles are challengingly sharp and require precision when being cut. That team also worked hard on the dove tail joints to get them perfectly placed. The final chair, by Lina Bo Bardi, is famous for its dynamic folding ability, making it flat for storage. After creating two mock-ups, the team set to work on the final product.
As the semester came to a close, we were able to have each of the chairs ready for Pig Roast. Producing our high-quality chairs included many missteps and a lot of practice. We learned with each mistake, discovering better ways to cut pieces, use glue jigs, and find correct angles. We all had our own hiccups with our chairs and challenges in their assemblies, but we were all successful in the end. Our experience in Woodshop this semester allowed us to take home an expanded and deeper knowledge and appreciation of woodworking, greater problem-solving abilities, and a brand new chair!
Clamping chair to the jigGetting the right anglesSteam Team
History: Beautiful Houses and New Heights
The last few weeks with Dick Hudgens gave us some of the most spectacular houses we’d seen yet! Starting with The Oaks, Ian welcomed us into his ornately decorated home, a beautiful Federalist-style house located in Greensboro. The period-accurate furniture and vast collection of art added much life and color into the house. Ian surprised Dick with a birthday celebration, and we sang Happy Birthday and ate cake in his beautiful dining room.
The following week, we traveled to Thornhill, and the house we saw blew us away! The pristine Greek Revival house overlooks rolling green fields at the most beautiful vantage point we had seen yet. The inside of the house was outfitted with much of the furniture original to the house, a result of it being owned by the same family as the original builders. The house has a few additions to the back, which were masterfully done and honors the design of the rest of the house. After touring from attic to basement to the family cemetery, we hopped in the truck and got a special tour of the fire tower. Ten stories off the ground, the tower offered us a bird’s eye view of the entire property and the surrounding forests, houses, and fields.
The next house that we visited was a short drive down the road to Uniontown and is owned by a member of Rural Studio staff, Dudley Long. Upon driving in, we were instantly welcomed by Dudley’s four dogs and the beautiful facade of her house. The design is unique: the cream plaster columns along the front and side of the house and the floating front porch are unlike anything else we have seen at our other stops. Before Dudley, the house belonged to her grandmother; it has always belonged to her family. After our tour, we sketched two elevations of the house, practicing our ability to capture detail and scale in a short period of time.
Our final tour with Dick Hudgens took us all over Selma, Alabama. We met at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which we walked across, and learned about Selma’s importance in the Civil Rights Movement. Next, Dick led us to the Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church just a few blocks away. The church was the starting place for the famous march from Selma to Montgomery led by Martin Luther King Jr. Dick Hudgens is currently leading its renovation, so we got an inside look! Our next stop was an amazing surprise: a visit to Charlie “Tin Man” Lucas’s studio! We received a warm welcome from Charlie, a Selma local. He led us through his workshop/gallery of creations, explaining the ideation behind his pieces, and giving us amazing life advice in between. His work is mainly rearranging recycled mundane materials to make inspired, playful works of art. Finally, we got to see Dick Hudgens’s own house, which hosts his antiques and his architecture studio. Dick showed us the highlights of his collection and taught us the history of the house. The class concluded with a dinner at a local restaurant, Tally-Ho, where we ate ten baskets of bread and recounted our favorite moments from this special seminar class.
Quick sketchingEmbracing The OaksPeeking at detailsClifford and Lo keeping us company!Sketching togetherExploring Pits FollyMeeting “Tin Man”
Student Life: We had a Field Day
We got to meet a whole bunch of new faces a few weeks ago with the 1st-year architecture students coming for their annual visit. They set up camp on Morrisette Campus, bringing their own tents and hammocks. We gave them a warm, West Alabama welcome and hosted a bonfire (complete with s’mores) to kick off their visit. The following morning, we all met at the Fabrication Pavilion. Earlier, each visiting student had been assigned a unique food, and the students were grouped according to similarities in their dishes. They’d been tasked with designing a table that represented the foods within their group, and we helped them through the building process. To start the second day, they presented their table plans, and we showed them the best tools to use to build the table by the end of the day. With lots of teamwork and communication, each table came together perfectly! The 1st-years presented their tables to the Rural Studio team and discussed how each group went about the building process, sharing knowledge that they’ll retain and apply to future projects!
The Students of Rural Studio, our student organization, hosted a weekend field day for a little friendly competition between the students. It was a nice change of pace from studio, as well as a chance to trade out tools for a little friendly competition. The events brought a mix of teamwork and speed, with group games that kept everyone moving and laughing. There may not have been any gold medals, but there were some winning moments and a few unexpected MVPs. All in all, it was a well-played weekend and a great reminder to enjoy those final weeks we had together as a Rural Studio team.
Winning teamField Day!Fire safety 101Homework at the pods
Pig Roast!
Our work on site has concluded, we have finished building our chairs and have put the final touches on our watercolor projects. Now, the only thing left for us to do is to celebrate all of the good work that we have accomplished! Pig Roast, our end-of-the-year bash hosted at Rural Studio, is an annual celebration to display student work and learn about all the work done throughout the year.
We were so honored to have guests from all around Alabama and the world come to celebrate with us. Families of students, practicing architects, alumni, and locals all traveled to see our accomplishments and to hear how our projects have unfolded this year. Friday kicked off the two-day celebration with the CLT Core House Opening. We watched a finished project be unveiled for a member of the community–a heartwarming and electric moment.
We caravanned into Greensboro, where dinner was served at the Horseshoe Farm Courtyard (a previous Rural Studio project). Shoutout to Mo Kitchen at The Stable for a delicious dinner and Chef Amanda Pinkstaff for the wonderful desserts! To end the night, a few Rural Studio alumni shared their own recent work and experiences, which was encouraging and thought provoking. Despite the occasional rain shower, day one of Pig Roast went very well!
Saturday was the main event, the day we had all been anticipating! By 8 a.m., a number of visitors had gathered on the Great Hall at Morrisette. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast (shoutout Chef Amanda and Ann) to fuel our morning project stops. After touring the projects of the “leftovers” (Studio students who have graduated), we presented our work from our History and Woodshop classes. Steve Long and Dick Hudgens both spoke on the nature of their respective classes, their curriculum, and the rigor required to do well in them. We displayed our final watercolor painting and process work for history. For Woodshop class, we presented our final chairs and some of the jigs that we used in their fabrication.
After a delicious lunch, we headed to Mark’s Home. Our presentation team set up on Mark’s new front porch as the crowd of family, friends, and visitors circled around. The presentation team walked everyone through the project, from the commencement of its design in 2024 to our semester’s share of the work. Our instructors, Emily McGlohn and Lauren Lovell, spoke about the work that had been accomplished in our semester and the ones before us. Then, Mark himself spoke, offering inspiring words to our group of friends and visitors.
On behalf of the 3rd-year students, we would like to thank everyone who came out to participate and to show their support during Pig Roast. Our gratitude goes to families and friends who drove out for our celebration, to alumni and other architects who came to view the work, and to the donors and locals who make everything we do possible. We would also like to thank our staff at Rural Studio for the best semester. The community and positivity that is fostered between staff and students at Rural Studio is unlike anything else. We always felt encouraged to overcome challenges and to push ourselves, to set a standard for our own work and craftsmanship. We learned so much this semester through the teachings of our professors. We were well taken care of by the staff at Morrisette and the people in and around Hale County. We are so grateful for this experience, and we will carry it into the next chapters of our lives in and well beyond our return to our homes for the summer. So long!
Xoxo, The Spring 2026 3rd-year team
Presenting at Mark’s HomeFIREWORKSWar Eagle, Mark!
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 include work on gravel courtyards and chain link screens.
Captivating new images
Get ready to see Smith Park from a new perspective. The park recently had a photoshoot with a drone thanks to Christian Ayala with the Front Porch team. It might not be as impressive as seeing the earth from the far side of the moon, but it feels just as exciting for the team! We’re thrilled to continue tracking the construction process from this bird’s eye view.
Construction progress
The trail is fully excavated! When you take a walk around the park, you can see how all of the pieces of the trail will come together—although the sections of road base look more like a walk on Mars than on Earth.
Over 50% of the of the concrete for the trail is finished. One continuous section of concrete trail surrounds the field and connects to the basketball court. The second section starts at the gravel courtyard by the pavilion and links up to the second bench. For a more detailed look at this process and the tree planting process, check out our last blog.
Tree launch window
How do we decide what trees can be planted and which ones need to wait? The sequencing is important because we need space for large concrete trucks to enter the site without driving over our freshly planted trees. Therefor, in most spaces, we must pour concrete before we can plant trees. The challenge is making progress on the trail quickly enough to plant within the “launch window” or planting season. So far, the weather has been on our side, but we are still racing against the summer heat to get as many planted in this season as possible. Over 50 have been planted so far with the help of our peers. Fellow 5th-year, leftover, and 3rd-year students came out to the park and helped to plant 10 trees in one morning. Thank you to the student organization and all the students who came out to help!
Black gum trees surround the field, and crepe myrtle trees shade the pavilion’s courtyard space. Our “mosaic” plating strategy uses sugar maple, trident maple, and river birch trees to create shady spaces around the park.
Exploring a new frontier
Chain link screens are starting to go up around site. We set the poles for the field backstop with concrete, and we are looking to install the screens in the coming weeks. The chain link screens will be hung vertically (a detail borrowed from Lions Park) to allow for the height of the fence to change. On the field, the sweeping arc of the backstop is taking shape. The next steps will be to attach the top rail that the screens will hang from.
Replacing the southern fence with a shorter oneRepairing the existing fence line
Work started again on the mock-up at Morrisette finishing out the chain link screen. To give the screens around the basketball court some dynamic movement we changed the shape of the end bays. Instead of setting all of the poles plumb and vertical, the end poles terminate into the ground at an angle, creating a shape similar to a sail. Check out the awesome renderings on the Smith Park webpage for a closer look at the chain link screens! This unique detail at the ground is what we were testing with the mock-up. We are also working through how to cut and secure the chain link screen when it is hung at such a steep angle. The mock-up proved that it is possible to achieve the shape we want and we can further test how to assemble the screen in a way that gives it the most durability.
Design updates from Mission Control
The design for the bathroom is becoming even more refined. After meeting with Rural Studio consultants, Susan Rodriguez and Charlie Lowrey, we made subtle changes to the entry sequence and simplified the roof. We are working through details for the roof fabrication The bathroom site is currently being prepped for plumbing and foundation work. As more details are falling into place, we are now able to further explore the graphic identity of the park.
Axon hand drawing of bathroom pavilionGraphic exploration of Bathrom Pavilion
That’s all for this mission! Report back in T–minus a few months for a progress report from the summer.
Multitasking: A word that is taking on a very real meaning for the group of four on the Dining House Team! As the construction for the Dining House is officially off the ground, we’re busy bees, juggling three huge jobs: on-site construction, work on the mock-up, and design tasks! Here are a few of our recent highlights from the large Dining House to-do list!
Snacking & working—multi-tasking at its finest
Progress During “Neckdown” Week
During Neckdown of Spring 2026, when we the Diners made some headway by organizing the Studio’s lumber inventory in barns around Newbern. In January, we completed milling all 28 4″ x 6″ pine timbers from on-site trees. These structural members will be used in the final design as tension columns. The largest pine tree available to the Studio was milled down to six 2″ x 18″s, which will be assembled into a ridge beam composite for the Dining House.
On site, the team erected batter boards and mapped out the foundation trenches. We also provided guidance as a team of contractors rerouted major drainage lines, installed French drains, and ensured proper site water mitigation.
Once the footer was dug and underground utilities were prepared, the team went into action, preparing for the first concrete pour of the project. Over the span of a week and a half, the four of us divided and conquered in building rebar cages that were composed of eight sections, intending to support the concrete block wall and piers for the soon-to-come columns.
Leading up to the pour, we team worked hard preparing the wastewater line and readying the rebar for lowering into the trench. This process looked like unusually hot spring days spent shoveling, unloading, and tamping gravel into the footer.
Rebar in its final spot for the footer pour
Moment of truth! Final touches included placing rebar cages, grade pins, and supports into the trench and gathering helpers and tools for the big pour! On the Friday morning of the pour, we were full of nerves and of excitement to get some concrete in the ground. Within an hour, the task was done and there was no going back!
Checking the level of the concrete pourThe final pour all complete!
Natural lighting options for the Dining House
Feeling great with a major item checked off the do-to list, the team worked through design and construction details, mainly addressing lighting strategies. An investigation into skylights led us down a path to explore daylighting strategies—gable roofs with and without skylights!
Using a series of skylight options, we explored how specific task lighting would move through the room, from sunrise to sunset, at different times of the year.
The study helped us to uncover the specific function of light in the process. Thomas Patterson, our knowledgeable lighting consultant, listened to us present the many ideas we developed, our presentations aided by models, digital renderings, and 2-D drawings. We discussed overall goals of ambient light, specific task lighting for cooking, and how materials would be highlighted, landing on a design without specific skylight moments. Our design includes a typical gable, large eastern and western curtain walls, and French doors. We are excited about the amount of glowing and indirect light that these choices will allow into the Dining House.
Interior view of the Dining House kitchen with simple pendant lighting and lots of natural light from the east and west
