Mark’s Home is a 3rd-year student project that builds on decades of Rural Studio’s housing affordability and resilience research. This new design prioritizes occupant safety and long-term stability. We’re partnering with our client Mark to design and build a one-bedroom, one-bathroom prototype house that enhances energy efficiency, durability, and climate resilience for disaster-prone regions like ours.
The students are making targeted improvements to the design of Mac’s Home, one of Rural Studio’s Product Line Homes. They have incorporated a FEMA-compliant safe room into the design and are working toward FORTIFIED certification. FORTIFIED’s beyond-code building practices offer stronger protection against damage from severe weather. Through hands-on research, students gain critical expertise, translating educational outcomes into real-world, high-impact housing solutions.
Mark’s Home is designed to be both adaptable and replicable, providing a scalable design—a design that can be made larger—for communities facing natural disaster risks. High-performance homes are being built around the country through Rural Studio’s Front Porch Initiative, and this work helps advance that research.
