We are now in the second half of the semester, and we’ve only gotten busier since our last blog. Thing are picking up, and we are speeding towards Pig Roast. In the meantime, here’s just some of what we’ve been up to. 

Studio: Rinse and Repeat

Believe it or not, as 3rd-year students we really do not have much experience with hand rendering. Computer modelling? Sure. 3-D printing, CNC routing, adding textures and shadows in Photoshop? Why not. But we needed to be taught, and given the time to learn, how to use a 2B pencil to render. Thankfully, at Rural Studio, we were able to pick up the skills quickly. To give us room to practice, we were first tasked with a 6-in-square render of a native Alabama beetle species. The insects varied from smooth to hairy, from cute to tiny little nightmares.

While working on our rendering skills in studio, we’ve also made huge progress on site. We flattened out the foundation trenches, cut and laid rebar, and were finally able to pour concrete. Armed with nothing but shovels and trowels, we emptied out three cement trucks as fast as we could, patted down the foundation, scratched our names in, and called it a day. Big achievement. Little did we know the fresh brown hell that sat just around the corner.

We dig out the mud. We pour the concrete. It rains. We dig out the mud. It rains again. Drain the water, scoop, scrape, brush. Our footings had turned into a crawfish sanctuary. At least we stayed busy, and we were able to trudge onward with more rebar. As of writing, we are waiting for our concrete blocks to be delivered, and we are about to be really, truly out-of-the-ground.

Of all the things that Rural Studio offers, there’s nothing better than the architects who visit the Studio weekly. Recent guest lectures from architects like Ted Flato, Marlon Blackwell, and Dan Wheeler have been incredibly personal and engaging. It feels like a completely unique lecture environment, one where you can sit five feet from the presenter, one where you’re almost encouraged to interrupt. Students were also given the wonderful opportunity to meet and have lunch with a visiting architect, Tatiana Bilbao. We were thrilled to meet her and can only hope we didn’t scare her off with all of our questions. Students were also as excited to see Ernesto Bilbao, one of the nicest professors at Auburn.

Woodshop: Getting Steamy

Students have gone into full production mode as we transition from making mockups to working on our final chairs. For every team that means we are in the woodshop almost every evening cutting and gluing and clamping. Steve Long is a great help, but at this stage, he has challenged us to largely embrace the process of completing our chairs on our own, and every shop day has turned into a full workday without interruption.

For the Lina Bo Bardi Folding Chair team, this means constantly tweaking their chair pieces so that the entire chair folds correctly. For the Rietveld Zig-Zag team, this means joining and gluing at very odd angles. And for the Prouve Chair team, this means making everything at odd angles. On a weekly basis, however, students come together to answer the desperate pleas of the Aalto Stool team, who need at minimum six people to help them steam bend their stool legs. All in all, the students stay constantly busy in woodshop. 

History: Dungeons, Dungeons, and more Dungeons

As usual for our History class, we’ve visited some incredible antebellum homes and properties. Instructor Dick Hudgens typically only shows us projects that he himself has worked to help restore (or is currently restoring). As such, he’s able to give us ample information and access. For the restoration of the Gaineswood home in Demopolis, he produced a series of plans, elevations, sections, etc., and so he was able to show us fantastic in-depth plans and sections. The building itself was well worth the trip, with beautiful ceiling domes and a creepy dungeon.

We’ve learned a lot about watercolor painting in the past few weeks, and have now been given our final, large-scale watercolor painting in the spirit of the Beaux-Arts. Students have begun drafting various scenes on 22×30 inch paper, which we will be slowly washing with our homemade watercolor paints for the rest of the semester.

Student Life: Mark Madness

We recently had the pleasure of welcoming a group of 1st-Year Architecture students to Newbern. Sixty-ish students drove in from Auburn and spent the night. The students were amazed by our campus, especially our greenhouse. Some camped on the grass behind Morrisette, and some slept in hammocks right outside our student housing Pods. That night we had a campfire where we could get to know the freshmen. The next morning, the students broke into teams of 5 to 7 and set about constructing a dining table set that they had designed. Each 3rd-year supervised a team, ensuring their cuts were square and that they hadn’t seriously maimed themselves all to sell the Rural Studio lifestyle to next year’s students. 

The March Madness excitement began stirring around campus with students eagerly filling out Studio brackets and debating their picks. Many gathered at Morisette to watch the games together, cheering for the teams they picked and once again letting Auburn Athletics dictate our mood. The excitement built with every upset and buzzer-beater, making the tournament a central focus of conversation and competition. 

That’s all for now, folks! Things are moving along rapidly here so we hope you’ll check back in for one more blog post this semester.