Welcome back! We’ve been busy…like, ‘there’s more than just a concrete slab’ busy.
Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Pod
Mid-February, we were finished taping the slab. Fast forward to the end of March, and the structure is up!
CLT walls are up. Stiffeners are in. Stick-frame walls are framed. The CLT roof is set. And yes, plenty of bracing to make sure it all stays that way.
Seeing the pod come together at full scale has been a big moment. What started as drawings is now a space we can walk through, giving us a clearer understanding of how our design choices play out in real life.
Deborah’s Home
At the same time, the house project has been moving along. We have a new site and a new client, just five minutes down the road from campus: close enough to feel familiar, different enough to require some real adjustments.
We revisited the design to better respond to the site, while keeping the core ideas intact. Along the way, we had a strong round of consultant input that helped sharpen the project.
Andrew Berman with Andrew Berman Architects pushed us to rethink the wall system, encouraging us to test a single CLT panel instead of stacking two, simplifying the build and speeding up construction. Katrina Van Valkenburgh with CHS Solutions, Mike Newman with SHED Studio, and Pete Landon with LBBA helped us tighten the plan by maximizing shared spaces and being more intentional about where stick framing does the work. Amanda Loper with David Baker Architects worked with us on refining the entry sequence, double-height space, floor plan, and window placement.
Right before Spring Break, we had our first big test—Executive Review One. The question was simple: Are we ready to build this?
Overall, it went well. We got strong feedback on our exterior cladding, floor plan, detailing, and interior strategies. Enough validation to keep moving, and enough critique to know exactly what needs more work. Thanks to Justin Miller, Rusty Smith, Emily McGlohn, John Marusich, Steven Long, and Andrew Freear!
Now things are getting more specific. We are digging into mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (a.k.a. MEP) systems, material specifications, and the actual sequence of construction. Less guessing, more decision-making.
Well, this pod isn’t gonna build itself! Catch ya next post!
Welcome back! Rosie’s Home is on to its punchlist, and the students are working diligently as the 30th Pig Roast inches ever closer!
Right before spring break, 3rd-year students enjoyed a barbeque afternoon on site with their clients and had the honor of trying Frankie’s delicious fried catfish and “which-a-way” burgers. There was plenty of dancing, especially line-dancing like “Cotton-Eyed Joe” and Frankie’s favorite, the Electric Slide, as the students showed new moves to Rosie, Frankie, and teachers Emily McGlohn and Judith Seaman.
After spring break, 3rd-year students took off running on Rosie’s Home. Yesenia, Denae, Julia, and Brysen finished installing the floor and trim, while Mac and Sarah worked with Judith on custom-building and installing the final, and largest, window.
With all of these details out of the way, their instructor, Steve Long, is helping install cabinets in the kitchen; Yesenia, Denae, Sarah, and Emily are putting up the door; and Julia, Brysen, and Mac are applying final touches to the attic space. The team is pushing to finish interiors so they can make the final designs for the landscape and porch as the team enters its last month in Hale!
One Step Closer to Taking a Seat
Woodshop class with Steve has been very productive as students are finishing details on their cutting boards and continuing to work on their chairs. Yesenia and Sarah have been having many “bending parties” where the entire class participates in helping bend and clamp a steamed wood leg for Alvar Aalto’s Stool 60. This process is meticulous and time-sensitive, but so far, has been a win! Denae and Julia successfully steam-bent their first piece of wood for the seat of Jean Prouvé’s Standard Chair; they are continuing the process and mark their angles on hardwood for legs. Mac and Brysen are working hard at perfecting the mechanics involved with the Lina Bo Bardi folding chair on the drill press and jigs. Each seat brings its challenges, but the students are taking plenty of time to construct the chairs as best as they can.
In what felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the class was able to spend a full 8 hours in woodshop on a recent Friday, and they took full advantage! They also have had the fabulous opportunity to spend more time in woodshop on typical site days to fabricate elements of the house such as window trim and cabinet base trim.
Trips with Dick
History trips with instructor Richard Hudgens are always a high for the 3rd-years every Monday, and these last three houses certainly did not disappoint. The students came to a collective agreement that Thornhill Mansion in Forkland, Alabama, was their favorite trip to date by far. Yes, the house was beautiful, but the view from the home’s hilltop perch over the Black Belt prairie was especially breathtaking.
In addition, though Professor Hudgens has visited this location numerous times, he had never climbed the 100-foot fire tower this house hid until now. Students and Hudgens took on the hair-raising, exhausting, but 100% worth it experience of climbing this tower with the owner, Mr. Jones, for a view that stunned from the top. The weeks that followed took the class to old favorite, Folsom Farm in Marion, with its famous seed house and general store, as well as the stately Gaineswood Mansion, with a section like no other!
The students were also given their final watercolor assignments, extra-special this year for the 30th Anniversary of Rural Studio. They will be on display at Pig Roast — so come on out to Hale and see their hard work!
1st-Years in the House
In March, Rural Studio holds its annual 1st-Year Workshop, where freshman architecture students are commissioned to design a model stand responding to studio models they previously presented. With themes such as “nest,” “slide,” and “rotate,” these model stands came to life with the help of 3rd-year, 5th-year, and “leftover” students. The visiting class received tool training from Steve Long the first afternoon, followed by dinner and a show (spaghetti and a lecture from Andrew Freear). It’s safe to say the younger students had an up-close view of what daily life will be like at Rural Studio should they choose to apply!
The second day, students were divided so each group had one 3rd-year advising them. And what would a Rural Studio visit be without catfish!? Students enjoyed a wonderful catfish lunch provided by Chef Ann before getting back to work on their model stands. The day concluded with a review of each stand with Andrew Freear, John Marusich, Emily McGlohn, Judith Seaman, and special guest Katherine Hogan of Katherine Hogan Architects in Raleigh, NC. Hope to see them here again in two years!
So Much Fun, So Little Time
Spring has sprung, and this means the Farm is always busy. Students are assigned farm duty, which recently has involved planting peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers, harvesting greens, and protecting plants from freezing overnight. This Alabama weather can be so unpredictable! Each week, guests from across the county visit Newbern to conduct workshops with 5th-years and give a lecture to all students and faculty during lunch. Recently, visitors have included: Katherine Hogan from Raleigh, NC, Pete Landon of Landon Bone Baker in Chicago, Amanda Loper and Cameron Acheson from David Baker Architects in Birmingham, and Rick Joy from Rick Joy Architects in Tucson.
Hammocking has been a recent obsession for the 3rd-Years. In Greensboro, pickleball isn’t for the weak! The students find themselves playing with Fellows from Project Horseshoe Farms many times during the week, when they aren’t absolutely demolishing competition at trivia in Greensboro that is (they never win). Weather is warming up which means more outside activities, keep an eye out, their soccer skills are defrosting as we speak!
The Spring 2024 3rd-year students found their way to Newbern, and for Rural Studio’s own 30th Anniversary year! These past few weeks have been filled with many firsts for this group. They learned quite a lot already about putting things together and have been thrown into Rural Studio history with the traditional first-week Project Tour!
Checking out the new wastewater system!
During their first week in Hale County, the newbies discovered trivia at The Stable and weren’t doing too well, stuck in last place throughout the whole night with 53 points. Then came the final round, which was the special twist: answer the question right and you gain the points that your team wagered, but if you get it wrong you must subtract the points wagered. The group of five decided to wager it all to give themselves a fighting chance at surpassing the first-place holder who had 98 points—and it worked! The group won with 105 points! Unfortunately, the following trivia nights sadly do not share the same happy ending.
Winner, winner, pizza dinner!
Notorious Neckdown
During their second week in Hale County, the 3rd-year students had some good old-fashioned bonding time with the 5th-year students and faculty during “Neckdown” Week! Each day, the students battled the crazy weather and were split into groups to help out around Hale County.
The first group visited Perry Lakes Park with Emily McGlohn and Judith Seaman. They swept the walkways and replaced rotting boards on the boardwalk to the Birding Tower, Bathrooms, and Pavilion.
The second group was the Fabrication Pavilion with Andrew Freear, John Marusich, and Steve Long. The students helped take apart and assemble scaffolding that was then used to replace parts of the columns.
The third group had their first days on the farm, helping Eric Ball plant seeds, harvest carrots, and prepare microgreens to grow in the greenhouse. Group four was busy over at the Model Homes sprucing up for a Spring roster of exciting visitors. Students cleaned the homes, painted walls, and helped Mason Hinton and John Allen with general maintenance. Last but not least was the mobile task force later in the week with Emily and Judith. With a rotating team, they cleaned the Thesis Barn, Newbern Town Hall, and Brick Barn. They also scrubbed the fence to a shine along Highway 61 at Morrisette Campus.
“Neckdown” Week wasn’t for the weak, with such wacky weather almost every single day. From freezing weather to lots of rain, the new 3rd-year students got an unusual Neckdown forecast. At the end of the day, they had a great time getting accustomed to the new lifestyle in Newbern.
Rookies at Rosie’s
Working on Rosie’s home had been one of the most anticipated tasks for the 3rd-year students. With help from a few of last semester’s students, they quickly picked up where the Fall 2023 team left. Kati taught Julia how to trim the windows; Tanner, Sarah, Brysen, and Mac all worked on continuing the cypress wood paneling; Caitlin and Deane built louvers for the attic vents; and finally, Yesenia and Jack continued the electrical work. One big hit from the first week on Rosie’s site was the cats! The most famous is Crunch, who is extremely loving.
Over the next few weeks, the 3rd-year students all teamed together to finish putting up the cypress wood paneling that wraps the ceiling. This was a big step in the right direction when it came to finishing Rosie’s Home. The cypress wood ceiling perfectly reflects lighting down into the room creating a beautiful effect.
Once the ceiling was completed, it was time to trim and caulk the windows and louvers throughout the house. This step only took a few days, and soon after, the scaffolding was able to come out and the flooring began! The scaffolds leaving the house and completing flooring in the living and kitchen areas were such big accomplishments, we deserved a good rest on the floor. The flooring is called Marmoleum, a variety of linoleum which is manufactured with linseed oil that uses a click-lock backing system and is part of 3rd-year students’ ongoing study in healthier material alternatives. Along with its health advantages over vinyl, the whole class is loving how easy Marmoleum has been to install.
The class is super excited to keep checking tasks off of the list and pushing towards the finish line of Rosie’s Home.
Head-Turning History
Dick Hudgens is the professor for the history seminar here at Rural Studio. However, his classes are not like any regular history classes these students have had before. Hudgens takes the students on trips to visit historic homes around the Black Belt region and includes the use of natural watercolors in his sketching assignments. At the beginning of the semester, a watercolor-making class is held led by local textile and dye artist Aaron Sanders Head. During this class, the students are shown a few ways that watercolor pigments can be made using natural resources like local plant matter, kitchen scraps, and leftover building materials.
So far, we have visited four homes: Glencairn, Magnolia Grove, Bluff Hall, and Lyons Hall. We learned a lot from these four homes and are excited for the other trips as the semester progresses. If you’d like to see everyone’s work, all sketches and watercolors done throughout the semester can be found at Pig Roast coming up at the end of next month!
Locations of the homes visited so far:
1. Glencairn, Greensboro, AL
2. Magnolia Grove, Tuscaloosa, AL
3. Bluff Hall, Demopolis, AL
4. Lyons Hall, Demopolis, AL
Working Hard in Woodshop
The 3rd-year students have been spending a lot of time in the woodshop these past couple of weeks and have been keeping the woodshop instructor, Steve Long, on his toes. Each semester students are given two projects to work on within the shop. The first is a cutting board, which allows them to get familiar with the equipment in the shop. The second, and most important, project is to recreate an architect’s famous chair design from found documents. Most of these chairs are manufactured on a machine scale, so the project requires students to design the processes to build these seats by hand using the resources of the Newbern shop! Both finished products will be on display at Pig Roast, so be sure to come by at the end of the semester.
So far, we have made the cutting boards, performed research for our chosen chairs, and created storyboards for them. Most recently, we have started making mock-ups to prepare for the final chair build. We are excited to see how the chairs will turn out!
Here’s each group and their chosen chair!
Denae and Julia: Standard Chair No. 4 by Jean Prouve
Sarah and Yesenia: Stool No. 60 by Alvar Aalto
Brysen and Mac: Frei Edigio (Folding Chair) by Lina Bo Bardi
To end on a good note, get to know the new group! Here are some of their fun little theories…
What’s your fun little theory?
Denae Inniss is from the Bahamas. Theory: Animals that run out in front of your car are controlled by insurance companies.
Julia Van Pelt is from Columbus, Georgia. Theory: Farmersonly.com puts farms out of business.
Sarah May is from Huntsville, Alabama. Theory: Dogs have names for humans.
Yesenia Serrano is from Collinsville, Alabama. Theory: Whales have contact with life in the deep sea and life in space.
Brysen Calvin is from Chicago, Illinois. Theory: There is one cow on the moon; it never jumped.
Mac Harlow is from Atlanta, Georgia. Theory: The Denver airport.
Thanks for checking in, look out for big strides out at Rosie’s Home as we celebrate the home stretch of this 3rd-year project! See you soon.
It’s that time of year again…time for Spring “Neckdown” Week! It was a damp week all around Newbern, but the weather didn’t slow us down. All of the students and faculty got their hands dirty helping out.
Around Morrisette House, the Farm got plenty of attention and preparation for the coming growing season. We pulled out cover crops, tarped beds in the field, and started seeds in the greenhouse when the rain caught up to us. The front fence even got a facelift!
Work on the Fabrication Pavilion was one of the biggest Neckdown tasks this semester. A rotating crew of students spent time reinforcing each column to get ready for the pavilion’s second phase. There was almost as much scaffolding as people on site…
Other spots around town got some love too! The model homes and Newbern Town Hall both had facelifts, with lots of cleaning and repainting all around.
Another one of the main (and muddy!) projects for the week happened at Perry Lakes Park. The park boardwalk now has brand-new boards in place, ready for anyone who wants to come visit.
Now that Neckdown is behind us for the semester, it’s time to really dive into the projects. Keep up with each team’s blog posts to see where this spring takes us!
The end of the fall semester can only mean one thing in Newbern… Soup Roast!
The 2023 edition included plenty of showing and telling, from 3rd-years, 5th-years, and leftovers alike! The first day of Soup Roast included visits to the two current leftover project sites, the 18×18 House and the Rural Studio Bathhouse. Both teams got the chance to show visitors what they’ve been up to since they began construction.
The 3rd-year class has been busy this semester, and they were able to show off all of their hard work! At Rosie’s Home, they’ve completed exterior finishes, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, and are well under way with interior finishes.
In the Woodshop and History classes, students made cutting boards, large-format watercolor drawings, and replicas of famous chair designs. All of these were on display for visitors and friends to see!
The 5th-year students stayed hard at work during Soup Roast. Both the CLT Core House and the Fabrication Pavilion teams presented their current work to visiting reviewers. Kim Clements and Joe Schneider from JAS Design Build, Jake LaBarre from Miller Hull Partnership, Jim Adamson from design-build firm Jersey Devil, artist and architect David Lipe, artist Victoria Haven, and architects Isabelle and Nick Robertson were all in Newbern to help keep the projects moving forward. The second day of Soup Roast celebrations brought workshops and more discussion about the 5th-year projects.
The semester came to a festive end, with a celebratory dinner, six PechaKucha-style lectures by our visitors, and a bonfire. Huge thanks to Kim Clements for making this fantastic meal for us! Check back in after the holidays to see what’s next for the current projects!
