The Outreach Program, which began in 2000, was an opportunity for students outside of Auburn University to participate in Rural Studio. In its first year, seven individuals with backgrounds ranging from filmmakers, artists, writers, and sociologists to architects worked together to build the Mason’s Bend Basketball Court & Bus Stop. Because the group members came from a variety of disciplines, each student was also asked to take on their own independent research. These explorations ranged from water quality studies to cultural studies across Hale County. In the collective project the team chose an aesthetic and material pallet similar to the Glass Chapel, a neighboring Rural Studio project of that year . The wall and backboard of the basketball hoop was made of rammed earth and topped with a metal roof. The surrounding fence and enclosure was constructed with a light weight metal similar to the roof of the chapel. Both the basketball court and the bus stop are well used in the community, specifically in conjunction with the other Rural Studio built projects. Often, kids growing up in Mason’s Bend wait for the school bus below the shady roof or play pick-up basketball on the court.
