Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency. (More than Common Decency).

By Andrea Oppenheimer and Timothy Hursley. Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press. 2002. [pounds sterling]21

'The land through which the Black Warrior [River] curls is rich with defeat. One only has to kick at its red surface to detect the layers of hurt beneath it.' This is Hale County, Alabama, one of the poorest places in the US and the rural backwater 'beneath the radar' of regulation where Samuel Mockbee found space to develop his Rural Studio. Far away from Auburn University, a radical educational experiment culminating in a new architectural aesthetic has been emerging. Recognition for Mockbee's work culminated in the award of the prestigious Macarthur 'genius grant' in 2000. Tragically, he died at the end of last year, victim of the leukemia he thought he had conquered. This book is a timely memorial to his life's work.

Mockbee was deeply conscious of the place from which he had sprung, the character of the deep south. In particular, he was sensitive to the inequitable social relationships which had permitted his own privilege, while invisible others suffered in poverty. He wanted to make 'the connection between esthetics and the realities underlying design ...' This book documents the work of his laboratory, demonstrating connections between the people and the place, using 'subversive leadership ... [to] keep reminding students of the profession's responsibilities' and how a new vernacular aesthetic grew out of this context. Tracked through essays and interviews with the parties involved and illustrated with beautiful photographs by Timothy Hursley showing the buildings occupied by proud users, the book describes how by working subtly, in small ways, at grass roots level, understanding and reinventing processes of design and procurement, a new relevance and social connectivity can come about. The lessons of the Rural Studio are so many and so varied it is humbling to read this book. It should be required reading for every architect, reminding them what good architecture can be achieved.