Architectural Exhibit at UA Shows how Studio Builds Innovative Houses

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — “Rose Lee’s House,” an architectural exhibit of a house built recently by the Rural Studio, will be on display starting Monday, Sept. 28, at the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art on The University of Alabama campus.

The exhibit will feature large photos and a model documenting the project, which was completed during summer 2009.

The Rural Studio, based at Auburn University, sends second-year architecture students into rural Alabama to build houses. This recent project was built in Footwash, near Faunsdale in west-central Alabama. The house follows an expandable, courtyard model that gives residents a porch for the hot Alabama summers. The students built the house for Rose Lee and her sons.

“This exhibit exposes the process the Rural Studio follows in its design-and-build practices, as well as its inspiring results,” says Bill Dooley, director of the Sarah Moody Gallery. “As partners in the exhibition, the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art and the Rural Studio hope to expose the process using a project that has just been completed in Footwash, Ala. — Rose Lee’s House.”

Elena Barthel, a visiting professor of architecture at Auburn and a native of Florence, Italy, served as the project’s director. She also helped design and produce the exhibit at the Moody gallery in Tuscaloosa. She will present a free lecture on the project at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, in 205 Gorgas Library. The Rural Studio is known nationally and internationally for its innovative designs and service to the community.

Funding support for the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art comes from the department of art & art history and the College of Arts and Sciences at UA. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. weekdays and 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, contact the gallery at 205/348-1891.

UA’s College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.