In observance of mental health awareness week, we need your help to raise $20,000 for two teams of Auburn University Rural Studio architecture students who are supporting mental health awareness in our community by building new homes for women and a new courtyard space for a local nonprofit.
DONATE TODAY AT WWW.SUPPORTRURALSTUDIO.COM
Auburn University Rural Studio is an off-campus design-build program which gives architecture students a more hands-on educational experience while assisting an underserved population in West Alabama’s Black Belt region. Since its inception in 1993, Rural Studio has expanded the scope and complexity of its projects, focusing on community-oriented work. The Studio questions what should be built, rather than what can be built, both for the performance and operation of the projects. The Rural Studio philosophy suggests that everyone, both rich and poor, deserves the benefit of good design. Each project is designed and built by a team of students, 18-24 years old and is paid for by donations and grants.
Currently, two 5th-year student teams are working with a local non-profit organization in Greensboro, Alabama, Project Horseshoe Farm, whose mission is focused on strengthening our community, improving the quality of life of our vulnerable neighbors, and preparing citizen service-leaders for tomorrow’s communities. Each team is building a project that supports and expands the reach and impact of Project Horseshoe Farm’s multitude of programs that address physical and mental health.
The first student team is designing and building a new Enhanced Independent Living Home for Project Horseshoe Farm that will support local, vulnerable women. The project, called Horseshoe Farm Homes, will include several living units on a residential site in downtown Greensboro. The program provides housing for any woman, no matter their past or present struggles, and these new living units strive to create an environment that supports mental, physical, and emotional wellness. Each unit is completely self-contained with a kitchenette, dining area, bedroom, bathroom, and front and back porches. Additionally, the team is designing a community space central to the housing units so that each resident has total flexibility in their health journey by offering both independence and community with connected but self-contained economical homes.
The second student team, the Horseshoe Hub Courtyard team, is defining the exterior courtyard space at Project Horseshoe Farm’s headquarters, called the Hub. The Horseshoe Hub currently hosts a multitude of physical and mental health activities—so this project aims to provide a much-needed flexible space to facilitate and enhance these many programs and activities. Although the courtyard space is conceptually separate from the building, the design responds to the existing site by creating an exterior room with vegetated walls that frame the sky as a ceiling. These vegetated screen walls, along with the trees, provide shade and comfort during the warmer months of the year while in the winter they allow natural light and warmth into the space. The canopy of trees additionally provides a more intimate area within the limits of the central room, which is designed with moveable seating to maximize the flexibility of the courtyard. Surrounding the main space are two porches for participants to sit and watch the activities happening in the courtyard and feel connected while not necessarily participating. One of these porches doubles as a stage for performances, lectures and movie nights when needed.
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