Rural Studio, 20K House, near Greensboro AL

This house was built by Rural Studio. We got wind of an opening of their new 20K house and went to see what it was like. We got to talk to some Rural Studio students at the opeing as well. A 20K home is built for lower income families and the premise behind these houses is that if a low income family can afford a twenty thousand dollar trailer then they can afford a 20K house.

Pie...I love Pie!! -- Greensboro AL

This was a very cool place is Greensboro called PieLab. I really wish there was one of these back in Halifax. It was started by two guys named Matt and Mark. In a nut shell the premise of the business is this:
Download Press Release

Pie + Conversation = Ideas / Ideas + Design = Positive Change
I think that this would do really well in Halifax.

This is the back of house where the graphoc designers work.


A stylish narrow bathroom.


These walls are on wheels and separate the front of the store from the back where meetings and designing happens. We had a great chat with Matt and Mark on the salvage wood table.


The Pie, THE PIE!!!


Rural Studio, Lions Park, Greensboro AL

Lions Park has a lot to offer. It has baseball fields, a skateboard park, two basketball courts and a horse riding area.

The main gates into the park.

Cisterns

Seat covering for the baseball players.

This structure is a canteen that opens up at the end.








Rural Studio, HERO Office, Greensboro AL

As written on their website:
"HERO works as a catalyst for community development in areas of the Alabama Black Belt to end rural poverty. As a non-profit housing resource center, HERO provides community resources and housing education. HERO began in 1994 by a group of committed citizens who wanted to create a strong community focused on family. HERO is a 501c3 non-profit organization."
The reason I've added this post is because Matt and Mark took us there which was down the street from PieLab. They are also starting up a new project just a little bit further down the street again called Project M: Think Wrong.





Rural Studio, student pods, Newbern AL

These photos are from the office of Rural Studio which is part of Auburn University. Rural Studio is a design build school and all of their projects are built by the students. The photos of the pavilion looking structures are buildings that the students have built in order to house them during certain periods of time.




A close-up of bundled corrugated cardboard that is used as a wall system in some of the buildings.








The walls are bundled corrugated cardboard. Them seem to be resisting the weather better than I thought possible.



A kiln for drying wood.

Sarah's Church

When we were in Greensboro at the fire station built by Rural Studio we met up with a woman who lives in the neighborhood. She was quite interested in what we were doing and wanted to tour with us for the day as we went to visit Rural Studio projects. Sarah said that she liked to your with people as a hobby. Before we set off she asked if she could take us to a church at the end of the day and we agreed.



Seaside

DAY11
We stopped into the most bizarre place called Seaside which is in Florida. The reason that I say it's bizarre is because every in the town is perfect, or at least everything seemed that way. The houses here. Real estate is big here and houses range in price from $500, 000 to almost $5, 000, 000. Also, has anyone seen the movie The Truman Show staring Jim Carey? Well this is the place where the movie was filmed, so you can understand why it felt well kept.
While we were here, Matt, who was the coordinator for the day, planned a architectural hunt he called 'There A'int No Parti, Like A Seaside Party' where we had to find specific houses by certain artists, trivia and test our abilities at drawing 'partis' of certain houses.




Running between all of the houses on each block are narrow sandy pathways that cut between the backyards of each house. These pathways serve as a more secluded route throughout the neighborhood.


A typical road amongst the neighborhood off of the man waterfront street.


One of the many beach pavilions that serve as entrances to the white beach.

This is the smallest post office I have ever been in. Inside there is only room for maybe four people.

Another beach pavilion.

A view looking up into that particular pavilion.

Beach umbrellas and chairs went as far as you could see along the beaches.



Keri, Clayton and I (Jon) walking around on our Parti search.