There have been criticisms of the Studio’s teaching method. It’s striking to see teams of predominantly white college students serving an underprivileged black community as part of their coursework. And the level of design and construction of the Studio’s buildings is inconsistent. Some are beautifully conceived and executed, while others have a unfinished, amateurish feeling. While all the students and teachers interviewed are clearly devoted to the Studio’s mission, one can’t help feeling that they might work better, and accomplish more, if they surrender some hands-on experience and leverage the resources of local developers and tradesmen.
     What the Rural Studio and Citizen Architect both do quite powerfully is propose a new way to practice architecture. If you were to ask architects why they entered the profession many would tell you that they wanted to make the world — both physically and socially — a better place. And yet the priorities in a typical design office are to serve the client’s demands, to improve the value of properties, and to pursue abstract aesthetic or technical ideas.
     So Mockbee’s vision for the Studio, and his voice as an architect, remain vital. The Rural Studio implements architecture as a community service, building one small structure at a time and responding directly to people’s needs. The structures are modestly scaled and economically constructed, incorporating local, repurposed, and renewable materials, and they don’t surrender to any notion of style. As the design and construction industries turn to address economic uncertainty and sustainability concerns, the Studio’s principles seem especially timely. To see them carried out so clearly in this film is truly inspiring.