The late architect Samuel Mockbee practiced grandiosity on a small scale. His Rural Studio – an Auburn University program in which architecture students design and build personal and civic structures for citizens in Hale County, Alabama – set the standard for affordable structures, material reuse, and, oh yeah, vernacular beauty.
Austin filmmaker Sam Wainwright Douglas’ Citizen Architect: The Spirit of Samuel Mockbee and the Rural Studio, captures Mockbee’s charismatic personality and vision, as well as the vitality of Hale County’s denizens, in a fashion both moving and entertaining. If you missed Douglas’ doc at SXSW 09, or even if you didn’t, you’d be well-advised to catch its PBS debut on KLRU Monday, August 23, at 9pm. While you’re at it, check out our March 2009 interview with Douglas here.
This article appears in August 20 • 2010.