Citizen Architect
Jul 20, 2010
(Sam Wainwright Douglas, USA, 2009, DigiBeta, 60 min)
Co-Presented by Space.City
Sponsored by JAS Design Build
Screenings followed by a Q&A with UW Professor Steve Badanes
Architect Samuel Mockbee began a radical educational design/build program known as the Rural Studio deep in poverty-stricken Hale County, Alabama, hoping to instill his passion and philosophy in a new generation of "citizen architects."
Mockbee works on instilling architecture's future practitioners with the knowledge and passion to improve their community's quality of life by putting compassion and ethical responsibilities at the heart of their design. The result are graceful, clever and often stunning structures that provide shelter for the body and soul while fostering a dialogue between groups of people with disparate assumptions about race, class and economics.
Mockbee and his team are the avatars for a new generation of architects and designers committed to putting social and environmental responsibility at the forefront of their practice.
Watch the trailer:
