For 10 years, students at Auburn University have been addressing the issue of social housing in an attractive and tangible way with their ongoing 20K House project.
By Kendra Jackson
Recently, a lot of attention has been paid to Rural Studio, the undergraduate program of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at Auburn University – and for good cause. Each year for the past decade, students of the program have been working in rural Alabama, one of the poorest areas in the U.S., designing and building and then redesigning a housing model, with the end goal being that they are affordable to even those living below the poverty line. The title of the project, 20K House, reflects the total US$20,000 price tag of each home, which covers materials and labour, and is an affordable mortgage for someone living on Social Security to carry.