Design
The Promise of the $20,000 House
In Alabama, the Rural Studio design workshop has spent years refining prototypes for a cheap, well-made small house. Soon, they'll start selling the plans.
Since 1993, architecture students at Alabama's Auburn University have designed and built striking, low-cost buildings through the renowned Rural Studio program. To participate, the students move off campus and across the state to rural western Alabama, where they work with clients in one of the nation's poorest regions. The program has resulted in dozens of structures that improve the lives of individuals and whole communities: an animal shelter, park facilities, a Boys and Girls Club, and a series of houses targeted to cost about $20,000.
And with 16 iterations of the 20K house now built, the studio is getting ready to bring some of the plans to market.