Talking Architecture is a series of live interviews hosted by the course Talking Architecture (VIS 2359), conducted by students and moderated by Instructor Diego Grass. These events are spin-offs of GSD-sponsored public lectures held during the semester. They intend to extend the conversations between these guests and the GSD community.
In this third session, we talked with Andrew Freear, Director of Auburn University’s Rural Studio (http://ruralstudio.org/).
Andrew Freear, from Yorkshire, England, lives in a small rural community in Hale County, West Alabama. Educated at the Polytechnic of Central London and the Architectural Association, he has practiced extensively in London and Chicago. He taught design studio for 5 years at the University of Illinois at Chicago before joining Auburn. After the untimely death of the studio’s co-founder, Samuel Mockbee, he became the director of the organization in 2002.
His architecture students have designed and built community buildings, homes, and landscape projects for under-resourced local towns and nonprofit organizations. He has also designed and built Rural Studio exhibits at the Whitney Biennial, the Sao Paulo Biennal, V&A in London, MOMA NYC, and most recently at the 2016 Milan Triennale and the Venice Biennale. In 2006 Freear was honored with The Ralph Erskine Award. In 2008 he was a Laureate in the second edition of the Global Awards for Sustainable Architecture in Paris and he was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture for 2016. In 2020, The Architectural League of New York awarded him the President’s Medal.
This interview was conducted on April 23, 2021, and questions were performed by students Shane Ah-Siong, Selwyn Bachus, Jack Chen, Chris D’amico, Alaa Hamid, Noy Mizrachi, Tara Oluwafemi, Gabrielle Redding, Kenismael Santiago-Pagan, and Sheng Zhao.
Course Event Page: https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/event/talking-architecture/
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UCcA1don221rKq1EmbvQB27g
