ARCH 416

Spring '15

Suburban, Exurban, Rural

agenda

• suburbs

• early "garden" suburbs

• Levittown, NY

• exurbs

• Sam Mockbee and the Rural Studio

suburban pattern

Tim Burton

"Ballet de Suburbia"

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XVANpDVh5Y

what's wrong with sprawl?

art + culture of suburbia

Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road (1961)

John Cheever, "The Swimmer," (1964)

Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections (2001)

SAM MOCKBEE

(1944-2001)

On receiving a Macarthur

“Genius” Award: “I’m no

genius, but I’m smart enough

to take the money.”

4 examples

• Bryant House (Haybale House), Mason’s Bend, AL, 1994

• Harris House (Butterfly House), Mason’s Bend, AL, 1996

• Lucy's House, Mason's Bend, AL, 1997

• Mason’s Bend Community Center, Mason’s Bend, AL,

2000

Mockbee's philosophy

"Critical thought requires looking beyond architecture

towards an enhanced understanding of the whole to which it

belongs. Accordingly, the role of architecture should be

placed in relation to other issues of education, healthcare,

transportation, recreation, law enforcement, employment, the

environment, the collective community that impacts on the

lives of both the rich and the poor."

—Samuel Mockbee, "The Rural Studio," 1998

Mockbee/Coker, The Roger Cook House, Memphis, TN 1994

Roger Cook House,

interior

Mockbee’s evolution

from larger to smaller jobs

from wealthier to poorer clients

Bryant House (Hay Bale House)

Mason’s Bend, AL, 1995

The Bryants told Mockbee and the students that they wanted

mainly two things in a house: a room big enough for a bed and

desk for each grandchild and a front porch to entertain neighbors

and family.

Bryant Houserear elevation

"Architecture has to be greater than just architecture. It has to

address social values, as well as technical and aesthetic values."

Harris House (Butterfly House), Mason’s Bend, AL, 1996

Samuel Mockbee, Harris House (The Butterfly House), 1996

interior

"Everyone, rich or poor, deserves a shelter for

the soul."

Lucy's House, 1997

three main elements

• a single-story living space,

• a screened-in porch, and

• tower that doubled as a master bedroom upstairs and

tornado shelter/family room downstairs.

72,000 individually stacked carpet tiles

Sam Mockbee and the Rural Studio, Mason’s Bend Community Center, 2000

Detail, interior

Community Center, illuminated at night

Sam Mockbee, Mason’s Bend Community Center, 1997-2001

Richard MEIER

Jubilee Church

Rome, Italy

1996 - 2003

Which building is more beautiful?

Are your criteria: technical?

aesthetic?

social?

"To live in a space that supports our emotional and physical

well beings so perfectly is something we don’t take for

granted," she explains. "In all of the other houses we’ve lived

in, we have felt that they have taken a toll on us, whether it

was because they were too expensive and paying for them

created stress, or because they were so cluttered with

excess, unnecessary material things that we felt stifled.

Living tiny forces organization and simplicity and prevents

build up of clutter and chaos."

Compare and contrast according to Mockbee’s three criteria:

1. Moral sense

2. Ability to observe (truth)

3. Sense of wonder

Which building is most

likely to have been

designed by Frank Gehry,

and why? Cite at least

three pieces of visual

evidence in support of

your conclusion.