gone south
At Clemson University I had the opportunity to engage in design build practices. The work of the Rural Studio in Alabama, Mockbee’s relation to Clemson, and the generalized condition of poverty and need in small communities in the South after decades of neo-liberal economics and conservative politics, I thought, could guide design pedagogy. In long debates and discussions with then colleague Jori Erdman, we agreed that “good design,” was not enough. Architectural design needed to be buttressed with and guided by a critical understanding of the territory it would engage. We proposed Southern Seminar, a class that would engaged the spatial politics and development of South Carolina. The seminar combined lectures and class discussions with historical and theoretical investigations. In the fall of 2001, armed with the experience of the seminar, we launched Studio South.