Role Model: Sambo Mockbee

(Inside the library for the next few weeks we are featuring a display of books and videos about heroes, role models and people who inspire.  Today and tomorrow we will post statements shared by two library staff members about their personal heroes and inspirational role models..)

Samuel "Sambo" Mockbee is one of my heroes--artist, architect, and teacher.  As co-founder of the Rural Studio at Auburn University he had a profound impact on architecture students and disadvantaged residents of rural Alabama.  Instead of designing grand skyscrapers, he, with the help of young students, created amazing, low cost housing and community structures often using recycled or inventive materials.  Not only were the designs functional, but they were also aesthetically pleasing and filled with spirit.  Samuel Mockbee is my hero because he used his great talents to give back to the poor and to help shape young architects.  In his words, "That is the reason you go to college, not to make more money, but to gain the knowledge to make this a better world."

Amanda - Circulation

Books featuring Samuel Mockbee:

Rural Studio : Samuel Mockbee and an architecture of decency / text by Andrea Oppenheimer Dean; photographs by Timothy Hursley; and essays by Lawrence Chua and Cervin Robinson.




Proceed and be bold : Rural Studio after Samuel Mockbee / text by Andrea Oppenheimer Dean ; photographs by Timothy Hursley