Elevate Something Ordinary to Something Extraordinary.

As for the houses themselves, Mockbee is aware that there are those who might accuse him of a subtle kind of exploitation. The families, one could argue, aren't exactly in a position to turn down the studio's offer of a house -- even if the design seems bizarre or unappealing to them. Mockbee rejects this notion. "Some people might say we're aestheticizing poverty," Mockbee says. "I say, Come on down here and spend a week with us -- and then say that. The clients are not guinea pigs. We do the preliminaries, we show them a model and drawings, we talk about the materials we'll use. We make sure that they understand everything we're planning, so that if they're uncomfortable with something, they can tell us."

Indeed, for the Bryants' house, students initially wanted to make it two stories, but Shepard Bryant nixed the idea, saying that he was too old to be walking up and down a staircase. Similarly, last summer's students had planned to build a bus stop -- but then, after talking to people and learning that the children waited inside for the bus and didn't need a bus stop, they decided instead to make a basketball court. Once the client and the students reach an agreement, however, Mockbee will not apologize for innovation. "We are architects, and we're going to push the envelope," he says. "We're not going to be sentimental or conventional. We're moving ahead."

Nor will Mockbee apologize for the pace at which the houses are built -- currently, about one per year. The Rural Studio does not aspire to be Habitat for Humanity, which has built tens of thousands of basic, affordable houses. By contrast, the studio is focused on building houses that have, as Mockbee calls it, a soul. Along with a house for the Bryants, students also built a smokehouse where Shepard Bryant could keep fish and game. The exterior is made of broken-up concrete curbing, with multicolored glass bottles embedded in the walls. The bottles are not there because they are necessary, or even remotely practical, but because they look lovely when the light shines through them.

Mockbee is teaching his students about the things that matter to him. After all, he is a teacher and the Rural Studio is, at its essence, an academic program. "All those houses are homework assignments," Mockbee says. "The students turn in their homework, and I'll be damned, it's a damn house -- and a good one too."

Curtis Sittenfeld (curtis-sittenfeld@uiowa.edu) , a former Fast Company staff writer, is a graduate student in the Iowa Writers' Worskshop at the University of Iowa. Learn more about the Rural Studio on the Web (www.auburn.edu/academic/architecture/arch/rural) .

Sidebar: What's Fast

Samuel Mockbee, an architect and a professor of architecture, cares a lot about design. But that's not all he cares about. At the Rural Studio in Hale County, Alabama, where his students from Auburn University build innovative, inexpensive houses and community facilities for needy local families, Mockbee encourages his students to focus on both the big picture and the small details.

"We're looking at the totality of where architecture exists and what it exists in: the environmental, the social, and the political. In a community, you have to look at education, law enforcement, recreation, and health -- and address all of it equally. You have to understand the community in which you live.

"Architecture as a profession is pretty conventional, and we often play court jester to neurotic politicians and egotistical developers. We acquiesce to their decision making when architects really should be in a position to make decisions, whether those decisions are about environmental or social injustices. Here at the Rural Studio, we are in that position. We play the real role that an architect should play: dealing with individuals and communities and doing what's appropriate for both. What's good for the individual should be good for the community and vice versa.

"On top of that, the one true gift that an architect has is his or her imagination. We take something ordinary and elevate it to something extraordinary."