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The late architect Samuel Mockbee, who brought the benefits of design to the rural poor in the South, will posthumously receive the 2004 American Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal, one of the field’s most prestigious honors, the AIA announced Thursday.
Mockbee, who died in 2001 of complications from leukemia at age 57, founded Auburn University’s Rural Studio, which created low-budget but beautiful homes and community centers for the rural poor in western Alabama.
“He taught his students … to embrace his philosophy that everyone, rich or poor, deserved a `shelter for the soul,'” said AIA Gulf States regional director Jamie Aycockok, who nominated Mockbee.
