Chicago Leads the Rural Studio 20K City Challenge

Thank you to all who supported Auburn University Rural Studio at the community dinner and fundraising event on Sunday, August 25. It’s official: Chicago is the first city to reach the $20,000 goal! The 20K City Challenge will continue through December 6 — Meaning the prize for overall fundraising is still up for grabs!

What’s a 20K House?  The 20K House project began in 2005 as an ongoing Rural Studio research project addressing the need for affordable housing in Hale County, Alabama. With nearly 30% of individuals in Hale County living in poverty, the 20K House has evolved to become a well-built, affordable house for everyone.

What’s the 20K City Challenge?   Rural Studio aims to build eight 20K Houses to celebrate its 20th Anniversary, and we need your support to reach the $160,000 goal by December 6, 2013!

Help Chicago adopt one of the 20K Houses being built this year by visiting SupportRuralStudio.org to place your online donation.

Rural Studio, an undergraduate program of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at Auburn University, operates under the philosophy that everyone, rich or poor, deserves the benefit of good design. In 20 years, Rural Studio has built more than 150 community-based projects and educated more than 600 “Citizen Architects”. The objective of the Rural Studio students is to design and build a model home that could be reproduced on a large scale by a contractor and built for $20,000.

The 20K House project has a vision of good design, social responsibility, and taking something ordinary and elevating it to something extraordinary. This is an idea that we all can share. Landon Bone Baker Architects is working with Rural Studio to review drawing sets and code requirements. Our goal is to make a more streamlined drawing set that includes familiar details for contractors and home builders.