A very fine $20K house prototype, from “Small Scale, Big Change” at MoMA.

from Planet-mag.com

($20K House VIII. Newbern, Alabama. 2009. By Rural Studio, Auburn University. Image: Timothy Hursley.)

Last night at a SoHo showroom Kansas-based architect Dan Rockhill spoke about his work.  He has two professional lives, one at an eponymous firm and another with the non-profit Studio 804.  His role at Studio 804 is a lot like the late Samuel Mockbee’s at Rural Studio.  Each semester he leads University of Kansas architecture students to design and construct a local building.

Rockhill’s projects, which are driven by green issues and a concern for craft, have an understated sensibility.  He called it a “chicken coop mentality” because they follow the most basic assumptions about building orientation, layout and construction.  Yet each of Rockhill’s structures is elegant and modern-feeling, like a box for living.  That might be the hardest thing about green architecture, making it beautiful too.