The official member publication of the Alabama Council, The Alabama Architect is published on a quarterly basis. Content includes industry reports, product information, news on member chapters, firms, individual architects and professional affiliates. Features on member projects are also included. Advertising is accepted. For manuscript submission, advertising rates and dates of publication call: 1-800-239-5545.
The Alabama Council also publishes on an as-needed basis the Council News. Circulation of the Council News is to the executive committee and counselors who comprise the governing body of the Alabama Council, AIA. Content includes legislative updates and alerts, along with progress reports on special projects.
Sambo Mockbee Wins Gold Medal
Samuel Mockbee, FAIA (1944-2001), was awarded the prestigious AIA Gold Medal earlier this month by the Board of Directors of The American Institute of Architects. The highest honor the AIA confers to an individual, the Gold Medal recognizes an individual whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture.
Sambo is the 60th AIA Gold Medalist, joining the ranks of such visionaries as Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, LeCorbusier, Louis Kahn, I.M. Pei, AIA, Cesar Pelli, and 2002 AIA Gold Medal recipient Japanese architect Tadao Ando, Hon. FAIA.
Mockbee may be best known for founding the Auburn University Rural Studio-conceived as an opportunity to raise the spirits of the rural poor through the creation of homes and community centers which were designed and developed with the same set of architectural principles as those buildings made for prominent clients with large budgets.
"We look forward to sharing this great news with his wife Jackie, and continuing to share with the world the good work that is Sambo's legacy," said Dan Bennett, Dean, College of Architecture, Design and Construction at Auburn University.
"Sambo and the Rural Studio he founded have transcended both architectural profession and academy and have found shelter in the hearts of the populace. He taught his students that architecture is a discipline deeply rooted in community, and to embrace his philosophy that everyone, rich or poor, deserved a 'shelter for the soul." said Jamie Aycock, AIA. Jamie presented Sambo's work to the selection committee and did an outstanding job of communicating Sambo's gifts and love of the profession.
Sambo worked in architectural practice for many years prior to founding the Rural Studio. He founded Mockbee Goodman Architects in 1977 and the firm quickly built a regional reputation for utilizing local materials in its exceptional designs, winning more than 25 state and regional awards in four years.
Later he formed a partnership with Coleman Coker. During that time period he was hailed as one of the nation's premier regionalists and an important new voice of the South.
He was the recipient of countless grants and awards including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow "Genius Award" (2000), Mississippi Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award for Artistic Excellence (2000), several AIA Honor Awards (1995,1994,1982) and the Apgar Award For Excellence (1999).
His biography describes him as "truly loved and admired by all who came into contact with him. He had an amazing design talent, but his uniqueness came from his compassion for people, especially those who were socially and economically disadvantaged. He cast a spotlight on an aspect of our culture that most avoid....and he demonstrated that socially responsible architecture can delight the senses, inspire the masses, and serve the soul."
Info provided by AIA
Professor Rusty Smith Wins AIAS Honor Award
American Institute of Architecture Students Educator Honor Award was recently bestowed upon Auburn University Professor Rusty Smith. Professor Smith was nominated by the AIAS Chapter from Auburn University. His accomplishments include having transformed the school's First Year curriculum. "Under his guidance, the existing set of courses was transformed into a meaningful and essential foundation for the remaining four years of the professional curriculum," said Auburn Dean, Daniel D. Bennett, FAIA in his recommendation letter. Professor Smith was also the faculty advisor of the Student Advisory Committee and was first to implement a studio culture awareness chat room. The Web site is now a location where students and faculty post issues for discussion. As described by Richard Taylor, Auburn Chapter President-elect, "Rusty Smith has a passion for teaching and receives a sincere joy for watching students grow while learning how to learn, and blossom as designers. He challenges his students in extraordinary ways with this ability to answer questions with questions and his enthusiasm and vivacity seems to be contagious with his students and with the faculty."
A Lifetime of Work
Helen Sellers Davis is a member of a remarkable group of women from Alabama. But there is no name to their group, bylaws or meetings. Mrs. Davis received her state registration as an architect in 1936, making her the first woman registered in the state of Alabama, joining a group of pioneering and ambitious women from other fields.
Whether intended or not, Mrs. Davis has helped pave the way for all architects in Alabama. That, by itself is worthy of praise and admiration, but even more significantly, Mrs. Davis is still practicing, 67 years later.
Originally from Anniston, AL, Mrs. Davis has lived in Birmingham since her graduation from Auburn University in 1935, when Auburn was still called Alabama Polytechnic Institute.
According to the State Board of Architects for the southern region, Mrs. Davis is the longest practicing architect in the region. Nationally, two practicing architects in California were registered in 1935. (From preliminary research, she is the longest practicing female architect in the country. Although I am waiting to hear from some states, it is unlikely someone will surpass her dates.)
Born the daughter of a physician, Davis knew from an early age that she wanted to be an architect. She recalled that as a child, she would go with one of her friends' mother to watch houses being built, and that she was intensely drawn to the mechanics of building someone's home.
So she grew up wanting to be an architect. After attending Ward Belmont, a women's college in Tennessee for two years, she came to Auburn, where her brother had also been in school. She met her husband there (Charles F. Davis '31), who was working as an instructor in architecture. After her graduation, they moved to Birmingham where they got jobs at architecture firm Miller, Martin & Lewis.
When asked previously about pay discrepancy, Davis said, "I got paid $18 dollars a week, and my husband got paid $20 dollars a week. But we were in the middle of the Depression and were happy to have jobs when so many of our peers did not."
Davis recalls her experience at Auburn as a positive one. "I never encountered any kind of hostility when I went to Auburn to study architecture. As far as they [professors] were concerned, I had just as much right as anyone else to be there," said Davis.
In his recommendation letter to the Architects' Registration Board, Dean Frederic Biggin, praised her stating, " . . . her college record was unusually good." He also stated that she won the first Alabama Chapter Design Prize.
Davis loves the challenge of architecture, of designing someone's home. One of the things she enjoys most about architecture is the problem-solving side--about taking an idea and figuring out how to make it work in a certain environment.
"I like to design in a contemporary manner, but I draw heavily on classical styles," Davis said. "Lasting modern design must incorporate the principles of classic architecture."
Mrs. Davis also believes that the kind of client you have dictates what kind of job you can do. "You can do a good design job for everyone you design for, but when you have a good client, you can do a great job," Davis stated. She believes this is important to all architects to realize, especially younger ones.
She has designed homes and renovations all over Alabama, with multiple projects in Talladega, Anniston and Birmingham. Her son Neil, an architect with Davis Architects, Inc. in Birmingham, stated that one of the many impressive statistics for her design career was that she had multiple repeat clients.
Mrs. Davis is frequently referred by her son's firm in Birmingham and her daughter's firm in Atlanta, Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates (TVS), for challenging home design projects. She has also completed projects in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.
Mrs. Davis loves what she does, and continues to learn about processes and methodologies. A few years ago she took a course in Computer Aided Design (CAD) so that she would have the tools and an understanding of them to use in her work.
"I took the class because I wanted to stay current on trends and technology," stated Davis. "But I returned to the tools that I began with because with them I can create exactly how I want to."
Evidently in the Davis family there is an architecture gene. All three of her children are architects. Charles Davis III '62 and Neil Davis '76 both graduated from Auburn's architecture program. Helen Davis Hatch got her architecture degree from Harvard.
With a mother and a father as architects, maybe it is not such a huge surprise that the children followed that path as well. Mrs. Davis primarily worked at home so that she could raise her children. She designed and drafted from there, creating a constant presence of design and creativity for the children.
Her children credit her as a great source of inspiration. "I learned from my mother that it is important for women to find and develop a career--to create for themselves self-sufficiency," stated Mrs. Hatch. "She is such a remarkable role-model. I am lucky to have found that in my mother."
The respect and admiration is not one-sided however. "I'm so proud of my children. I could talk about them all day," said Davis.
Mrs. Davis is quick to say that her life is not remarkable. She said that life has given her many opportunities that others did not have. But a person has to dream and work hard to achieve what Davis has in her life, no matter where you begin. Helen Sellers Davis has watched this country grow.
She has lived through seventeen presidents, women gaining the right to vote, space exploration, Civil Rights, wars. Her achievement is remarkable. She believes in doing what she loves.
"Sometimes you think that a person gets too old to dream, but you know what? I am still a dreamer."
Helen Davis Sellers was recognized by Auburn University's College of Architecture, Design and Construction with a Lifetime Achievement Award on November the 6th at the College's Annual Awards Banquet.
Helen S. Davis, 205.933.8854
Neil Davis, of Davis Architects, Inc (son), Bimingham, AL 205.322.7482