ABSTRACT
In 1993 Auburn University's Rural Studio brought the idea of students designing and building architecture in the public realm to national attention. Central to this activity was the idea that students would be exposed to many explicit lessons about design and construction and, more importantly, to perhaps less tangible lessons about other ways of being professional architects. This chapter describes moments when the uncertainties of working in communities catalyzed a change in design direction toward a different kind of outcome. Conversations with Okolona residents yielded a much deeper undercurrent of distrust and unrest than was visible on the surface. The chapter develops tools for collaboration that may differ from those of conventional practice in order to secure full community participation and engagement and to collect quality intelligence from citizen experts.
