New housing design to keep Auburn fan safe during tornados

This past spring, students at Rural Studio, Auburn’s off-campus design-build program, were awakened by an emergency alert about a tornado warning urging them to take shelter quickly.  

That frantic dash to the storm shelter in tiny Newbern, Alabama — population 133 — gave the students a firsthand glimpse of rural life and the experience of weathering a storm in close quarters. While the conditions caught them off guard, they were actually already hard at work on a solution: “Mark’s Home,” a one-bedroom, one-bathroom prototype house designed specifically for disaster-prone regions.  

Student experience on steroids 

At Rural Studio, which is housed in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, third- and fifth-year architecture students spend a semester or more immersed in rural life and design-build projects. These “citizen architects” live the simple life — sharing meals, attending class on the back porch, harvesting vegetables from the garden and learning to build structures by hand. 

Established more than 30 years ago, Rural Studio’s research focuses on issues that impact the long-term wellbeing of communities, including housing access and affordability, wastewater management and healthy living. Since its founding, students and faculty have completed more than 220 projects — including homes, recreational facilities, a firehouse and a library — for the residents of rural Hale County. 

Now, Rural Studio students, under the guidance of Associate Professor and Extension Specialist Emily McGlohn, have designed Mark’s Home, a durable, energy-efficient structure with a FEMA-compliant saferoom for severe weather. It’s being built to FORTIFIED high-wind standards, meaning its roof, doors and windows can withstand winds of up to 130 miles per hour. 

Affordable in more ways than one 

Rural Studio has been studying housing affordability for years, but only recently has the focus shifted from building homes that are not just affordable to purchase but also affordable to own. That means lowering costs for insurers and monthly bills for homeowners. 

For insurers leery of having to pay for storm damage, building to FORTIFIED standards means there will be less damage to a structure’s roof and windows from severe weather, which means less damage to the interior and lower replacement costs overall. 

For homeowners, an energy-efficient structure means lowering regular utility bills and maintenance costs through proper insulation, energy-efficient windows and doors and roofs that reflect heat. 

With all these benefits, the FEMA-compliant safe room is the icing on the cake, providing an alternative to the community shelter in an area that has seen more tornado activity than normal over the past few years. 

And homeowner Mark Carlisle, a lifelong Newbern resident and Auburn football fan, will appreciate the ability to shelter in place at home.  

“I won’t say I can’t wait to use it — because that means a tornado is coming — but I’m thrilled to have it in case one does,” he said. 

McGlohn, who was recently honored with a Women in Architecture Award from industry publication Architectural Record, said she would love to be able to offer this feature to every Rural Studio client. 

“My last clients, Rosie and Frankie Fikes, asked for one, but we were too far into their project to make it happen,” she said. “I told myself the next house I built would have one and that we would start investigating the easiest way to make sure it’s a standard in future houses. We are also planning to wire Mark’s Home with a generator in case he loses power during a storm.” 

That backup power source, and plenty of other features of the house, are being funded in part by a recently awarded Creed Grant, a new initiative from the Auburn Alumni Association that supports innovative projects on campus that best exemplify the Auburn Creed. 

“Rural Studio’s project touched on almost every aspect of the Creed,” said Will Faulkner, engagement facilitator with Auburn Advancement. “The Alumni Association Board of Directors were impressed by the vision of the presentation and the good it can do for future generations in the Black Belt region.” 

McGlohn said that enhancing the lives of the region’s residents — while creating and testing solutions to rural communities’ biggest challenges — is always the goal for Rural Studio faculty and staff.  

“The thing Rural Studio does that’s different from other housing organizations is thinking up new ideas and finding the funding to make them happen,” she said. “I hope each house we build at Rural Studio is always better than the last one we built.”