Today’s post is a very special look back at one of Ruard Veltman‘s first projects…
In 1995, three ambitious students from Auburn University’s Rural Studio designed and created The Yancey Chapel (the Rural Studio was established by Professor Samuel Mockbee as an experimental architecture clinic, building small, low budget structures for impoverished rural communities)…Ruard Veltman, Steve Durden, and Tom Tretheway created this artful retreat for less than $10,000 using 1000 donated tires, local slate from the Black Warrior River, timber and steel beams from old bridges and condemned houses and scraps of rusted tin from dilapidated barns…located in the small town of Greensboro in western Alabama, the Chapel is sited on a ridge overlooking a riverbed in a heavily wooded landscape…
“As an architect, I believe in the power of travel. I re-energize my creative thinking by returning to my homeland – Holland – or taking off on a new adventure. The exchange of new ideas with each new project also brings a certain passion. The most inspiring aspect of practicing architecture is being part of a team that works well together – a meeting of the minds with our clients, within our firm, or amongst everyone involved on a particular job. And the greatest joy is in watching people experience the spaces we’ve imagined. Whether at work or play, I am always attuned to the pleasing affects of design – from the thoughtfully planned parks of a city to the frame of a painting. And I often find intersections between the built world and the one thing I can’t live without, music.” ~ Ruard Veltman, 2011
photos and resources from Architectural Record March 1996 and The Architectural Review July 1997
danielleboudrot
a thoughtful eye 