Rural Studio Updates

Andrew Freear will be taking some well-deserved time off this year and has left Rural Studio in the capable hands of Xavier Vendrell as Acting Director and Fifth-year Professor. Vendrell has been Third-year visiting professor at Rural Studio for the past two years. He will focus the Studio on a combination of community, garden-to-table, and small home projects. A native of Barcelona, where he has been practicing architecture since 1983, Vendrell and his office won the competition for the Poblenou Park in the Olympic Village in Barcelona in 1988. Vendrell founded Xavier Vendrell Studio Chicago/Barcelona in 1999, a collaborative practice of architecture, landscape, and design.

Also joining Rural Studio this fall is Jake LaBarre who will teach Third-year studio with Alex Henderson. LaBarre has been teaching at the University of Washington in the Neighborhood Design/Build Studio with “design/build legend Steve Badanes” and working as architect/project manager at Muller Hull Partnership. He’s also been visiting Rural Studio with the Jersey Devils at Soup Roast to give reviews for the past six years.