Mackenzie Stagg is an Assistant Research Professor with Auburn University’s School of Architecture, and she manages Rural Studio’s Front Porch Initiative.
Established in 1993, Rural Studio gives architecture students a hands-on educational experience while assisting the underserved communities of Alabama’s Black Belt region.
A graduate of Auburn University, Stagg has collaborated with Rural Studio in a variety of capacities over the course of the last 15 years: first as a student, then as outreach instructor, and now as a research professor. Through Rural Studio, Stagg has taken part in the design and construction of 10 homes as well as several community-centered projects. Her work on the Front Porch Initiative aims to utilize student research on the development of small, high-performing home designs to cultivate a scalable, sustainable, and resilient process for delivering homes in underserved communities. Stagg’s work at Rural Studio has been intertwined with design work at organizations in Birmingham, AL; Christiansburg, VA; and New Orleans, LA.