The Lucy House

project type charity house, student project at Rural Studio
location Mason’s Bend, Alabama, USA
scope design and construction
project team Marie and Keith Zawistowski, Ben Connard, Kerry Larkin, Floris Keverling Buisman, James Tate
completion date August 2002
photography onSITE

We designed and built the Lucy House working as a team of six students developing a concept left to us by Sambo Mockbee. The project was a charity house for Lucy and Anderson Harris and their children. It was funded by Interface Carpet. The company donated $30,000, as well as 72,000 pounds of post-consumer carpet tiles. By creating a system of stacked carpet tiles to make the walls of the house, we were able to conserve enough of the budget to build Lucy the only thing she asked for: a place to pray.


For this, Lucy’s bedroom is a sculptural tower, open only to the sky. As she lays in her bed, Lucy can look up at the sky and enjoy the play of light and shadow on the faceted surfaces of her prayer tower.