Design: Architecture / Alabama
Going up the country
In rural Alabama, a university architecture programme is rebuilding the civic infrastructure of long-neglected towns, one project at a time.
To reach the tiny town of Newbern, Alabama, you take a long drive south from Birmingham, past catfish ponds and scores of bright white churches, until you come to the South’s strangest-looking fire station. This big- shouldered structure, all steel webbing and soaring timber trusses, sticks out among the trees and trailers on Highway 61. John Dodson, volunteer fire chief and a man of few words, runs his hand admiringly over the polycarbonate exterior and cedar slats that catch the heat of the low sun in winter and help to prevent the fire engines’…
