Thinnings Bathhouse

Four students from Auburn University's Rural Studio are partnering with the U.S. Forestry Service to design an architectural thesis project with mutual goals. The District Ranger of the Talladega National Forest, Oakmulgee District, requires a restroom and bathing facility as one of the first steps toward providing high quality recreation opportunities in a healthy forest ecosystem at Payne Lake Recreation Area, located in West Alabama. The Rural Studio is using it as an opportunity to research a locally available but underutilized material – small-diameter timber known as thinnings.