Everyone knows Serenbe as a bucolic wonderland grown from farm acreage south of Atlanta and filled with expensive ultra-green homes, celebrity rumors and faux old buildings "converted" into lofts. But beyond the flash, there's something remarkable going on down there — the rise of $20,000 houses. Envisioned as a prototype for sustainable, cost-effective housing, the "20K House" at Serenbe will be used as live-work spaces by visiting artists at the Art Farm. According to a press release on PRWeb, the first house has already broken ground.

The 20K home project results from years of work by students at Auburn University's Rural Studio. Since 2005, students have taken on the tough order of designing and constructing one- and two-bedroom homes on the most minuscule of budgets. Employing passive technologies and using materials in innovative ways, the project has been a major success — in Alabama.

But now the project is growing, and Serenbe will be receiving the first homes built by the students out of state. The Art Farm will gain a community for artists through the collaboration, while the participants in Rural Studio will have the opportunity to see their designs come to fruition and collaborate with resident artists. And given the straightforwardness of the homes, it won't take long for them to be completed. The press release notes that the first home should be done some time in November.

· First Rural Studio 20K Houses Outside of Alabama at Serenbe [PRWeb]

· The Art Farm at Serenbe [Serenbe]