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If You Build It
If You Build It is a 2013 documentary directed by Patrick Creadon, produced by Neal Baer, and filmed on location largely in the town of Windsor and surrounding Bertie County, North Carolina, the state's poorest county.
The documentary follows a year in the life of an innovative, design-based high school program, culminating with the design and sixteen-week construction of a farmer's market pavilion, the only farmers market pavilion in the U.S. designed and built by high school students.
The film's title is a truncated reference to the catchphrase "if you build it, he will come" from the 1989 film Field of Dreams.
In 2010, Superintendent of Public Schools for Bertie County, Chip Zullinger (1951–2014) had been hired to address the school district's serious shortcomings. After completing four large architectural projects with designer Emily Pilloton-Lam (author of the 2009 book Design Revolution) and architect Matt Miller, Zullinger invited the two to create a high school curriculum.
Pilloton-Lam and Miller described the curriculum, ultimately named Studio H, as shop class for the 21st century, where the design process could address the community's problems and its own sense of possibility. Named after its focus on "humanity, habitats, health and happiness," the curriculum "empowered young people to become creative problem solvers and at the same time encourage them to become more active citizens." Variety quoted Pilloton-Lam, saying the project's purpose was to "plant small seeds in our students that years from now could result in a new kind of resource."
Pilloton-Lam and partner Miller, worked with 10 (initially 13) high school students at Bertie Early College High School through the year-long, full-scale design/build curriculum – following six design rules: there is no design without critical action; we work 'with' not 'for;' we start locally and scale globally; create systems, not stuff; document, share and measure; and finally build. The students began the school year with constructing water purifiers from clay and cow pies. After designing, constructing and selling corn hole boards, the students follow with full-scale chicken coops of their own design and culminate the year with the design and construction of an open-air farmer's market, which subsequently became known as the Windsor Super Market (depicted on the movie poster above, right).
The project team and the community had identified a new farmer's market as a viable and desirable community project, and under the leadership of Pilloton-Lam and Miller the students focused on developing design and construction skills: critical thinking, research (e.g., analyzing Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House), sketching, and drafting, along with welding and real-world construction trades. Pilloton-Lam and Miller in turn completed construction documents and specifications, worked with a structural engineer and filed for construction permits – while also preparing and conducting three hours of daily classroom instruction.
The film backtracks to tell the story of Matt Miller and his thesis project from the Cranbrook Academy, where he designed and constructed along with classmate Thomas Gardner a 900 sf, two-story infill house. The house was ultimately abandoned, leading Miller to conclude the project failed because the end-user was insufficiently engaged and invested in process.
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If You Build It
If You Build It is a 2013 documentary directed by Patrick Creadon, produced by Neal Baer, and filmed on location largely in the town of Windsor and surrounding Bertie County, North Carolina, the state's poorest county.
The documentary follows a year in the life of an innovative, design-based high school program, culminating with the design and sixteen-week construction of a farmer's market pavilion, the only farmers market pavilion in the U.S. designed and built by high school students.
The film's title is a truncated reference to the catchphrase "if you build it, he will come" from the 1989 film Field of Dreams.
In 2010, Superintendent of Public Schools for Bertie County, Chip Zullinger (1951–2014) had been hired to address the school district's serious shortcomings. After completing four large architectural projects with designer Emily Pilloton-Lam (author of the 2009 book Design Revolution) and architect Matt Miller, Zullinger invited the two to create a high school curriculum.
Pilloton-Lam and Miller described the curriculum, ultimately named Studio H, as shop class for the 21st century, where the design process could address the community's problems and its own sense of possibility. Named after its focus on "humanity, habitats, health and happiness," the curriculum "empowered young people to become creative problem solvers and at the same time encourage them to become more active citizens." Variety quoted Pilloton-Lam, saying the project's purpose was to "plant small seeds in our students that years from now could result in a new kind of resource."
Pilloton-Lam and partner Miller, worked with 10 (initially 13) high school students at Bertie Early College High School through the year-long, full-scale design/build curriculum – following six design rules: there is no design without critical action; we work 'with' not 'for;' we start locally and scale globally; create systems, not stuff; document, share and measure; and finally build. The students began the school year with constructing water purifiers from clay and cow pies. After designing, constructing and selling corn hole boards, the students follow with full-scale chicken coops of their own design and culminate the year with the design and construction of an open-air farmer's market, which subsequently became known as the Windsor Super Market (depicted on the movie poster above, right).
The project team and the community had identified a new farmer's market as a viable and desirable community project, and under the leadership of Pilloton-Lam and Miller the students focused on developing design and construction skills: critical thinking, research (e.g., analyzing Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House), sketching, and drafting, along with welding and real-world construction trades. Pilloton-Lam and Miller in turn completed construction documents and specifications, worked with a structural engineer and filed for construction permits – while also preparing and conducting three hours of daily classroom instruction.
The film backtracks to tell the story of Matt Miller and his thesis project from the Cranbrook Academy, where he designed and constructed along with classmate Thomas Gardner a 900 sf, two-story infill house. The house was ultimately abandoned, leading Miller to conclude the project failed because the end-user was insufficiently engaged and invested in process.