If You Build It
| If You Build It | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg)
film poster
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| Directed by | Patrick Creadon |
| Produced by | Neal Baer, Christine O'Malley |
| Narrated by | Emily Pilloton, Matt Miller |
| Music by | Peter Golub |
| Cinematography | George Desort |
| Edited by |
Nick Andert |
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Production
company |
O'Malley Creadon Productions
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| Distributed by | Long Shot Factory |
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Release date
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Running time
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85 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Nick Andert
Douglas Blush
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, they 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 (author of the 2009 book Design Revolution) and architect Matt Miller, Zullinger invited the two to create a high school curriculum.
Pilloton 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, 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 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).
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Wikipedia