Wikipedia

Emily Pilloton-Lam

Emily Pilloton-Lam is an American architectural designer, builder, educator, and author[1] known for her work as the founder and executive director of the non-profit organization, Girls Garage (formerly Project H Design).[2] Her work was profiled in the award-winning documentary film, If You Build It.[2]

Emily Pilloton-Lam
Image of Emily Pilloton-Lam Presenting at PopTech in 2009.
Born
Emily Pilloton

1981
Chicago, Illinois
CitizenshipAmerican
EducationMaster of Fine Arts in Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2003–2005
Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, 1999–2003
Occupation(s)Founder and executive director, Girls Garage (formerly Project H Design)
Websitehttps://www.emilypillotonlam.com/

Early life and education

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Pilloton-Lam was born in 1981, and grew up in Chicago, Illinois and Marin County, California.[3] Her father was born in France, while her mother was born outside of Chicago to immigrant parents from Qingdao and Hong Kong.[4] From a young age, she remembers building structures out of a Quadro set, which she attributes to her early interest in design.[3]

She attended UC Berkeley in Berkeley, California, graduating in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in architecture.[1] She completed her master's degree in architecture, interior architecture, and designed objects at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating in 2005.[1]

Project H Design

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After graduation, Pilloton-Lam founded the nonprofit Project H Design, which centered around design initiatives that address Humanity, Habitats, Health, and Happiness.[5] It sought to promote design education and community-building.[5][6]

"There are elements to our work and our approach that are not just involving the community but are really dependent upon the community’s vision for their own landscape. Design is not something most people would automatically look to as a way to fix a public education system, and yet, it’s done a lot for our students and their families—and beyond the classroom walls for the community".[5]

Project H Design contained a program called Studio H, a design/build program for high school students that simultaneously provided college credits and allowed students to engage with full-scale projects for their community.[5][7] Based out of Bertie County, North Carolina, one of the poorest counties in the state,[8][9] Studio H was integrated into local high school curriculums as a means of redefining and reinventing vocational training for the 21st century.[10][6] Studio H started with ideas of design literacy paired with building projects that would contribute to the students' local community.[10] It used the design/build framework as a means of teaching critical thinking and creative skills that could support the students' future goals regardless of what kind of career or education they sought out after highschool.[10]

In 2013, the documentary If You Build It was created to document a year in the life of Studio H, focusing specifically on the Windsor Farmers Market project that sought to address the area's contradicting context as a food desert with rich agricultural legacy.[11]

Completed projects

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  • Community Chicken Coops, Bertie County, NC, 2010[12]
  • Cornhole Boards, Bertie County, NC, 2010[13]
  • Windsor Farmers Market, Bertie County, NC, 2011[11]
  • Farmstands, Bertie County, NC, 2012[14]

Girls Garage

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In 2013, Pilloton-Lam moved the organization to Berkeley, California, under the new name Girls Garage, and shifted the mandate to specifically address the gender gap in the architecture and construction industries.[15][1][16] Under this new name, the organization also moved away from the model of integrating workshops into high school curriculum, to create after-school and summer programming for girls and gender-diverse youth ages 9–18.[15][17] Girls Garage became the first dedicated design and building work space for girls in the United States with its 5000-square-foot workshop in West Berkeley.[15][17][16]

Since 2013, Girls Garage has built 171 projects.[18]

Proceeds from Pilloton-Lam's 2020 book, Girls Garage: How to Use Any Tool, Tackle Any Project, and Build the World You Want to See, also support the non-profit.[17]

Teaching

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In addition to her role as an educator in Project H/Girls Garage, Pilloton-Lam has also held several teaching positions at post-secondary institutions, including as a visiting professor at the University of California, Davis starting in 2015, as a lecturer at the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley between 2016 and 2020, and at Stanford University in 2023.[1]

Writing

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  • Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People, 2009[19]
  • Tell Them I Built This: Transforming Schools, Communities, and Lives with Design-Based Education, 2012[10]
  • Girls Garage: How to Use Any Tool, Tackle Any Project, and Build The World You Want To See, 2020[17]

Awards and honors

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Along with features and interviews in a variety of news media sources, Pilloton-Lam has been recognized for her contributions to design literacy and community-building with the following awards and honors:[1]

Personal life

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Pilloton-Lam currently lives with her family in Berkeley, California.

In 2021, she published an essay on her decision to hyphenate her last name to include her mother's maiden name, Lam.[4] She expressed that this decision was made to honor her Chinese lineage saying,

"Today, March 17th, I am taking my mother’s maiden name, Lam, as a matriarchal hyphenate. I am doing so for myself, for my mother, for my Chinese matriarchal lineage, and for my Asian American community".[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "About". Emily Pilloton-Lam. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  2. ^ a b Berkeley, 1380 10th St; Ca 94710. "Team". Girls Garage. Retrieved 2023-07-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b bernard.boo.9 (2014-02-25). "Emily Pilloton Talks Inspiring Students Through Design in 'If You Build It' Interview". Way Too Indie. Retrieved 2023-07-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b c "My Name". Emily Pilloton-Lam. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  5. ^ a b c d "Emily Pilloton | Founder and Executive Director of Project H Design". AICAD. 2013-09-20. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  6. ^ a b Browne, Alix (2010-02-03). "Nifty 50 | Emily Pilloton, Humanitarian". T Magazine. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  7. ^ "Kazam! Magazine | Design Q&A: Emily Pilloton-Lam". www.eamesinstitute.org. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  8. ^ "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: North Carolina; Bertie County, North Carolina". www.census.gov. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  9. ^ "Ranked: North Carolina's lowest-earning counties". FOX8 WGHP. 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  10. ^ a b c d Pilloton, Emily (2012). Tell Them I Built This: Transforming Schools, Communities, and Lives With Design-Based Education. TED Books.
  11. ^ a b "Windsor Farmers Market". Studio H. 2016-04-21. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  12. ^ "Community Chicken Coops". Studio H. 2016-02-22. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  13. ^ "Cornhole Boards". Studio H. 2015-11-22. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  14. ^ "Farmstands". Studio H. 2016-04-21. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  15. ^ a b c Pilloton-Lam, Emily (2022-01-21), Emily Pilloton-Lam: What if women built the world they want to see?, retrieved 2023-07-20
  16. ^ a b "Emily Pilloton". www.arts.gov. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  17. ^ a b c d Pilloton, Emily (2020). Girls Garage: How to Use Any Tool, Tackle Any Project, and Build the World You Want to See. San Francisco: Chronicle books. ISBN 978-1-4521-6627-8.
  18. ^ Berkeley, 1380 10th St; Ca 94710. "Portfolio". Girls Garage. Retrieved 2023-07-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ Pilloton, Emily (2009). Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People. Metropolis Books/DAP. ISBN 978-1933045955.
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