Prickly Mountain and My Design/Build Life

Join a post-film discussion with director Allie Rood, MIT’s John Ochsendorf, and Emily Norton from Smith College, moderated by Architecture & Design Film Festival founder Kyle Bergman.

Prickly Mountain and My Design Build Life takes us to  Warren, Vermont—a remarkable small town with more architects and designers per capita than anywhere else in the USA. Warren became an architect’s haven in the 1960s, when a group of Yale-trained architects settled there, embracing collaboration and hands-on craftsmanship over the corporate world of their contemporaries. 

Director Allie Rood, who grew up in this vibrant environment, offers an insider’s perspective on a place where design is not just a profession, but a way of life. The film celebrates the freedom, spontaneity, and deep sense of connection that come from choosing to live in a place that privileges creativity. This is a story about community, values, and the radical act of designing the way we live, work, and grow together.

Please note: There are no Coolidge Member comps for this film.

About Allie Rood: 

Allie Rood is a filmmaker and creative director.  She studied studio art at Whitman College—an education she sees as foundational to her approach to storytelling. Her freelance work spans independent film as well as commercial and branded content for companies such as Patagonia and Nike, all shaped by her deep roots in the outdoor industry. Growing up in a Vermont community centered around design/build, Allie learned to approach projects iteratively and with a problem-solving mindset, embracing mistakes as an essential part of the creative process.  Her filmmaking blends autobiographical curiosity with a human-centered approach.

About Emily Norton: 

Emily Norton holds a B.F.A. in furniture design from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, and an MDES in conceptual design from the Design Academy Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Norton’s career has spanned international design residencies, design research in wetlands preservation, teaching social innovation and leading cultural change campaigns in communities, organizations and institutions. As a maker, she believes in the power of thinking with her hands. 

About John Ochsendorf: 

John Ochsendorf is an engineer, educator, and designer on the MIT faculty since 2002. Trained at Cornell, Princeton, and the University of Cambridge, he is known for creative research at the intersection of structural engineering and architecture. Ochsendorf and his students have contributed to numerous design projects, including the Mapungubwe Interpretive Centre, the Sean Collier Memorial, several projects at the 2016 Venice Biennale of Architecture, and multiple sculptures with leading artists. He served as the Director of the American Academy in Rome from 2017-2020, and as the founding director of the MIT Morningside Academy for Design since 2022. Professor John Ochsendorf's group conducts creative research at the intersection of structural engineering and architecture to further sustainability in the built environment. Topics include the mechanics and structural behavior of historical masonry, the reuse of structural materials, low-carbon materials, and structural form-finding techniques. 

About Kyle Bergman: 

Architect Kyle Bergman founded the Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) in 2009 and serves as its festival director. He has always recognized the strong connection between architecture and film and ADFF provides a unique opportunity to educate, entertain and engage people who are passionate about the world of architecture and design. Mr. Bergman also serves as the president on the board of Pacific Rim Parks Organization whose mission is to use the process of designing and building parks as a tool to connect communities around the Pacific. Kyle Bergman has been involved with design/build education since graduate school when he created and moderated an eight part architectural lecture series about the design/build process for the Smithsonian Institute. An entrepreneur at heart, Mr. Bergman founded Alt Spec in 1999, a publishing company that produced a visual resource of unique and alternative products for architects and designers. He also produced a play, The Glass House, about the design and construction of two famous homes, Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House and Philip Johnson's Glass House.