These Teen Girls are Building the World They Want to See

For the nonprofit Girls Garage, power tools and construction skills provide the means to put purposeful change into action.

Top row, left to right: Erica Chu, Simone Parisi, Iris Pedrick, Azusa James, Neela Mohanpuhr, Tori Creaves
Bottom row, left to right: Eliana Ives, Ally Lee, Izzy Brody-Kaplan, Mikaela James, Nautica Charles
Not pictured: Aiko Dougherty, Micah Heller, Anna Fry
Photography by Smeeta Mahanti

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Can a chicken coop be an act of community solidarity? This team of teenage female builders certainly thinks so. On a 3-acre parcel of once-neglected land currently being developed for urban agriculture in North Richmond, California—an area otherwise known as a food desert, where 97 percent of the residents are people of color—the architecturally arresting structure serves as a symbol of empowerment and hope.

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“I wanted so badly to reconnect to that 16-year-old part of myself who thought about architecture in a hands-on, community-connected way”

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The 500-square-foot “chicken pavilion” is the latest project from Girls Garage, a Northern California nonprofit that teaches design and building skills to girls ages 9–17 through summer camps, weekend classes, and after-school sessions. Housed in a dedicated workshop space in West Berkeley, its offerings also include a one-year, no-cost Advanced Design/Build program for a cohort of teen girls from diverse backgrounds who use their newfound proficiency in carpentry, welding, drafting, and more to tackle community-based building projects such as this one. Girls Garage founder Emily Pilloton drew upon the life-changing summer she spent volunteering as a high school student on a construction site in Belize as a powerful inspiration behind her venture. 

“I wanted so badly to reconnect to that 16-year-old part of myself who thought about architecture in a hands-on, community-connected way,” explains Pilloton. “And I felt if you could embed design and building within an educational setting, there would be great benefits to young people and the communities in which those schools sit. Because the things that young people would dream up and ultimately construct would be transformative in those communities.”

Simone Parisi at work. Photography by Smeeta Mahanti

Trained as an architect, the now-38-year-old Pilloton initially began teaching coed shop classes to kids under the nonprofit’s original name, Project H Design. Her impactful work transforming a struggling rural community in North Carolina through design education led to a 2010 TED Talk, a documentary (“If You Build It”), and the opportunity to bring her unique form of instruction to a charter school in Berkeley. In 2013, she decided to permanently evolve Project H into a girls-only standalone program after observing the social dynamics in her mixed-gender classrooms: Girls who were otherwise confident and competent began censoring themselves or doubting their own abilities within a traditionally male-dominated environment. In describing her opportunity statement for Girls Garage, Pilloton directly references this need. “How might we create a space that feels supportive, safe, and audacious for young women to build the world they want to see? How might we literally give girls the physical tools—and the metaphorical tools—to think about how they want the world to look and then go out and make it happen?”

Azusa James admiring her work. Photography by Smeeta Mahanti

For the girls themselves, the experience has been revelatory. “At first, I thought I just loved the activities I did there, but looking back, I can tell it wasn’t just that. It was the way I felt,” says Tori Creaves, 15, who began attending Girls Garage at age 9. “The projects, the tone of the space, and the attitude of the instructors made me feel powerful and braver. Not completely fearless, but confident enough to know I could take on whatever challenge was presented to me.”

“I went in to develop skills regarding tools, design, and building,” says 18-year-old Eliana Ives, who graduated from the advanced cohort this past summer and is now studying industrial engineering at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. “I want to utilize [what I learned about] leadership, creative thinking, and more to shape my own future into something I want it to be.” 

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“A physical space is one of the first things to inform us how we’re valued or how we belong. And part of the reason we don’t see enough women in the trades is because these spaces are not designed for us.”

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The physical manifestation of empowerment is core to the Girls Garage belief system. The 3,600-square-foot workspace—complete with a woodshop, welding area, community work table, and open shelves of neatly organized construction tools—communicates an immediate sense of community. One entire wall is taken up by a boldly stenciled motto: “Fear Less. Build More.” Another wall in the reception area features laser-etched wooden tiles with the names of every girl who’s ever taken part in the program. “A physical space is one of the first things to inform us how we’re valued or how we belong. And part of the reason we don’t see enough women in the trades is because these spaces are not designed for us,” Pilloton says.

Nautica Charles making sparks fly. Photography by Smeeta Mahanti

Design and fabrication skills aren’t the only lessons on offer at Girls Garage. An upstairs classroom is being turned into a print shop, with a brand-new risograph printer. A no-cost after-school program called Protest & Print explored the nature of art as activism. “A giant chicken pavilion is one example of physically altering the world in a way that feels hopeful and beautiful,” Pilloton says. “But it can also mean making protest posters about birth control or having agency over your own body. We have space for that, too.”

Eliana Ives

“In the physical sense, we all worked on pretty much everything. I was a big part of the run team as well as the door to the coop. I worked on a lot of the siding, and did my portion of the framing. On a more individual level, I tended to be responsible for the soundtracks to our build days, my taste being classic rock from the ‘60s to the ‘80s. I was also the main mathematician when we ran into numerous mathematical problems. But overall I think that such an amazing part of this build was the shared responsibilities that we were able to have due to the sense of trust regarding the work and skill level of our peers,” says Eliana.

Nautica Charles

“Our band of builder women is incredible. These are some of my best friends, my longest-standing colleagues. They’re incredibly talented welders and carpenters and architects and educators. Many are also high school or middle school educators. There’s a built-in feeling of support for young people in general,” says Girls Garage founder and lead instructor Emily Pilloton.

“More than anything, they take ownership over their own skills. A lot of young women, we feel like we’re bragging if we say what we’re good at. I know how to use a table saw and I know how to weld, and I know how to do this and I’ve done that. They grow into their own strength that they already had. And now they feel a comfort with it and an ability to use it as they go into the next thing,” says Emily Pilloton.

Tori Creaves

“Fearing less isn’t about the absence of fear. For me, it’s about recognizing your fear and choosing to be brave in the face of it. When you’re about to use a chop saw or a welder or any other potentially dangerous tool, you should be afraid! Those things are scary, and fear can be an important emotion that keeps us safe. However, for me, choosing to be brave means assessing the relevance of your fear and then putting it where it belongs. When I put that fear behind me, chose to be brave, and then had it pay off with a fun new skill, it was immensely rewarding and boosted my confidence. Once I began practicing bravery, it made me want to chop that wood, screw those planks, and melt that metal. Practicing bravery is the most important thing I have learned at Girls Garage. I have applied it in areas of my life separate from our group, and I know that I will continue to do so in the future,” says Tori.

Ally Lee

“‘Girl’ doesn’t mean one thing. That’s kind of the point. I think it’s really important that we embrace the complexities of what that word means, and that we talk about them in a way that isn’t stigmatized,” says Emily Pilloton

Simone Parisi

“I remember a student who would shake when using tools. She would take several minutes to pull the trigger every time she had to use a tool, whether it was using a chop saw, band saw, or a drill. She would say, ‘I am not strong enough,’ ‘I can't do this,’ ‘I need someone to help me.’ By the end of that year she was on the roof of a playhouse she built, hammering in shingles! I have a picture of her on the roof hanging in my office to remind me of what teaching girls skills like this can lead to,” says Girls Garage instructor Allison Oropallo.

“Urban Tilth is run by a wonderful female leader named Doria Robinson. She’s been a leader in the East Bay and North Richmond community for years. It’s a great partnership because I think they think about farming the same way we think about building—that both belong to a community, it’s only made possible by a community,” says Emily Pilloton.

Erica Chu

“There are these things about the coop that are completely whimsical. There’s an automatic chicken door that closes and opens with the sun. There are these big French doors that swing open to gather the eggs. We did this barn door with a chevron pattern, and they all decided on the geometry to figure that out. There’s a lot of room to play within the design framework,” says Emily Pilloton.

Mikaela James

“My favorite skill to teach the girls is to use power tools such as the chop saw and to demonstrate what it looks like to be confident and to not care what others think of you. Every year there are girls who don't want to pull the trigger of the chop saw because they are so nervous. I stand next to them encouraging that they will not get hurt and they will feel so good after they do it. Once they make their first cut they stand taller, prouder and can't stop smiling. This happens EVERY time,” Girls Garage instructor Allison Oropallo.

Erica Chu

“There were moments when I thought everyone was burned out and just ready to fall over. This happened on Thursday, when we were prepping for the opening ceremony. The entire site next to us, there’d been stuff dumped there, it was a total mess. And we’d forgot to build in time to clear the site for our ceremony. It was already 3 o’clock, and I was sunburned and beat. And Allison was like ‘See that tractor over there? I got this.’ And she got in the tractor and started leveling the site, and the girls got wheelbarrows and they shoveled 200 wheelbarrows full of dirt. No one whined. It was like, all right, let’s do it. I just have images, snapshots of them sweating, sore, and no one complaining for even half a second,” says Emily Pilloton.

Emily Pilloton

“I always say, ‘If you want to teach at Girls Garage, you have to be willing to jump in front of a bus for a girl. You have to be willing to give it all and do anything to protect these girls.’ That is the standard. Everyone who works with me does, and I think girls feel that when they walk in,” says Emily.

“We already know one other so well, and some of the girls have become my closest friends. Being on site strengthens those bonds due to the necessity of trust regarding safety, skill, and general ability on site. There is a sense of immense accomplishment watching our build come together that is like no other,” says Eliana Ives.

Photography by Smeeta Mahanti

Since the launch of Girls Garage, its portfolio of work has grown to include 133 community projects, including a greenhouse and furniture for a women’s shelter. The chicken pavilion built for the North Richmond nonprofit Urban Tilth is the largest physical structure they’ve tackled yet. The 14 girls in the advanced cohort—led by Pilloton and her co-instructors, architect Hallie Chen and industrial arts teacher Allison Oropallo—designed and built an 8’ x 12’ coop for 50 chickens on a redwood deck fastened to a 12-foot-high shed roof with custom-welded steel brackets. A chevron-pattern barn door reveals nesting boxes and a roosting area. Access to the 24-foot-long outdoor chicken run (complete with swing!) comes via an automatic compartment that opens at sunrise. (Read more about the design/build process in the slideshow.) 

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“A giant chicken pavilion is one example of physically altering the world in a way that feels hopeful and beautiful. But it can also mean making protest posters about birth control or having agency over your own body. We have space for that, too.”

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“There were so many little moments that were memorable: finishing the roof, putting the walls up, Allison climbing the beams like a monkey,” recalls Eliana Ives of her work on the chicken coop. “The jokes we shared; framing the run door and then realizing it was backwards and having to redo it all; getting stabbed repeatedly by chicken wire. So much was happening at all times, and it was fabulous.” 

As Pilloton herself says simply, “Literally the only thing I want to do all day is be on a construction site with those girls.”

ACTION STEPS

Donate to Girls Garage and help fund its low-and no-cost Design and build classes and camps for Bay Area girls.