Prickly Mountain and My Design/Build Life
88 mins.
Date: 10 Jan, 2026 | Time: 12:30 | Godrej Dance Theatre
Date: 11 Jan, 2026 | Time: 17:00 | Little Theatre
In the late 1960s, a group of architects migrated to Vermont with one simple goal: stop just designing buildings and start making them too. Rejecting academic rigidity yet inspired by Bauhaus ideals, they built by hand, embraced mistakes, and turned architecture into a joyful, improvisational experiment. What emerged wasn’t just a collection of homes, but a radical way of living — rooted in community, creativity, and imperfection.
Prickly Mountain and my design/ build life tells the story of this design/build movement through the eyes of filmmaker Allie Rood, who grew up inside it. As she traces the architects’ legacy, she confronts her own inheritance: the freedom, uncertainty, and grit that come with building your life from the ground up. At once a history lesson and a deeply personal journey, the film asks what it means to make with care — and what we stand to gain when we do.
In the late 1960s, a group of architects migrated to Vermont with one simple goal: stop just designing buildings and start making them too. Rejecting academic rigidity yet inspired by Bauhaus ideals, they built by hand, embraced mistakes, and turned architecture into a joyful, improvisational experiment. What emerged wasn’t just a collection of homes, but a radical way of living — rooted in community, creativity, and imperfection.
Prickly Mountain and my design/ build life tells the story of this design/build movement through the eyes of filmmaker Allie Rood, who grew up inside it. As she traces the architects’ legacy, she confronts her own inheritance: the freedom, uncertainty, and grit that come with building your life from the ground up. At once a history lesson and a deeply personal journey, the film asks what it means to make with care — and what we stand to gain when we do.
