Pilot Projects is a collective of full time and part time professionals with diverse design experience and education. Contributor involvement varies from research and consultation to communication planning, detailed design, modeling and full-scale prototyping. Our members have worked extensively with the following organizations:
The Smithsonian Institute / US General Services Administration / Google / Canadian Broadcasting Corporation / Deloitte / University at Buffalo, SUNY / University of Kentucky / Bank Street College of Education / Disney / ABC News / Chipotle / Alexandria Properties: East River Science Park / Government of Alberta / GlaxoSmithKline / Omnicom / The Gap Inc: Banana Republic and The Gap / MoMA San Francisco / Young Harris College Library / Life University / Kentucky Cardiology / Camp Mini-Yo-We / Massachusetts Institute of Technology / Open Society Institute (George Soros Foundation)
Current contributors:
Scott Francisco is the founder of Pilot Projects. He is a designer, consultant and practicing cultural theorist in New York City. His design, research, writing and teaching connect built infrastructure to cultural development. He has written extensively on design, innovation and culture and worked with several large architecture firms in New York City. He holds a Masters of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Toronto and currently teaches at Parsons the New School for Design.
Contact: scott[at]pilot-projects[dot]org
Antonina Simeti is an urban planner with professional experience in strategic consulting, public policy research, and environmental review. She is committed to projects that support economic and environmentally sustainable development in New York City. Antonina is focused on creating small-scale, place-based interventions in line with the City’s broader policy goals.
Megan Hustad is a writer and editor based in New York City, and the founder of Wherewithal Press. She is interested in how changing text changes people. Her next book is due out in 2012.
Ben Rose is an artist, graphic designer, lighting consultant and business strategist. He has a M.Sci in Lighting from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center and a B.A. in Art & Film History from Sarah Lawrence College. His artwork seeks the profound and sublime within perceptual systems, with an emphasis on the experience of light.
Jeffrey Zarnoch is an architectural designer, adjunct professor at Philadelphia University and a creative sustainability leader. His strengths include project management, marketing, architectural graphics and wayfinding. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and is a recent graduate of the DMBA Leading by Design Fellow’s program at CCA in San Francisco.
Nick Senske is an assistant professor of architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He holds a Masters of Science in Architectural Studies in Design Computation from MIT, and is currently a PhD candidate in Design Studies at the University of Michigan. He is also a founding member of Design Less Better, an ethics focused design firm.
Stephanie Imbeau is an installation artist and sculptor whose work deals with ideas connecting community and the repurposing of found materials. She often works in the public realm, and was the first female artist to adapt Channel 4’s ‘Big 4’ in London with her competition-winning entry, ‘Shelter’. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Newcastle University.
Shawn Meyers holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The Ohio State University, and is currently completing his Masters of Architecture at the Architectural Association in London. He has been a member of award-winning desing teams and a lead designer for prominent international clients. He is interested in urbanism and urban design theory, as well as emerging digital design and fabrication technologies.
Camille Goulding graduated with a B.A. and a M.Litt in geography and environmental governance from Trinity College, Dublin. Her interests lie in urban agriculture, urban sustainability initiatives, alternative and transparent food networks, and community-empowered grassroots actions which create a healthier and better planet.
Emily Singer is a student at Parsons The New School for Design and is currently researching urban chess culture as a socio-spatial integrator.
Drew Powers is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he received a Masters of Architecture in 2011. His work focuses on urban public spaces and their roles to influence social interaction within the city.
Austin Peer is a New York based concept artist and illustrator. He is versatile in multiple styles and media, with accolades from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Austin is currently pursuing an acting career and is also in the process of writing and illustrating his own graphic novel.
Steven K. Chiu holds a B.A in Psychology with a minor in Art. After graduation, Steven began working in the art industry. At present, he is a freelance artist, based in NYC.
Haruka Horiuchi is a graduate of MIT, where her Master of Architecture thesis experimented with open-source paradigms for design. Her work engages public space and social infrastructure, and she draws upon her background in neuroscience and cognition to explore how people perceive and interact with the world around them.
Amanda Potter is an architecture graduate practicing in New York City. Her work includes residential, corporate and institutional architecture and interiors, as well as graphic and product design. She makes pies to die for.
Michael Gillette is a New York based architect with 5 years experience in architectural practice and 13 years as a carpenter and craftsman. Utilizing hands-on building knowledge to inform design decisions, his design focus includes higher education facilities, corporate interiors, office buildings, media studio fit-outs and private residence projects.
Hugo Badia Berger is currently completing a Master in Architecture at l’École d’Architecture de la Ville et des Territoires in Paris (Master Theorie & Projet).
Félix Huet is currently completing a Masters in Architecture at l’École d’Architecture de Paris Belleville.
Charlie Byrd Hagen-Cazes is an artist and designer based in New York City and Toronto. She received her Master of Architecture from MIT.
James A Powers is an artist and designer. He received his BA from Harvard University and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Liz Burow is an artist and architect whose work blurs the line between indoors and outdoors, hardscape and softscape. She has an art and design studio practice in Brooklyn, teaches at the Parsons School of Design, and has experience working on large cultural projects, theater set design, interiors, branding and graphic design.
Paul Tulipana holds a BFA Sculpture from Washington University in St. Louis, and is currently a PhD student in Philosophy at Stanford University. He is also a founding member of Design Less Better, an ethics focused design firm.
Salomé Francpourmoi doesn’t know what she wants to be. She holds a Master of Business Administration from French business school ESSEC, and a Master of Architecture from MIT. Her current interests include repair, recycling, performance, furniture-architecture, machine-architecture, theaters, small urban interventions, the city, how to encourage people to make things themselves.
Elliot Felix is a recognized expert on the design of working and learning environments. He specializes in design strategy for information, products, services and spaces. Elliot is also a part-time faculty member at Parsons in the Design and Management program, teaching a course each fall on the mindset and skill set for innovation.
Theodore Badia Berger is currently completing a Masters in Architecture at L’Ecole d’Architecture de Paris Belleville.
Charles Gibault is currently completing a Masters in Architecture at L’Ecole d’Architecture de Paris Belleville.